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Originally Posted by Rain Man
I was wondering what happened to him last year. I hadn't heard that he retired and thought he was active, but then noticed at the end of the year that he never played. I thought maybe I'd missed a retirement announcement last year.
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So just to recap for anyone who missed it -- Waters missed OTAs and mandatory minicamp, but BB stated those were excused. Then he was missing when training camp started, which was unusual. BB was, as usual, very evasive. Ultimately, he was put on the did not report / reserve list, and his number, 54, was given to rookie Dont'a Hightower.
It came out that apparently he was looking for either a raise or to be traded, or both. Rumor was that he'd be willing to play for the Texans, the team closest to where he lives, I guess. The Patriots let it slip (unusual for them), that they'd be willing to bump up his salary from the $2.5MM he was scheduled to make to $4.0MM, and thought that woudl do the trick, but he still never showed.
Rumor was he was hoping to be released so he could play, but fat chance of that.
Let me be clear -- he was REALLY GOOD in 2011. Played extremely well. Far beyond our hopes, honestly, for a guy that age who was thought to be on the decline. Patriots fans were very disappointed.
Pats have now released him. There's also this:
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Originally Posted by Boston Globe Patriots blog
At the NFL Players Association's annual meeting at the Super Bowl in February, Waters was approached about giving his side of the story, but he declined to comment. He was not in game shape.
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Of course, he has 4 months to get into game shape. Who knows what he's going to do. Disappointing that he wouldn't come back and play for us, but what can you do?