I don't want to hear the CBA Excuse from the Patriots

If a new CBA is not agreed upon soon, the next season will be an uncapped year. The Patriots have an opportunity to not just re-sign there own players, but make moves in free agency to rebuild this team. The Patriots are not reloading they are rebuilding.



The one excuse I have heard for the reason the Pats have not made a deal with Vince Wilfork is the uncertainty of the CBA. As pointed out by Michael Felger today on his show on 98.5 the Sports Hub, the CBA situation is just an excuse the Patriots have been feeding us in regards to signing players like Vince Wilfork. They want to wait until they know what the new CBA is moving forward.



In the meantime, Eli Manning, Phillip Rivers, Tony Romo, and Demarcus Ware get signed to new deals. Teams like the Steelers, Giants and Cowboys are giving new deals to there talent. There is no reason the Patriots cannot do the same. Even with this CBA uncertainty I believe business still needs to get done.



The Patriots have lost some of there most talented players over money. I can point to Deion Branch and Asante Samuel as just 2 players the Pats eventually lost. What is troubling about both of these players is that they were draft picks that were groomed right here in New England.

In both situations, if the Pats had been proactive and approached them earlier before there deals were getting close to running out they might have been able to hold onto them.



Personally, I would rather keep the talented players in our system rather than have to replace them on the open market. In Asante's case the Patriots have not fully replaced him at corner. Leigh Bodden is not bad, but he is not close the player Asante has become. In Deion's case he was replaced by Randy Moss. You could give Randy Moss the money, but you cannot give it to Deion Branch?



The Pats have recently signed some of there less expensive players to team friendly deals. At some point you need to pay your high priced players a fair amount. Are the Pats going to pay these players this offseason? If they don't pay these players Pats fans should not accept the CBA excuse.