Wes Welker ‘wouldn’t be opposed’ to Patriots return, laughs off Deflategate
Former Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker made the rounds on Boston sports radio Tuesday along with former Broncos fullback Chris Gronkowski — brother of Patriots tight end Rob –discussing Deflategate, a potential return to New England and more.
First on the docket was 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Toucher and Rich, where Welker said he would be up for a reunion with Bill Belichick should his former coach come calling.
“I wouldn’t be opposed to it,’’ he said. “It’s a great organization, and a great team, so it wouldn’t be the worst situation in the world.’’
Despite posting five 1,000-plus yard seasons under Belichick’s tutelage, Welker had something of a rocky relationship with the New England coach. He was benched for the first series of the 2010 AFC divisional round matchup with the New York Jets and seemingly behind Julian Edelman on the depth chart at the start of the 2012 season, his last with New England. The latter move prompted Welker to say it’s nice to “stick it in Bill’s face once in a while,’’ after catching 13 passes against the Denver Broncos in Week 5.
Brandon Spikes recently returned to the Patriots despite some uncouth comments on his departure a year ago, so there’s some precedent for reconciliation. In an appearance later Tuesday with WEEI’s Middays with MFB, Welker said it’s his belief he and Belichick have buried the hatchet.
“I think so, I think so,’’ Welker said. “I don’t think there’s any hard feelings there or anything like that. Definitely not from my side and I don’t think from his either. I never ruled [a return] out. I don’t think there’s any hard feelings there.’’
The free agent, who had 464 receiving yards and two touchdowns in 14 games last season, told Toucher and Rich he hadn’t heard from the Patriots.
Also in the WEEI interview, Welker said Deflategate was only a big deal because it was Tom Brady.
“It’s like, ‘Oh, Tom [Brady] did it? Oh yeah, it’s definitely a big deal. It’s definitely a big deal, yeah, underinflated ball is so much easier to…’’ Welker said sarcastically. “I never really noticed a difference in the balls or anything like that. I think it is [a big deal] because it’s him and guys on other teams and different things like that are kind of like, ‘I knew he was doing something,’ you know. I don’t know how big a deal it really is. I really don’t.
“Any ball you catch or run with or anything, you’re don’t really pay attention to PSI in a ball.’’
Welker was close with his quarterback during his time in New England and told WEEI has remained so since departing, texting him ever few weeks.
While Welker said the underinflated balls would do little to help a receiver, he admitted it may have aided the team’s low fumble numbers, though he chalked that up more to Belichick’s emphasizing ball protection.
“I guess that’s one statistic that you kind of look at and kind of maybe a little bit like OK, maybe that helped? I mean, I don’t know, because everybody practices good ball security on every team. It’s not like Bill [Belichick] reinvented the wheel on that one or anything but he obviously emphasizes it a lot and does a great job with it.’’
He also spoke about his feelings of being passed over by the Patriots in favor of Danny Amendola during the 2013 offseason. The Patriots’ signing of Amendola was reported hours after news of Welker’s deal with the Broncos broke, but Welker’s agent later said it was the Patriots who broke negotiations.
“Maybe at first [I was upset] a little bit. It was kind of one of those deals where like New England was here. Denver was here and it was like, can we meet somewhere in the middle? Can we try and … it was basically like, ‘We’ve already moved on,’… it kind of shocked me a little bit, because we’re like right here, we’re not very far apart… it made it easy on me to be able to make that move to… I know how Bill works and the Patriots, too. It’s really the reason why they’ve been successful for a lot of years… You can’t really be that upset.’’
Tom Brady career timeline
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