Since falling short in Super Bowl LII to the Philadelphia Eagles, the New England Patriots have undergone a major shuffling of players on both sides of the ball. This has seen several key members of the team depart via free agency.
Among those to go was veteran wide receiver Danny Amendola, who signed a two-year, $12 million deal with the Miami Dolphins that was a bit of a surprising move. According to Mike Reiss of ESPN, Amendola revealed that the Patriots had never got close to offering the same type of money to retain him.
“I came in with an open mind. I understand Bill runs a tight ship, and he hasn’t been known to pay his players, really. I understood that I gave money back to him so I could play for him and play for my teammates and fulfill my side of the contract, and at the end of the day, I had faith that he was going to give me an opportunity to stay,” Amendola said. “When free agency broke, I came to the realization that he wasn’t going to really come close to any of the other offers I had. I had to make a decision for my family and go down to Miami and continue my career there.”
In the last five years, Amendola had ingrained himself as one of the key players on the offensive side of the ball for the Patriots. He had also been a major asset in the playoffs being one of quarterback Tom Brady's primary assets in the passing game.
This was especially the case last year as he was a huge factor in the passing game recording 26 catches for 348 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns in the three postseason games.
It is quite puzzling that New England was willing to let one of their key players walk away in free agency. However, it has been a common thread for the organization as the Patriots have had a history of moving on from high-profile players on the team over the years.
Amendola is simply the latest to join that list of players that have departed from the organization in some sort of fashion before it was time to do so. He is now set to begin the next chapter of his career with the Dolphins over the next two seasons.
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