3:15pm: The Patriots have officially announced the signing of Edelman.
11:40am: Edelman’s four-year deal has a base value of $17MM, including $8MM guaranteed, with another $2MM available via incentives, reports Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports (via Twitter).
TUESDAY, 11:00am: Appearing on WAAF this morning, Edelman indicated that his new contract with the Patriots is a four-year deal, tweets Field Yates of ESPN Boston.
SATURDAY, 1:57pm: Julian Edelman has agreed to terms on a deal that will have him returning to the Patriots, reports Ian Rapaport of NFL.com (via Twitter).
Edelman was the Patriots’ most productive receiver in 2013, catching 105 passes for ever 1,000 yards and six touchdowns. All of those marks were career highs for the 27-year-old wide receiver.
He was the only consistent weapon for Tom Brady, as he struggled with two rookie receivers and injuries in the backfield. The team’s top two receiving threats going into the season, Danny Amendola and Rob Gronkowski, both struggled to stay on the field.
They still need a deep threat. They can’t just throw continuously over the middle. It won’t work in the playoffs. They need 3 more players. A deep threat WR, a legit rotational defensive lineman and a center.
I’m sure they’ll give Dobson / Tompkins a chance to emerge / stay healthy and become that deep threat.
It shouldn’t be difficult to find a Center, but yes, they need to find some DT help.
Dobson and his foot scares me. Might slow him down a little. I think Thompkins has the chance to develop in to a good receiver, but he gets a little lost out there at times. They are both very talented, but the Pats are gonna want to see quicker development. It was clear they struggled last year. Gronk opened everything up, but when he went down again it really hurt them. Dan Connoly is an internal option for C if Wendell signs elsewhere. I also could see them signing a veteran RG like Unewi (spelling may be wrong) or Davin Joseph.