New England Patriots Should Pass On Danny Amendola

With Wes Welker testing the NFL free agent market, this offseason talks have circulated about the New England Patriots making a move at wide receiver Danny Amendola. Surely, the former St. Louis Rams wideout isn’t going to be the heir-apparent to Welker and I think Bill Belichick and company should avoid him entirely.

At the slot position Amendola hasn’t been a model of consistency, missing 22 games over his four year career. The Patriots can’t afford to take a chance on a guy that hasn’t played in a complete season since 2010. Amendola may be a play-maker when he is in the game, but that doesn’t matter if he is on the sidelines each week.

Replacing Welker is going to be the most difficult thing that the Patriots have had to do since letting go of Randy Moss. I would much rather see the Pats re-sign a player like Brandon Lloyd than go out and give Amendola a deal. Offensively, their hands are tied with nearly $20M going to Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez in 2013. Spending money on an injury-prone 27-year-old makes no sense when they have talented receivers and other moves still to make.

Designating Amendola as the “next Wes Welker” is insulting to say the least as Welker is three times the player that Amendola will ever be.

As the offseason begins to heat up, the Patriots would be best to cross Amendola of off their free agency list and focus more on players like Sebastian Vollmer, Aqib Talib and Lloyd.