Patriots have a battle ahead with Welker and Hernandez

The Wes Welker contract battle has been well documented. According to the Globe's Greg Bedard the Patriots and Welker are $6 million apart in their contract negotiations. The team has until July 16th to give the six-year Patriot an extension otherwise they will have to wait until the end of the regular season. It's looking more and more likely that that will be the case. Welker looks at the deal the Washington Redskins gave Pierre Garcon and obviously he should get something comparable. The Patriots see it differently, because well, they aren't stupid like the Redskins. Says Bedard:

Basically, the Patriots want Welker to take a bit of a discount to stay with Tom Brady. Welker, meanwhile, wants a deal that guarantees him just below the $21 million he would get paid playing two years under the franchise tag.

It also sounds like the Patriots will have their hands full with Aaron Hernandez in the 2014 offseason, so they might want to take care of Welker sooner than later. It appears that Hernandez's camp is preparing to be franchise tagged, but agent David Dunn is going to fight to have Hernandez receive the wide receiever tag, which would obviously net the versatile Hernandez more money.

If they can prove that Hernandez lined up more at wide receiver than tight end, there's a $4.299 million difference in franchise tags.