Could the Patriots cut ties with Danny Amendola to sign Julian Edelman?

In the 2013 season, the Patriots faced a complete overhaul on offense and one of the targets many enjoyed seeing was Danny Amendola. While Amendola's main question was health (as it played throughout the season) former 7th round draft pick, Julian Edelman, stepped up huge and was a key part of the Patriots offense. Edelman's increase in production raises his value as a pending free agent and rightfully so.

With limited money, is it worth perhaps cutting Danny Amendola to keep Julian Edelman? Before we get into salary numbers, let's look at their stats from the past season.

Player	Receptions	Yards	Touchdowns	YAC	1st downs
Danny Amendola	54	633	2	234	37
Julian Edelman	105	1056	6	406	54

As you can clearly see, Edelman has nearly double the amount of catches and triple the touchdowns. To be fair, Amendola did miss a fair shot of playing time. Amendola only played in 12 games this past season. I'll adjust his numbers accordingly. Amendola (based on averages of his 12 game numbers) was on track for: 72 catches, 844 yards, 2.6 touchdowns, 312 YAC, and 49.3 1st downs. Solid, but not great numbers, and still pretty far from Julian Edelman who saw over 150 targets.

While the on the field debate sides with Edelman, the money favors Amendola pretty heavily. The receiver is set to make $4.53 million next season and cutting him would literally more than double the salary cap (depending on what salary cap information you have) And while I don't suggest the Patriots invest that nine million dollar space on Edelman, it definitely gives you options.

Ben Volin, BostonGlobe:

Danny Amendola may be fighting for a roster spot come March 11, the first day of the 2014 league year. Amendola signed a five-year deal worth $28.5 million ($10 million guaranteed last March), and $2 million of his $3 million base salary in 2014 becomes guaranteed if he’s on the roster at 4 p.m. on March 11. Amendola is coming off a disappointing season in which he missed four games and lost Tom Brady’s trust, and could be in danger of being cut. It would cost the Patriots $4.8 million against the cap to outright cut him, which seems unlikely given their tight cap situation, but they could designate him a post-June 1 cut, which would give him cap charges of $1.2 million in 2014 and $3.6 million in 2015. The Patriots could then use those savings to sign free agent Julian Edelman.

Personally, I would love to see Edelman get his due and possibly let go of Amendola and here's my personal take on it. You figure the Patriots offense is still revamping, Edelman followed by Gronkowski probably have the most experience playing with and alongside Brady. Amendola missed time and was still getting use to Brady. Why not draft a big tight end and maybe a WR (which is a strong point in this year's draft)? They would add an immediate impact and your top target(s) would be coming back. Not including Dobson and Vereen, that offense could be what is needed to win Brady his 4th ring.