Bruschi ready to come back / Washington stays

By Karen Guregian / Patriots Notebook Friday, February 29, 2008 http://www.bostonherald.com N.E. Patriots

Tedy Bruschi has not only decided not to retire, he is going to be paid to play beyond next season, if he so chooses.
According to a league source, Bruschi and the team agreed to terms on a multiyear contract yesterday. The linebacker, who turns 35 in June, started all 16 regular-season games and all three playoff games last season.
When the Patriots [team stats] failed to lure free agent middle linebacker Zach Thomas to town, then cut outside linebacker Rosevelt Colvin largely because of salary cap reasons, the return of Bruschi became more in focus.
Bruschi, a stroke survivor, was asked a lot during Super Bowl week about being an older player and how he still copes.
“You don’t really compensate. You still go out there and just try to perform the best that you can,” he said in Arizona. “As you get older, experience absolutely (becomes) a factor. Yes, I was maybe faster or quicker when I was younger. I’m not 24 anymore. I mean that was 10 years ago, but did I know as much then? So is it an advantage or disadvantage?
“You’ve got incredible ability but you don’t have experience. You have experience, but you don’t have quickness as you did maybe when you were younger. You go with the positive instead of the negative.”
Washington stays
The Patriots retained wide receiver/special teamer Kelley Washington by agreeing to terms on a new deal, according to a league source. . . .
The way the tally board looks in the secondary, the Patriots are going to have to replace two cornerbacks and a safety, as corner Randall Gay appears to have joined the group heading out of Foxboro.
Like Asante Samuel [stats] and Eugene Wilson, Gay is going to test the free agent market. And, like Samuel and Wilson, it’s doubtful he’ll be back.
While both sides exchanged proposals this week, they weren’t close to working out a deal.
“We were too far apart,” said Albert Elias, who represents Gay. “We just couldn’t get anything done.”
Gay, who played four seasons with the Pats, has had some injury trouble, which he overcame this season. He played a full slate of games and also toughed out a painful hyperextended elbow in the Super Bowl.
Even though he was essentially the third corner behind Samuel and Ellis Hobbs [stats], there will be a market for him, considering the lack of top-shelf free agent cornerbacks available, as well as the fact he’s coming from a winning system.
Elias believes he can garner more than what the Pats offered on the open market. One potential suitor could be the New York Jets [team stats], given coach Eric Mangini’s familiarity with Gay, as well as the player’s knowledge of the system.
“You never say never, but I don’t know,” Elias said when asked if the door remained open with the Pats. “They gave Randall his start. We’re going to keep the lines of communication open.”
Seau recovering
Pats linebacker Junior Seau told the Associated Press he had surgery to repair a damaged rotator cuff shortly after the Super Bowl. He indicated he had injured the shoulder during the fourth game of the season and played through the pain all year.
“There’s no grace time there,” he said. “I was caught in the wrong position. I just fell on it awkwardly. I felt it and it didn’t recover. So I had to deal with it. Every player has an injury during the course of the year. In order to get through it, you have to persevere.
“No. 1, you have to make sure you’re not a liability. Obviously, that was not the case.”
Seau, 39, did not tip his hand on whether he intends to retire.
“I have a choice of playing or a choice of surfing. Those are good choices to have,” he said.
Aggressive plan
Jonathan Kraft, speaking yesterday at the Massachusetts Governor’s Conference on Travel & Tourism at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston, vowed the Pats won’t be content to sit back. The club president believes his team, through free agency and the draft, will reload for next season.
“We’re very aggressive and focused on next year,” Kraft said. “Never in the modern history of the NFL has a Super Bowl-contending team had a draft pick in the top 10. Certainly in the salary cap era that’s never happened, and draft picks are so valuable. We have the seventh pick in the draft, and I guarantee you whatever we end up doing with that pick, whether it’s taking a player or trading or a multitude or things, we will get a lot of value out of it, unlike most Super Bowl teams in this modern era who have put themselves in salary cap jail. There are only 10 teams in the league who have more cap room. We have almost $22 million in cap space going into next year.
“Between our draft position and our cap base, we’re in strong position to be able to make the moves that we think are necessary to put ourselves back in the position to compete for a championship again in ’08, because I tell you, until we get the next Super Bowl championship, there is going to be a very, very strong hunger in our building down in Foxboro.”
Wright move
The Pats put a second-round tender on restricted free agent Mike Wright, who is the team’s backup to Vince Wilfork [stats] at nose tackle. The tender is worth $1.41 million. Any team that signs the defensive lineman to an offer sheet would have to give up a second-round draft choice, if the Pats don’t match. . . .
Paul Sheehy, the agent for long snapper Lonie Paxton, indicated he was working late yesterday in hopes of hammering out deals with the Pats.Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/football/patriots/view.bg?articleid=1076785