Report: Patriots Pursued Wide Receiver A.J. Green, Who Ended Up With Cardinals
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Patriots landed Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne on the first day of the free agency tampering window. Apparently, they wanted more.
Though veteran wide receiver A.J. Green ended up agreeing to a deal with the Arizona Cardinals, that was only after the Patriots apparently made a push to sign him.
That's according to John Gambadoro of 98.7 FM in Phoenix, who tweeted that the Cardinals "beat out" the Patriots in the bidding for Green.
Green, who will turn 32 this summer, had a bad year in Cinncinnati in 2020. He caught just 47 passes for 523 yards and two touchdowns while playing in all 16 games and starting 14 of them. His numbers were down in 2018, too, though he did haul in six touchdowns. An ankle injury prevented him from playing at all in 2019.
It's possible that Green never quite recovers his past form, but the seven-time Pro Bowler who averaged 1,173 yards and more than 8 TDs per season from 2011-17 is intriguing enough to have drawn interest in free agency.
And according to Adam Schefter, Green ended up getting paid some serious cash.
While the 6-foot-4 receiver won't be a big-bodied matchup problem for the Patriots this season, it does seem as though Bill Belichick is not done adding top-flight players to his offense.
