The Facts: For the second straight year, Amendola decided to take a significant pay cut to stay with the Patriots instead of accepting a release and testing his value on the free agent market. Despite coming off a decent season with 65 catches for 648 yards and three touchdowns, Amendola's new contract calls for him to make at most $1.6 million in 2016, a pay cut of $4.4 million from his previous deal.

Diehards Line: Technically he signed a two-year, $8.1 million contract, but Amendola only received $1.35 million guaranteed, all in 2016. Under his old contract, Amendola was set to make as much as $6 million this year – a $5 million base salary, with $500,000 in per-game bonuses and $500,000 in incentives. In addition to the pay cut, the incentives were removed from Amendola’s contract, as well (Amendola made $525,000 in incentives last year based on receptions). According to Globe staffer Ben Volin, the Patriots did not touch the 2017 portion of his contract ($6.5 million), the last year of his deal, and none of it is guaranteed, meaning the Patriots will likely have to make a decision on whether to release or restructure Amendola’s contract again next year.