Patriots’ Jonathan Kraft: Wes Welker’s agent had unrealistic expectations

The New England Patriots weren’t able to hold on to wide reeciver Wes Welker who went to Denver to team up with Peyton Manning. Patriots president Jonathan Kraft is speaking out now saying that was because of unrealistic expectations from Welker’s agent.

“We still offered Wes before free agency started, more than he ended up getting in the open market,” Kraft said, via the Boston Globe. “But once free agency started, we went out and signed Danny because he fit a construct that worked within our system, and we couldn’t take the risk of losing both Wes and Danny. So it really wasn’t as much about the money, it was about trying to do a deal with Wes before free agency started. His agent had a view of the world that we didn’t think was realistic.”

Kraft says the Patriots offered him a deal before his final season in New England playing under the franchise tag, and had he accepted he would be making more money.

“We had actually offered Wes a deal the summer before that on a three-year basis would’ve left him in a financially better place than what he’s gonna end up having been in over those three years. But we were willing to do that at a certain time when his production was at a certain level, his age was at a certain level, and he was performing as a player. When we went another year into the process, we still in our head had a value that we were able to place on the player. The player and his agent thought that their value in the open market was going to be greater,” Kraft said.

Welker ultimately signed a two-year, $12 million contract with the Broncos and is headed into the final year of that deal.