The Patriots supposedly haven’t extended the contract of defensive tackle Vince Wilfork due to uncertainty with the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and the union.
Wilfork doesn’t buy it.
“Not at all, because there’s 31 other teams out there, and a lot of them are making moves,” Wilfork said Sunday, per Ian Rapaport of the Boston Herald. “They’re in the same situation we’re in. I understand what he’s saying, but at the same token, it’s not stopping the other teams from making their moves, and what they have to do. Trust me, I understand where they’re coming from. We have a lot of guys on this team that are going to be up. Pretty good players. I know that’s pretty tough for them, but at the same time, the labor situation, it’s all over the NFL, so, it is what it is. Like I said, it doesn’t stop other teams from making moves.”
Elsewhere in the locker room, one of Wilfork’s teammates was singing a different tune, and in doing so confirming Wilfork’s position that business can still be transacted.
Offensive tackle Nick Kaczur said that he’s one of the guys as to whom the Patriots will be “making their moves.”
“I’m obviously excited because this is one of the best, if not the best, organization in football, the way you get treated from Mr. Kraft to everyone here,” Kaczur said, according to Mike Reiss of the Boston Globe.
“I think that speaks well for what they do here, that the players like it here and like the way things go that they want to stay,” Kaczur said “It’s really exciting to know that they would like to continue working with you.”
Kaczur, like Wilfork, is signed through the 2009 season. Kaczur is due to earn a base salary of $2.27 million. Wilfork is scheduled to earn $2.2 million.
That said, Wilfork is likely expecting a lot more money going forward than Kaczur, especially since Wilfork plays the same position that resulted in a $41 million guaranteed payday for Albert Haynesworth.