One of a few teams to release a vested veteran over the weekend rather than expose a non-vested player to waivers, the Patriots re-signed Demaryius Thomas in advance of Week 1. The defending Super Bowl champions will give the 10th-year veteran a raise as well.
The Pats increased Thomas’ base salary from $1.2MM to $1.5MM, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. While this is minimal compared to what Thomas entered last season earning, the Patriots now have two Pro Bowlers (Thomas and Josh Gordon) and a Super Bowl MVP in their receiving corps.
Thomas entered last season in the fourth year of his five-year, $70MM deal he and the Broncos hammered out at the 2015 franchise tag deadline. The 31-year-old talent may now be a week-to-week proposition, depending on how he looks, health-wise. The Pats have not been shy about cutting veteran wideouts over the past two years, and Thomas’ status may be tenuous if/when N’Keal Harry comes off IR.
The 2010 first-round pick spent much of Patriots camp on the active/PUP list but was activated in time for a seven-catch, 87-yard, two-touchdown showing in the team’s final preseason game. Thomas suffered his severe Achilles injury in Week 16 of last season and said no other teams expressed interest. The four-time Pro Bowler, who posted 677 yards and five touchdown catches in 2018, will have a chance to prove he can still contribute.
curious why they released him to begin with. Can anyone clarify the thinking behind this one?
why release, resign, and pay MORE?
As a veteran he wasn’t subject to waivers and couldn’t be claimed by another team so he was free to resign with them with minimal risk of losing him.
They placed N’keal Harry on IR after 53 man cut so he could potentially come back. If Harry was placed on IR before cut downs he’d be out the entire season.
nevermind found the imbedded article explaining it. just a dumb dumb apparently
it’s not really dumb they didn’t want to lose a young player in Gunner O so they released a player with a promise to resign him in a week or so it happens all the time
Don’t think for a second that the small raise is insignificant. It’s a show of respect and that is something the Patriots understand has great importance to players but other organizations simply seem to care nothing about.
Yeah. Patriots are well known for giving a show of financial respect to veteran players, not cutting or trading them
Noted sarcasm. Patriots are in the business of winning games, not paying talent. They give respect to players who understand their roll. Not many if any of their traded or cut players have had true success outside of their organization.
Thanks for clarifying what I should and shouldn’t be thinking. Much appreciated.
Release to re sign to raise
vintage Bill Belichick. making lemonade out of lemons. if the man wasn’t the greatest football coach of all time he probably would have been giving Warren Buffett a run for his money.