Martellus Bennett‘s status has been one of the more intriguing stories in recent days, and Friday’s brought new chapters to it.
Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reported Bennett has a torn rotator cuff, but he showed up for Patriots practice on Friday to indicate he’s passed a physical for his new team, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link).
The Patriots were the only team to claim Bennett, whom they didn’t re-sign this offseason to lead to the Packers making a rare venture into non-street free agency in adding him. Varying degrees of rotator cuff tears exist, and Bennett — who played in seven Packers games before missing Monday’s — looks to have avoided a serious tear.
Bennett has 24 receptions for 233 yards this season after being the top tight end on the Patriots’ latest Super Bowl team. This time around, the injured player joins Dwayne Allen — who has no catches this season despite playing in each of New England’s eight games — as a supplementary cog behind Rob Gronkowski. While Gronkowski is one of the NFL’s more injury-prone players, he’s healthy right now.
Two years remain on the Bennett deal the Patriots are now responsible for, but the 30-year-old tight end said he plans to retire after this season. He may be attempting to play hurt in an environment that clearly worked for him last season.
Or he just wanted out of GB and GB wanted off the hook for the salary. No way he retires
I agree…he just talks to talks.
#AnnoyingUnicorn
Sounds like he only wanted to play for a winner.
Bingo!
What does the fifth circuit court of appeals think about his rotator cuff?