Danny Amendola is coming off his best season as a Patriot, but his future in New England remains uncertain.

The 32-year-old wide receiver is set to hit free agency in 2018, and the market for his talents remains unclear. With Julian Edelman out of the picture last season, Amendola played a bigger role in the Patriots’ offense, especially in the postseason with 26 catches for 348 yards and two touchdowns in three games.

But will the team bring him back for another year? Amendola said Tuesday he’d like for it to happen, but things don’t always turn out that way, referring to the “unknown” that is free agency.

“We’ll see what happens. I definitely want to be here,” Amendola said. “To tell you the truth, I don’t want to leave. But it’s a business and I’ve learned that the hard way.”

After a breakout season with the St. Louis Rams, Amendola signed a five-year, $31 million deal to join the Patriots.

Since signing that deal, Amendola and the Patriots have restructured the contract three times. Most recently, he cut his base salary down from $5 million to just $1.25 million for the final year of his deal to stay in New England.

The free-agent market for an undersized receiver who turns 33 in November likely won’t be huge. If anything, he’s likely to have a higher value in New England than anywhere else in the league – especially because of his rapport with Tom Brady.

BRONCOS: John Elway is giving his clearest indication yet that he’s going to pursue Kirk Cousins, the prize of this year’s free-agent quarterbacks.

“We’re going to explore all options in free agency and see where that goes,” Elway said Wednesday. “Obviously we’ve got the fifth pick in the draft, too. That will all play into it. We’ll continue to look at all of the options out there when it comes to quarterback.”

COLTS: General Manager Chris Ballard said the Colts do not intend to re-sign running back Frank Gore, the 34-year-old, soon-to-be free agent, who is ranked No. 5 in career rushing.

“Frank is at a point where he knows we need to get younger,” Ballard said. “And I wanted to give Frank a chance to finish his career where he wants to.”

After falling 33 yards short of his ninth 1,000-yard season in 2015, he rebounded with 1,025 yards at age 33 in 2016 – making him the oldest 1,000-yard rusher since 35-year-old John Riggins in 1982. Then in December, the ageless Gore had a career-high 36 carries for 130 yards in an overtime loss in a Buffalo blizzard.

JETS: Running back Matt Forte announced his retirement, ending a 10-year career where he gained 9,796 yards with 54 touchdowns while playing for the Bears and the Jets.

Forte, 32, finished the 2017 season on injured reserve because of knee problems. He finished his career 33rd all time in rushing yards. But he was fifth among active running backs with 9,796 yards before announcing his retirement.

• The Jets informed starting defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson he will be released. The team will save $11 million against the cap by cutting Wilkerson, an under-performing player who signed a five-year $86 million deal after the 2015 season.

PANTHERS: Carolina released running back Jonathan Stewart, who became the franchise’s career rushing leader in 2017, finishing with 7,318 rushing yards. His 1,699 rushing attempts are also the most in franchise history, while his 58 touchdowns (51 rushing, seven receiving) are second in franchise history.

Stewart helped Carolina to five playoff appearances, and holds franchise records for career rushing yards (474), rushing attempts (101) and rushing touchdowns (five) in the playoffs. His three rushing touchdowns in the 2015 postseason are the franchise high.

Stewart played all 10 seasons with the Panthers after being drafted by Carolina in the first round in 2008 out of Oregon.

BILLS: Coach Sean McDermott says cutting quarterback Tyrod Taylor is not part of the team’s current plans, though he won’t rule out trading the three-year starter.

“We’re in a good position with some options out there, so that’ll work itself out,” he said.

Taylor’s future remains in question even though he helped lead the Bills to a 9-7 record and their first playoff berth since 1999. Taylor has a 23-21 record with the Bills and went 8-6 last season while also being benched for one game in favor of rookie Nathan Peterman.

VIKINGS: With Case Keenum, Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Bradford each on track to become an unrestricted free agent in two weeks, Minnesota has yet to make any final decisions about any of them.

“There have been no decisions made, and I know there have been a thousand reports out there,” General Manager Rick Spielman said. “We’re going to move forward and continue to evolve this process through the meetings this week with the agents.”

The most notable report, by the NFL Network this week citing unidentified sources, was that the Vikings don’t plan to use the franchise tag on Keenum. That’s a way they could essentially kick the quarterback-decision can down the road by keeping him for 2018 at a rate in the top tier of current league-wide salaries at the position, which would be well more than $20 million this year. That’s also a lot of money for a player who was a career backup until Bradford’s knee injury after the season opener paved the way for his breakout performance.

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