Good breakdown from Reiss on how it all went down…
The team’s offer, a two-year, $10 million pact with incentives that could have pushed it as high as $16 million but in the eyes of Welker would be extremely difficult to reach, wasn’t accepted. At that point, Welker and his representatives intensified their pursuit of other offers, and it helped that some groundwork had previously been laid with the Broncos. Likewise, the Patriots turned their attention to Amendola, who was their top choice if things didn’t work out with Welker (and in the eyes of some on the other side of the negotiating table their top choice all along).