The Patriots remained busy just hours before the legal tampering period for free agency begins.
On Sunday night, Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald reported that the team is re-signing Kendrick Bourne to a three-year, 19.5 million contract. Bourne can make a max of $33 million and he’ll get a $4.2 million signing bonus.
Bourne confirmed the deal without actually confirming the deal himself on Twitter later in the night. Technically, nothing is official until the new NFL league year starts at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
This is an important move for a number for reasons. It gives any quarterback a talented receiver (as long as he’s fully healthy) that can make plays after the catch. He’s also someone who’s repeatedly said how much he loves it here and how much he wants to be here. Well, he just proved it committing to be part of this brand new generation of Patriots football.
Bourne recently said that he’s progressed nicely from the torn ACL and plans on being ready to go for the season opener. The unfortunate thing about Bourne’s career as a Patriot so far is that we’ve only seen it in spurts, with Bill Belichick oddly choosing not to use him as much as he probably should have from the start after signing here in 2021.
When he first signed after four productive years in San Fransisco, Bourne caught 55 balls for 800 yards and five touchdowns and played all 17 games, but oddly only started five games. In 2022, Bourne started just two games and played in all 16, catching 35 passes for 434 yards and a TD, but he was clearly in the Matt Patricia/Bill Belichick dog house early on. He handled that season extremely professionally when many others would not have. Last year in eight games before the injury, he racked up 37 catches for 406 yards and four TD’s, even with the O-line and QB play as bad as it was.
It’s a good signing on the field, but a better signing off of it. He’s a great locker room and practice presence, constantly bringing positive energy and laughter daily. This is also a statement to the rest of the room from the new regime. Paying to keep guys like Bourne and Hunter Henry that have done things the right way even when they haven’t always been put in the best position to succeed by the coaches is a sign of respect that’s been a struggle for most players to get in Foxborough for 20+ years. The sign of commitment to Bourne coming off such a major injury can’t hurt too, but the fact he’s only 28 probably had something to do with it as well. Bourne could just be reaching his peak.
It’s been a productive first few days for Eliot Wolf and Jerod Mayo heading into the biggest free agency period in a long, long time. Hopefully, this momentum rolls into Monday.