NFL Rumors: New England Patriots cannot afford to sign Aqib Talib and Julian Edelman?

So far this off-season, the New England Patriots seem to find themselves talking about what they cannot do. They seem to be faced with a lot of “this or that” scenarios in which they can retain one player at the expense of losing another.

That has been thought to be the case with slot receivers Danny Amendola and Julian Edelman, and now it sounds like the team would be faced with a difficult scenario if it wished to sign Edelman and cornerback Aqib Talib as free agents.

The recent developments in this situation have had to do with the market for cornerbacks, with Brent Grimes signing a four-year, $32 million deal with the Miami Dolphins and Sam Shields signing a four-year, $39 million deal with the Green Bay Packers. That gives teams a sense of the baseline for a guy like Talib before free agency officially opens.

Karen Guregian and Jeff Howe write the following in the Boston Herald about what the Patriots face with Talib and Edelman:

"The Pats just might have to dish out more than they’d like in order to keep Talib, as well as Brady’s go-to-guy,Julian Edelman, once the dust settles.”"

Talib will likely ask for more than either of the aforementioned corners got. He might just have a suitor willing to pay him that much in the Washington Redskins, who have an owner willing to play fast and loose with big contracts and a coach who is familiar with Talib in Raheem Morris (now Washington’s secondary coach).

With the combination of that action in the cornerback market and the need to keep one of Tom Brady‘s weapons, here’s betting that Edelman ends up back in New England with Talib possibly on the move.