Wilfork Still Waiting

With all the fuss concerning Matt Cassel lately, some other New England Patriots have been left out in the cold. The Pats have already wrapped themselves up with almost a quarter of the team’s 2009 salary cap in two players (Cassel and Tom Brady), and some of the team’s other players aren’t happy about the neglect that’s ensued. The latest to come out of Foxboro is that nose tackle Vince Wilfork is not pleased with the way the Patriots have handled his contract, which is set to expire next year.

Wilfork’s base salary for 2009 is $800,000, and this will be the last season on the contract he signed in 2004 when the Patriots scooped him up as a first-round pick in the NFL Draft. Wilfork has proven that he is an absolute asset to the Patriots, and the question has now come up regarding why the Patriots haven’t yet extended his contract.  The Pats let Asante Samuel slip through their fingers last year and it did arguably hurt the team, and they need to put a stopper to Wilfork’s possible departure next season if they want to keep this valuable player in the future.

Vince Wilfork has not kept silent over this issue, as he recently told the Boston Globe that “the ball is not in my court right now… Nothing has happened. No progress has been made. I thought maybe there would be some sort of move forward, but everything is at a standstill. I’m sure they’ll do whatever they have to do. I have that last year, and I’m preparing to play and play well. It’s not going to change me. But they know the longer it takes the more it costs.”

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