Nick Saban took the job at Alabama in January of 2007. Welker wasn't traded to the Pats until March of 2007. But I would imagine that Saban called his boy Mumbles and gave him an insider scouting report of his favorite midget wideout on his way out of town.
You're right, Saban was gone. Still, the Pats could've gotten Welker without giving away picks, yet made the trade. Welker toasted the Pats the year before.
(1) Yet another case of NFL GM's putting too much emphasis on height, weight, time in 40, # of bench presses, etc., and not paying enough attention to how a guy plays on the field. Welker is tne anti-Jeff George. (2) Miami gambled and lost. Gave him a contract tender as a restricted free agent and New England matched the offer in exchange for a 2nd. They have to be kicking themselves now, considering who they have for receivers on their roster. I think the guy they drafted with that pick only lasted one year too.
I too feel the biggest loss of this season was Kris Jenkins to injury. What we've seen proven over the last several weeks is: Your stud 3-4 Nose Tackle goes down = Season Over (at least when it comes to serious playoff, super bowl hopes)
Not just Welker BB didn't see him as a mediocre player. He gave the Patriots defense fits when he was at Miami. He saw the best way to defend him was by sacrificing a draft pick. But it isn't just Welker. It is Welker, Brady, Moss and whichever running back happens to be healthy in any given week. You guys pretty much took care of Moss last week. You could likely take away Welker instead if y'all really tried. Taking away both without letting the running game take off is the hard part.
Meh. That regime is long gone. You're right about the pick though. It was used to draft Samson Satele who was traded to Oakland this off season. The poster who said it was a straight up trade was right. According to wikipedia .. I know .. the patriots had originally considered using a poison pill but decided not to. Sorry for getting a bit off topic.
I don't think that's correct. He was a restricted free agent, so I believe there were only two options - (a) match the offer, or (b) don't match and collect a draft compensation. See HughC above. I don't think there was a third option available.
The Pats made an offer, if the Phins match they keep him, if not the Pats get him. The only reason it cost the Pats draft picks is because they chose to make a trade. When a team gets draft compensation, it doesn't come from another team, it is added to a round by the NFL.
No, when a team signs a restricted free agent, they owe compensation in the form of draft picks as determined by the initial tender offer. Welker signed a second round tender with the Dolphins. As a result, the minimum the Patriots would have had to surrender was a 2nd rounder. Rather than take a chance on the Dolphins matching the offer, they threw in a 7th and traded instead.
Yeap, Iggy is right about that, it's not a selectino added, it is forfeited by the team that wins a player away in RFA with an unmatched contract. For example: when the Jets did not match the contract that the Redskins offered as a first round tender to Coles they collected Washington's first round pick. I figured a Pats fan would know this since that year the Jets stupidly traded up with Chicago for Dewayne Robertson and the Pats traded with Chicago for the pick that the Jets got from Washington and selected Ty Warren.
