Wide receiver wants to see offers from other teams before negotiating new deal with New England.
Profootballtalk.com reported Wednesday that talks between Wes Welker and the New England Patriots have broken down, with the veteran wide receiver intends=ing to test the free agent market first.
The small target man is one of the top free agent targets at the position, and there will be some interest from a few playoff chasing teams that would like to spend money on the playmaker, mainly Cleveland, or even a return to his old team Miami.
While it is clear to see that a return to New England looks to be a fall back option for the wideout, there is also a chance that the team may move on from him fairly quickly, as they will look to find an upgrade at the position before Welker has even signed with a potential new team.
The 31 year-old wants to eek out one final big paycheck, and he believes that he will get a better deal lat at different team rather than New England. There is also the possibility that he can use this opportunity to attract a bigger offer from New England than he may have got had he signed a contract extension already.
Players agents do this frequently and is a good tactic to get as much money as possible for their client.
The plan for Welker may be that he wants to stay in New England, but by visiting other teams, he can make the Patriots front office jealous. If they see their player heading towards a conference or divisional rival, they may up their price to get him to stay, and so Welker wins his new big contract.
However, when your head coach is Bill Belichick, playing this game may not work, as he doesn’t hold a long leash when it comes to these kind of games. If Welker does try this tactic, it could backfire, badly.
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