In a move that I really didn’t anticipate the Pats and Hernando have agreed to a 5-year extension on top of his rookie deal locking him up in New England through the 2018 season.
A lot of Pats fans have been expressing concern that this means bad things for the chances of Welker still getting an extension but I think it’s too early to worry about that.
Things with Welker are going one of two ways after this season.
Either he’ll have another monster year, gain enough leverage for an expensive three year deal and walk. Or he’ll have a down year giving some leverage back to the Pats and maybe opening up some middle ground where they can secure him for a couple more seasons.
Personally I’m just going to enjoy watching Welker this year, because regardless of this extension for Hernandez, it’s likely his last in a Patriots uniform.
But the important thing is that Hernando and Gronk are going to be Patriots through the primes of their careers, and possibly through the Brady transition. There’s no question these two versatile pieces will give opposing defenses a lot to worry about in the coming years, especially in the middle of the field.
The two are such complimentary pieces and they should continue to help each other gain favorable match-ups. Now if we can just find a young outside wide receiver we should be really set for a long time.
Long-term agreement with TE Aaron Hernandez is through 2018 season, per source. Gronkowski extension was thru 2019.
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) August 27, 2012
