Saturday, February 23, 2013

Patriots re-sign Donte Stallworth

In the wake of the apparently major injury to Julian Edelman, the Patriots have re-sign wide reciever Donte Stallworth.

New England had brought Stallworth in for a workout recently and rumors abounded that he would be signed to counter for the injury to Rob Gronkowski, but the Patriots opted to go into their two games after Gronkowski broke his left forearm without making a roster move - but Edelman's injury left the team too thin at the reciever position to ignore.

Gronkoski's injury occured on Nov. 18 against the Colts, and Edelman left Sun Life Stadium in Miami on crutches, his foot in a walking boot.

On March 19th, Stallworth signed with the Patriots before the team released him on Aug. 27th.  In 10 seasons, Stallworth has 320 catches for 4,774 yards and 34 touchdowns.

Stallworth had originally signed with the Patriots on March 11, 2007, a reported six-year deal worth $30 million with $3.5 million guaranteed that had clauses for under-performance that eventually allowed the Patriots to release him before the start of the following season.

Legal problems led to a suspension for the entire 2009 season.

During training camp, Bill Belichick praised Stallworth for his hard work, and his rapport with quarterback Tom Brady remained tight despite the layoff - and his release during final cutdowns was deemed a "tough decision" by the Patriots' head coach and came as a surprise to many players and media members.

Details of the deal were not made public.

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