Well, that was easy.
Long before his contract was set to expire, Ty Warren signed a five-year contract extension with the New England Patriots this week. He's now locked up through the 2011 season.
"It means everything to me," the starting left defensive end said last night in an interview with The Boston Globe. "The commitment they showed me, I'm going to show the same commitment back."
"Ty is ecstatic," echoed Warren's agent, Vann McElroy. "This is where he wanted to be."
The new deal includes $18 million guaranteed, and, according to McElroy, could be worth as much as $35 million in the end. The story says Warren will earn an average of $7.35 million in each of the next three seasons.
In the Pats defensive secondary, cornerback Randall Gay has had a very productive preseason thus far. He's doing so despite having to come back from two season-ending injuries and the loss of his dear friend and former teammate, Marquise Hill.
Roomates in 2004 with New England and teammates since 2001 at LSU, Gay and Hill were extremely close.
"It was almost like he was family, so for him not to be out here it hurts," Gay explained in another Globe feature. "I know the type of person he is. He wants to see me out here doing good and making plays, so that's what I'm going to try to do."
He'll have another chance tonight when the Patriots face the Tennessee Titans here at Gillette Stadium.
One coach who'll be on the opposite sideline is yet another member of Bill Belichick's coaching family tree.
Titans defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz recently recalled his days as a scouting assistant with the Cleveland Browns when Belichick was head coach there in the 1990s.
"To me, that's a testament to Bill Belichick," Schwartz gushed in a Boston Herald feature today. "It had nothing to do with us. Gosh, you could name 100 other guys: (Fresno State coach) Pat Hill, (Iowa coach Kirk) Ferentz, (Alabama coach Nick) Saban...We were like practice-squad players. We owe some of our development to hard work, but we owe a huge chunk to coach Belichick."
"Probably one of the smartest people that I've been around," Belichick responded in during a press conference earlier this week. "He's done well. But that doesn't surprise me.
"He's one of these guys that can be working on five or six things at the same time, and be right on top of all of them. He's a hard-working guy, he knows no hours and no time frame. He's very dedicated. He's a good football guy, a good football mind, a good guy to be around."
