He said he had $9.5 million reasons not to hold out he wasn’t joking.

Welker has signed the one-year, $9.5 million franchise tag, Greg Bedard of the Boston Globe reports.

There was never any question of whether Welker would miss any regular-season playing time, but there was some concern in New England that Welker would remain unsigned into training camp. Instead, he has a deal done before the start of organized team activities on May 21.