Tom Brady: I did not demand that the Patriots keep Wes Welker
No matter how he tries to spin it, Tom Brady is not happy that the New England Patriots allowed Wes Welker to sign with the Denver Broncos this offseason. Welker had been Brady’s favorite target for six years, with the two connecting for an average of 112 passes per season. When Brady restructured his contract to give the team more cap space, we all assumed Welker’s return was a given.
We were wrong.
Brady had to have discussed the return of Welker with New England’s front office. He was reportedly furious when the Patriots supposedly would not budge with their offer to the veteran receiver, but he has been with the team long enough to know how business-oriented they are.
“Those aren’t my demands,” Brady told WEEI’s Dennis and Callahan on Thursday when discussing why he restructured his deal. “I want us to field as competitive a team as we possibly can. And I have all the trust in the world that Mr. [Robert] Kraft and Jonathan [Kraft] and coach [Bill] Belichick will do that. There’s nothing about me, I don’t say that, I’m not general manager, I can’t say, ‘Look, I do this, you do this.’
“I don’t think anything surprises me any more in the NFL. I’ve been around long enough to see things happen at different times with the greatest players of all, whether that’s Wes, or Randy Moss being traded from the Raiders, or Brett Favre playing for the Jets and the Vikings. That’s what happens. Like I said, it’s a very tough, competitive business.”
Brady has begun working one-on-one with Danny Amendola and has probably already gotten over the departure of his close friend. That’s the type of competitor he is. That being said, there’s nothing No. 12 could say to make me believe the Patriots didn’t give him the impression that signing his cheaper contract extension would make it more feasible for the team to bring back Welker. Anyone who knows the Patriot Way knows better than that.
