Someone 'close' to Tom Brady 'enraged' at Patriots for losing Wes Welker

How's the Patriots quarterback feel about losing his top receiver?

By Ryan Van Bibber@justRVB Mar 13, 2013, 5:48pm EDT

The New England Patriots without Wes Welker are going to take some getting used to, especially for Tom Brady, who called his top receiver the "heart and soul" of team. Reports out of New England say that the quarterback is slightly upset about losing Welker and the low-ball offer the team made in an effort to keep him in town.

Backing up for a minute. The Broncos signed Welker for a reasonable $12 million over two years. The Patriots were reported to have made an offer of $10 million over two years, with incentives.

Tom Curran of ComCast Sports New England, reported that a source close to Brady said the quarterback was "beyond enraged" by the situation.

Spoke to someone close to Tom Brady. Beyond enraged at contract details that netted Broncos Wes Welker. "Disgrace""disservice" were used.
— Tom E. Curran (@tomecurran) March 13, 2013

Yikes.

Curran walked it back a little in a subsequent tweet.

The enraged party in my previous tweet was someone close to Brady. Not Brady himself. Got no idea how he feels. But I bet I could guess.
— Tom E. Curran (@tomecurran) March 13, 2013

I'm obliged to make a crack about an Ugg boot being thrown into a television here, but I'll defer. You can kind of understand why Brady might a little upset. The veteran quarterback renegotiated his own contract to free up more than $8 million in cap space this year.

Would it have killed the Patriots to offer more? Maybe not. Then again, the team has money tied up in Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, two young, dynamic tight ends that make for some redundancy in what Welker does. The Patriots need receiver help on the outside of the field, after a disappointing performance from Brandon Lloyd last year.

Brady might well be pissed off about losing his long-time partner, but winning cures all. If the Pats can find a suitable way to start a new era. Pardon the cliche, but football is often a tough business. Nobody knows that better than Bill Belichick.