Ryan Wendell re-signed

[NE_PATS_FAN_54]

Which means you either have a guy like Wendell who is flawed but has chemistry with Brady for a couple million, or he gets beat out by a rookie in which case you lose nothing. As much as we don't like Wendell, you're not going to get a better C for under 3m outside the draft, and if a good one doesn't fall to you there, you'd have nothing.

Hell, this doesn't even prevent the Pats from drafting a GUARD and having Connelly win the C job. Too much doom and gloom around these parts over a pretty reasonable signing IMO.

Agreed. Can never have too much depth on the OL. The Pats OL has a definite injury history - Solder (concussions), Vollmer(dislocated ankle), Connolly (concussions) so they need all the depth they can get. The versatility that Connolly (C/G), Cannon (G/T), Wendell (C/G) give the Pats some insurance. In no way do I think this stops them from drafting an OL this year. I wouldn't be surprised to see them take a Guard in the first 3 rounds. It won't be long until they start thinking about life after Mankins.

 

[JMC00]

I agree. Why even bother signing him. If he stinks, and gets cut, still a 850k loss.

Signing a veteran Center in FA should've been the way to go.

If he plays, it only increases the chance Brady will get clobbered...

What veteran Center was out there that was worth giving money to? Dietrich-Smith? De La Puente? One of the three 35 year olds in Garza, Raiola, or Goodwin? Ohrnberger?

Only one was out there and that was Alex Mack and there was absolutely no way to get him unless they vastly overpaid as the Browns could match any offer.

 

[Marqui]

I may have been very premature in calling him the new Arrington, it looks like (assuming people in this thread know their ****) that he can be cut before making the final 53 and only cost us 850k.

Basically he wins the starting job or he's off the roster.

I know but still, in no alternate reality is Wendell worth that full contract.

 

[BradyManny]

No. Either he will start or he will be cut. There is no in between. Either he will make good money as a starter or the Pats wasted $850k for a player cut.

People need to look at the contract.

By all accounts, he drew no interest anywhere else - so why did we even have to offer him a contract with the potential to be worth that much?

I'm not sure we did.

Wendell isn't terrible, he'd be good depth as a backup - the $2M roster bonus makes it extremely unlikely he stays purely as depth. So instead of being cheap depth, he's either going to be an overpaid and insufficient starter, or 850K in dead money.

This contract makes no sense to me.

 

[NE_PATS_FAN_54]

I know but still, in no alternate reality is Wendell worth that full contract.

If he returns to his 2012 form, he is absolutely worth that contract.

 

[BradyManny]

If he returns to his 2012 form, he is absolutely worth that contract.

I'm not sure I agree with that. I think his 2012 is being overrated thanks to PFF's rankings (which I can't take at face value). I was still hoping Connolly might shift to C during the offseason last year, and then Wendell was really subpar this season.

Which is almost besides the point - the Patriots might not know if he's returned to form until they are already $3.85 million into the contract when games start getting played.

 

[Sicilian]

By all accounts, he drew no interest anywhere else - so why did we even have to offer him a contract with the potential to be worth that much?

This rationale never makes any sense to me. Do fans think that, of all people, Belichick is a fan of just handing out bigger contracts than he has to? I think it's more likely we didn't hear of interest anywhere else because not a lot of reporters make their bread by digging into the details of Ryan Wendell's market.

Also, I would qualify his best contract offer being 850k guaranteed as "no interest anywhere else". People are looking at the max value as though he has a high likelihood of earning it.

 

[kennyb]

THey should have signed him to NO Signing bonus, NO roster bonus, just vet min salary plus some incentives IF he is deemed to have played satisfactorily.

It's not like anyone else was going to pay him anything.

It's like in Godfather Part 2, "My offer to you is this......nothing".

 

[BobDigital]

In my mind this is likely a 1 yr deal. Either we can not find someone better and we have to start him (worst case) or we draft someone who beats him out and Wendell is cut (best case).

Assuming the rookie beats him out we pay 850K +600K (give or take) for a total of 1.45M for a starter center. When you look at it that way that is a good deal I suppose.

So ideally Wendell is an insurance policy. However, I am surprised by this deal and the 850K we need to lay down to sign him. We should not need to pay that much for an insurance policy (and a bad one at that).

 

[Kdo5]

I wasn't too down on the fact that Blount had left but after reading this it gets me a bit frustrated. We could have spent that money on him instead of Wendell. Yikes...

 

[BradyManny]

This rationale never makes any sense to me. Do fans think that, of all people, Belichick is a fan of just handing out bigger contracts than he has to? I think it's more likely we didn't hear of interest anywhere else because not a lot of reporters make their bread by digging into the details of Ryan Wendell's market.

Belichick doesn't really worry about what another player is worth to the rest of the league, either in draft or free agency. He sets a value on a player, and then he follows through.

So, no, I don't think he's a fan of arbitrarily handing out bigger contracts than he has to, but I do think that - on rare occasions - he will pay more for a guy than the other 31 teams would. Either in money or draft capital.

And that's not necessarily a bad way to do business. If you worry about how much the other teams are going to pay for a guy and try to beat it by $1, or draft him one spot higher than the next interested team, you will lose out on players you like.

Unfortunately, on the flip side, you can do things like end up drafting Tavon Wilson in round 2 and re-signing fringe starters to deals worth more than they should be. Honestly, a small price to pay compared to losing out on guys you really like.

In this case, I think he valued a player on his team more than the other 31 teams would have. It happens.

 

[Urgent]

Good signing.

Here's a smart center who knows the system and makes the blocking calls, signed for short starting money with a tiny signing bonus.

The Pats can enter the draft with no real starter holes, and can take advantage of a deep draft by watching the opportunities. They don't need a starting interior OL, they don't need a starting DL, they don't need a starting DB. However there are opportunities to upgrade at several spots.

While Wendell struggles against bigger DL, he's trained under Dante and has familiarity with the guards. He will compete to be the starter. If the Pats pick up an interior OL early, he can be traded with a smaller dead money charge.

 

[Sicilian]

Belichick doesn't really worry about what another player is worth to the rest of the league, either in draft or free agency. He sets a value on a player, and then he follows through.

So, no, I don't think he's a fan of arbitrarily handing out bigger contracts than he has to, but I do think that - on rare occasions - he will pay more for a guy than the other 31 teams would. Either in money or draft capital.

And that's not necessarily a bad way to do business. If you worry about how much the other teams are going to pay for a guy and try to beat it by $1, or draft him one spot higher than the next interested team, you will lose out on players you like.

Unfortunately, on the flip side, you can do things like end up drafting Tavon Wilson and re-signing fringe starters to deals worth more than they should be. Honestly, a small price to pay compared to the former.

In this case, I think he valued a player on his team more than the other 31 teams would have. It happens.

I should probably clarify, because I think we're saying the same thing from two different angles. He sets a value on a player, but part of that value is what he believes he can replace that player for (and what that player is worth on the market). I doubt he would value Wendell at the price he just signed him if he thought Wendell had no offers on the table. Why would he? I'm guessing Wendell had at least one offer from somewhere else.

For example, last year Edelman came back for almost nothing. I'm guessing Belichick would have paid more for Edelman based on his value formula, but he legitimately didn't have any better offers (or was unwilling to relocate for them), so the Pats signed him to a barebones deal. They would have done the same with Wendell IF he actually had no other suitors.

 

[Don_the_patfan]

Not a fan of this move. I want them to go get a OC latest in the third. But now RB is a need as well with Ridley/Vereen contract coming up so.... Great off-season until this move. Money seems way off too but I'll wait for more details.

 

[Kontradiction]

Why is a draftee likely to be better than Wendell? Not only is there no guarantee of that talent-wise, he's going to have to learn all the protections. Even if they do bring in a draftee, it might be worth keeping Wendell on to smooth the process.

How is it hard to assume that considering that Wendell was playing like the worst center in the league for a huge stretch of the season and was simply anywhere from mediocre to poor the rest of it? That said, I feel better seeing that the Pats can cut him before the season and not even be on the hook for $1M of his contract. I just hope they do something else at the position because A-Gap pressure on a pocket passer is a HUGE deal and he's been pretty bad at stopping it.

 

[Kontradiction]

If he returns to his 2012 form, he is absolutely worth that contract.

His 2012 "form" wasn't much better than his 2013 form at all. I'm not sure what people saw of him in 2012 or if they're only going by the flawed PFF ratings that actually had him as a serviceable starting center, but Wendell very badly needs to be replaced.

 

[BradyManny]

I doubt he would value Wendell at the price he just signed him if he thought Wendell had no offers on the table. Why would he? I'm guessing Wendell had at least one offer from somewhere else.

This part I disagree with - I don't think Belichick would act very differently if there were other contracts on the table if he thought Wendell was worth it. Last year, he set a certain value on Edelman. This year he set a certain value on Wendell. To me, that's all there is to it.

We know Edelman had interest from the NYG last season - he took a visit. Wendell took zero visits. Doesn't mean he didn't have interest, but still.

I should also clarify - Belichick sets a range. I'm sure he starts at the low end of his range in negotiations. Maybe he goes to the high end of the range if there is interest. But he won't budge past that. In this case, I think they got Wendell on the terms Belichick wanted. I mean, it could pan out in a friendly way for the Pats, but I just don't see it though. I think they are simply overpaying for a smart center with some talent deficiencies.

 

[Marinlik]

His 2012 "form" wasn't much better than his 2013 form at all. I'm not sure what people saw of him in 2012 or if they're only going by the flawed PFF ratings that actually had him as a serviceable starting center, but Wendell very badly needs to be replaced.

I feel like a lot of people see a PFF rating and then take it as an absolute fact because it is a number, and those can't be subjective, can they?(they can...)

 

[AzPatsFan]

I agree. Why even bother signing him. If he stinks, and gets cut, still a 850k loss.

Signing a veteran Center in FA should've been the way to go.

If he plays, it only increases the chance Brady will get clobbered...

Bill DID! They signed a starting C away from a winning team, named the Patriots,,,

The Pats FA is completely successful. The Patriot's brain trust have every starting position covered with last years starter, or a premium Probowl upgrade. Now the Pats can feel free to take advantage of opportunities in the Draft. I'd still like them to draft the best available linemen.

The Defensive linemen are not impressive at all, but the available Offensive linemen are spectacular. Stock up while you can. Y ou even have the opportunity to bring them along slowly. :singing:

 

[BobDigital]

Well 1 thing is sure now. BB WILL take a Interior OL player in the top 100 picks or near to it. He is not going to want to pay Wendell that money and going to spend draft capital in a player who can challenge for a starting spot immediately (either allowing us to move Connolly to center or beat Wendell out straight up). We all assumed we would do this but now they have put themselves in a corner where they have to.