Wes Welker is one of the few franchise players who have signed their tender, signing the 9.515 million dollar tender earlier this offseason, but he has yet to receive a long term deal. According to ESPN Boston, there has been “no meaningful progress” between the two sides lately. Welker was offered a deal after signing his tender that he said was worse than the 2 year, 16 million dollar deal he was offered during the season. He said he was frustrated with the situation after that, but then backtracked when the Patriots got mad.

It’s appearing more and more likely that he’ll play out the season under the one year tender and then negotiate a new deal next offseason with the Patriots, when he’ll be a free agent. The Patriots have all the leverage because both sides know Welker is worth a lot more in New England’s system than anywhere else. There’s also been some speculation that the Patriots could pull another shocker and trade Welker before the season. They’ve certainly done similar shocking things in the past with Richard Seymour and Randy Moss, and then, of course, there was the infamous release of Lawyer Milloy before the 2003 season. I wouldn’t put it past them.

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