The Patriots linebacker, who was released on Monday night less than 24 hours before the 2009 trade deadline, had New England fans hoping that Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft and company had an exciting trade up their sleeves.
Not so. The Patriots had to release Banta-Cain in order to keep him for the rest of the season, according to Boston.com.
League sources said the Pats re-signed both Banta-Cain and linebacker Eric Alexander to one-year deals that will take them through the end of the 2009 season. Because both players were in the midst of one-year, $620,000 minimum salary benefit deals, their contracts could not be extended or renegotiated. Procedurally, both had to be released and re-signed to new deals instead of having their current deals reworked.
With their new deals, both Banta-Cain and Alexander are eligible to be extended at the end of the season.
