Breaking: Danny Amendola Will Sign with the Dolphins
There’s a lot to process here but the obvious gut reaction is that this sucks on toast, any way you look at it. Just watching Tom vs. Time this morning, Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski are on the phone after the AFC championship game trying to make sense of how good Amendola gets come playoff time. And he does. His postseason this year ranks among the best by a receiver of all time:
… highlighted by that ridiculous clutch, acrobatic touchdown in the back of the end zone to beat Jacksonville. And his punt returns. And his toughness, which only idiots ever called into question because he was more durable than either Wes Welker or Julian Edelman. As a matter of fact, I’ve make the case before and I’ll say it again, for my money, Danny Playoff Amendola is the second best free agent signing of the Bill Belichick Era. Behind only Mike Vrabel and ahead of even Rodney Harrison.
So I’m not going to attempt to put a shine on this sneaker. The Patriots are weaker than they were at lunch time. Brady has lost one of his most reliable, big game targets. I put re-signing Amendola as one of my top 10 off-season priorities but said it shouldn’t be a hard negotiation because where’s he gonna go with Olivia Culpo living right nearby in Rhode Island. But not only is he leaving, he’s going to be in the division catching balls from Ryan Tannehill. There’s not mitigating that.
But this is life as a Pats fan in March. It’s the worst time of the calendar for us. It happens ever year and it will always happen as long as this team functions with a combination of talented players and cap discipline and you just have to take it. Take it and hope that the recently-extended Kenny Britt and a healthy Malcolm Mitchell are enough to fill the void.
At least on a personal level, Playoff and I will always have Pawtucket.
