Faulk aims at retiring a Patriot

The New England Patriots re-signed RB Kevin Faulk to a one-year deal yesterday, continuing his what will be 13 seasons as a Patriot. The deal is a one-year pact with a $1 million signing bonus, $1 million base salary, and $1 million in incentives. Faulk had one of his more productive seasons last season, playing about 38% of the offensive plays and generating a 5.4 YPC average. While it took 6 days into free agency for the deal to happen, playing for another team never entered Faulk’s mind. According to Faulk’s agent Raymond Brothers, despite getting calls from other teams, Faulk’s heart was always in New England.

“It was always the Patriots. I can’t even tell you it was close. It wasn’t.”

“He always wanted to stay in New England, he said it publicly, I said it publicly. Anytime he plays for the Patriots, he knows the standard is to win a Super Bowl. It’s not to make the playoffs or win more games than he did last year, coach Belichick is trying to win Super Bowl. And (Faulk) has won three of them with them already, so he’d be in a place where he’d be in a position to do that again, in place where he feels most comfortable and a place where he’s loved.”

It appears as though Faulk wants to follow the lead of former teammate Tedy Bruschi and play for one team his entire career. It’s pretty rare nowadays for a player in any sport to play for one team his or her entire career. Faulk was asked about this, and here’s what he had to say:

“That is very rare. That is one of the reasons I am still here. One of the things I told myself when I first got here as a rookie, it was just something that… You see a lot of guys that come and go in the NFL, that have been with one team for a certain amount of years and they’ve left and go make their mark somewhere else, but you never hear about a guy in this day and age that’s been staying for a long time.

“And it’s just a fact of being in that organization and trying to uphold and be consistent.”

It’s refreshing, as a fan, to hear this from a player, especially one who has been such a steady contributor to a winning team. Let’s hope more follow his and Bruschi’s lead…Are you listening Tom Brady?