Gresh & Zo: Should The Patriots Handle Wes Welker Differently?
Gresh and Zo kicked off Friday's show discussing Patriots receiver Wes Welker.
Welker signed his $9.5 million franchise tag earlier this week, but has since said that contract extension talks have "gotten worse" with the Pats. The two-year, $16 million guaranteed offer from the Patriots that was offered last year has gone down, and Wes is a little upset with it.
How should the Patriots, who have had their battles with players in the past over contract extensions, handle the situation with Welker so things don't get worse?
"It looks like the deal has kind of gone backwards, and that Wes Welker -- hash-tag 'leapoffaith' -- may have leapt into a volcano," said Gresh. "It's going to come down to what everyone thinks the value of the player is... If I were running the organization (I'd say) 'Wes here is your franchise tag, one-year for $9.5 million, thanks for doing business.' That would have been it."
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"If I had to go to extend to a third year, I could live with it but I would be uncomfortable in that final year," added Gresh.
"Now the waters are muddied; the waters are clouded, everything is fractured. I would have taken it on a year-to-year basis with Welker," said Gresh. "If I was running the organization, I would have been ripped for that, but I think that is the best to do business and you wouldn't have run into this muck."
Zolak, on the other hand, doesn't think replacing Welker will be all that easy, and if these talks get ugly it may upset more than just the two sides involved in the negotiations.
"He's Brady's guy... not that that is going to matter in negotiations," added Zolak. "For everybody that thinks, 'take the money if you don't like it Wes, hit the bricks after next year; you're a slot receiver,' good luck finding a slot receiver that can do that. You think Edeleman can do that for 16 games? You think Anthony Gonzalez can do it. It's not like they have a definitive answer sitting there waiting to go."
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"The number you have to start at is $9.5 (million)... and the key word starts with a 'G'; guaranteed," said Zolak.
How can these talks effect younger players on the Patriots roster who are up for a new contract soon, like tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez?
"Now, I think you're running the risk of effecting the guys in the room," said Gresh. "This guy has been vastly underpaid for his production. I think he's viewed as one of the good guys. He's viewed as one of the guys that works hard, the definition of 'The Patriots' Way'."
"I think the Patriots, the biggest risk they run -- forget about pissing Welker off -- what message are they sending to a younger football team? Sebastian Volmer is going to be coming up, Rob Gronkowski is going to be coming up, Aaron Hernandez. The thing that scares me the most about the way they're handling things with Welker is... guys talk; you catch wind of what's going on. When you're in that room and you follow this stuff, especially if you're heading into that contract year, is it going to effect the mindset heading in to those negotiations with those individual players?"
