With the next year of the National Football League set to start really soon, the New England Patriots are in a bit of a bind as they need to find a way to make the salary cap.

Their first step towards that is not picking up Vince Wilfork's option for 2015.

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Wilfork played the defensive tackle position for the Patriots.

Last offseason, Wilfork had signed a three year contract that cost US $23 million. Not picking it up for this season frees up some $8.1 million for the Patriots.

Wilfork released a statement via Twitter, which he said will be his only statement on the matter.

He started by assuring that he still has a good relationship with the Patriots organization and that his 11 years in the team were a blessing.

Continuing, he thanked the fans that continued to support him throughout the years. For Wilfork, New England will always be his home.

He ended by thanking the organization for the two Super Bowl's he won and stating that he still had a lot in the gas tank to keep playing professional football.

The news of cutting Wilfork was an expected one though as the 33-year old was supposed to receive a $4 million bonus on March 10.

If the Patriots decided to pick up his contract again, he would have earned an additional $3 million on his base salary and counted $8.9 million against the salary cap.

 In 2014, Wilfork returned from a torn Achilles tendon, which was his only major injury.

He then played 73.4 percent of the defensive snaps of the Patriots, where he was tasked to take on multiple defenders and block them for the oncoming run offense.

At present, Wilfork will be taking some time for himself and think things through. He will be taking many things into consideration moving forward, chief among them, is his family.

TagsVince Wilfork, new england patriots, Salary Cap