After the Patriots’ Super Bowl LI victory, tight end Martellus Bennett seemed excited about hitting the open market because teams “overpay” champions. It appears someone is about to grant Bennett’s wish with a mega-deal, as Mike Giardi of CSNNE tweets that six teams have already checked in on the soon-to-be 30-year-old. Bennett is seeking around $9MM per year, a source told Giardi.
Currently the best unsigned tight end in the NFL, Bennett is coming off a season in which he was an integral piece of the champs’ offense. With the banged-up Rob Gronkowski on the sideline for most of the year, Bennett appeared in all of New England’s games and hauled in 55 receptions, 701 yards and seven touchdowns. Since entering the league in 2008, Bennett has combined for 403 catches and 30 scores with four different clubs.
The Pats tried during the season to extend Bennett at $7MM per annum, but he made what could be a wise decision (for his bank account, anyway) in rejecting it. Bennett, whom PFR’s Zach Links ranks 20th overall in this year’s free agent class, has drawn interest from the Raiders, Jaguars and Giants. Notably, he spent 2012 with Big Blue.
Then let him walk
He’s. On. Crack.
Sorry to see you go 88. Hope you enjoy the money,you can watch the Super Bowl and root our team on next February!
Well he did say, “Super Bowl Winners, Get Paid”
He should have kept his mouth shut that had to have ended any and all talks with the Pats once he said that someone always overpays for a Super Bowl champion. It would be a different story if Gronk wasn’t here or if he wasn’t healthy but he seems to be healthy and we did just tender a contract to a TE so we should be fine and there are a bunch of good TE’s in this years draft so the Pats will be fine. Spend their money on Hightower and Ryan not on Bennett