LeGarrette Blount must have been eager to join the Patriots.
According to Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com, Blount agreed to a significant pay cut that slashes his pay by about $1 million from the contract he just signed with the Buccaneers in March.
Blount was a restricted free agent this year, and he signed a one-year contract with the Bucs that paid him a total of $1.75 million, including $1.25 million in base salary, $350,000 in reporting bonus and a $150,000 workout bonus.
But with the Patriots, Blount has agreed to a new contract that pays him a base salary of just $630,000, and a workout bonus of just $50,000. That was the deal Blount had to agree to for the trade (which sent running back Jeff Demps and a seventh-round pick to Tampa) to be consummated.
Of course, the reality is that Blount probably wasn’t going to make that $1.25 million base salary in Tampa because he probably wasn’t going to make the 53-man roster. And as a restricted free agent who entered the league as an undrafted free agent, Blount had little leverage to negotiate for more.
So Blount must think New England is the right place for him, and he must think the Patriots’ roster is a roster he can make. And he was willing to take a lot less money in a place where he believes he’ll have more job security and a better future.