There is a weekly update on the “Pay the Man” campaign for Matt Forte in Chicago, complete with announcers pleading for Bears G.M. Jerry Angelo to do what’s right and give the man a contract.
Meanwhile in New England, Wes Welker’s contract year gets ignored.
The NFL’s leader in receptions (51) and yards (785) by a wide margin is making less than $2.5 million in the final year of a five-year, $18.5 million deal that has made Welker one of the biggest bargains in the league for years.
“I have agents that take care of that part of things for me and to tell you the truth I take no part in any of it,” Welker told Tom Curran of CSNNE.com. “I don’t want to talk about it, I don’t really want to be involved with it I just want them to do their job and I’ll do mine and at the end of the day, I’m not worried about it at all.”
Does he worry about getting injured again after tearing his ACL in 2009?
“I mean, I’ve been doing this for a long time,” Welker said. “I’m just trying to do the best I can to help the team.”
Perhaps Welker is quietly confident that his play on the field is doing more for him than anything else can. It’s hard to imagine this Patriots offense without Welker’s eight catches a week.