Projo Pats Blog

April 2007 Archives

We won't really know for a few years which team had the best Draft weekend, but the Patriots are getting the headlines across the country. There is shock, awe, and, in many cases, agreement with Jim Donaldson that the Patriots are becoming the bully on the block in the football world.

Michael Felger of The Boston Herald basically agrees with Donaldson's premise: the Patriots are shedding their squeaky-clean image for something closer to the Oakland Raider bad-boy vibe. Felger and Donaldson concur that it's not just about Moss, but also about first-round draft pick Brandon Meriweather, the head-stomper from the U.

On the other hand, 88 percent of those responding to a Herald poll believe that Moss will help get the Patriots to a Super Bowl -- granted the choices are basically "Super Bowl" or "complete disaster."

Over on Boston.com, Eric Wilbur writes that the Patriots have dealt a blow against not only division rivals like the New York Jets, but against the Boston Red Sox, too. Wilbur says that we're accustomed to seeing the Sox steal headlines from the Patriots with their offseason moves; now the boys in Foxboro have turned the tables.

And in The New York Post, Steve Serby has a story that will make Patriots fans smile. Except: "That collective groan you could hear yesterday when the news broke that Randy Moss had become a Patriot was Jets Nation cursing its luck and The Ghost of Bill Belichick."

Meanwhile, in Oakland, there's enough bad vibes toward Moss that people are not giving the Raiders too much trouble for letting him go at such a low price tag. The Oakland Tribune's Steve Corkran is pretty enthusiastic about the Raider draft in his story today (headline: "Raiders to Moss: Just leave baby"), and new coach Lane Kiffin -- a guy Moss snubbed pretty much right after his hiring -- says that the team can now build a future on a foundation of players who "want to be here." Meanwhile, Jerry McDonald, on his Raider Blog, says the trade is basically the organization giving an early reward to Kiffin. The comments on this entry pretty much run the gamut.

ESPN.com's John Clayton says Moss gave the Raiders no choice but to cut their losses and dump him. Sports Illustrated's Don Banks says the Patriots leave Draft weekend closer to the Super Bowl because of Moss, but his colleague Paul Zimmerman doesn't agree.

Bill Belichick just wrapped up draft weekend with his second-day press conference, which of course focused almost exclusively on the acquisition of Randy Moss.

Belichick confirmed that things talked really got rolling last night -- he said 90 percent of the work on the deal was done between midnight and the time the fourth round got underway this morning.

"Mr. Davis (Raiders' owner Al) gave us permission to speak with the player and his representative, and (Moss) came in this morning. We're happy to add him to the roster -- he's a quality, versatile player who can do a lot of different things on the football field."

Though he had been gathering information here and there on Moss for "years," early this morning was the first time Belichick spoke to Moss, and the discussions continued today in between the times when New England was picking players.

Belichick said he has spoken to Moss' former coaches and teammates about him and all expressed respect for the receiver. While his stay here was short and his departure sudden, Doug Gabriel's time with the Patriots wasn't without value, as Belichick said he learned more about Moss from Gabriel (Gabriel said Moss was like a brother to him) than anyone else.

He also learned about Moss from the man himself.

"Randy, in my conversations with him, has been very enthusiastic of becoming a member of the New England Patriots and we're excited to have him become a member of the New England Patriots," Belichick said. "He's showed positive feedback and energy toward us."

And Moss was apparently serious about taking a pay cut to come to New England: reportedly, he will make $3 million this season under his new deal with the Patriots -- he was slated to make $9.75 million under the contract he had with Oakland.

Belichick said Moss' arrival will not impact whether or not Troy Brown returns to New England: "I spoke on that a couple of weeks ago; they have different roles on the team."

With the 247th pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots selected Mike Elgin, a center from Iowa. He's 6-foot-4, 277 pounds and was a first-team academic All-American.

That is New England's last pick this year.

With the 211th pick, the first of the seventh round, New England claimed USC linebacker Oscar Lua, the first "true" linebacker the Patriots have drafted. Measuring in at 6-foot-1, 240 pounds, he led the Trojans in tackles in 2005.

Scott Pioli drafted a player from his alma mater, Central Conn. State, with the 208th pick. Running back Justise Hairston is 6-foot-1, 210 pounds. He began his career at Rutgers but transfered when Ray Rice arrived on campus.

The 209th pick was Oklahoma State offensive lineman Corey Hilliard, a 6-foot-5, 318 pound tackle.

With the Randy Moss conference call scuttlebutt, we didn't see that Providence native Deon Anderson had been drafted, 195th overall by Dallas.

Anderson, a fullback, played at Hope and Avon Old Farms before a career at UConn. Though he had personal and academic problems that caused him to leave the school for the 2005 season, Anderson returned to the Huskies in 2006 and was the team's MVP.

A 5-foot-10, 236 pounder, scouts have tabbed Anderson as a good short-area blocker who could have a good career as a special teams ace.

The Patriots chose Notre Dame's Mike Richardson, a 5-foot-11, 188 pound cornerback. A fifth-year senior, Richardson earned his degree in marketing last year and has been taking graduate courses at the school.

He moved onto most scouts' radars when he held Georgia Tech's Calvin Richardson -- the second overall pick in this draft -- to 16 second-half yards in the first game of last season.

Not invited to the Combine, Richardson went to a training facility in New Jersey. Owner Joe DeFranco has trained athletes for 10 years, and at one time worked with one Deion Branch.

An online story had DeFranco saying this about Richardson:

“He’s got that explosive burst in him that you just can’t teach,” DeFranco said. “I’ve worked with [Seattle Seahawks wide receiver] Deion Branch when I was at another facility, and even though Deion is a wide receiver, both he and Mike show similar kinds of speed bursts and the ability to come out of a cut. He’s just got some God-given skills that neither I nor anyone else can take credit for."

We just wrapped up a conference call with newest Patriot Randy Moss, and before taking a question, Moss thanked the media for taking the time and waiting to talk to him, and then said, "I don't think you understand how excited I am to be part of this organization."

"I'm happy to get back to doing what I love to do."

Moss said he was "overwhelmed and shocked to be part of the New England Patriots." During the course of the conversation, he said that the media has created the bad reputation that he has, said that money was not a big factor ("Over my career I've made a lot of money and I still have money in the bank") and that he was afraid that the losing in Oakland would set in for him.

He spoke reverentially about fellow Marshall product Troy Brown, saying, "I consider myself the second-best receiver to come out of Marshall. Being able to play with Troy, to see what he's done in the past... He started the trend of guys going into the league from Marshall."

Asked about reports that he ran a 4.29 40-yard dash last week, Moss said, "Put it this way: the Randy Moss of old is back and we'll leave it at that."

Justin Rogers, a defensive end out of Southern Methodist, was New England's pick at 180, which they received from Arizona for offensive lineman Brandon Gorin last year.

According to the SMU website, Rogers is 6-foot-4, 250 pounds from Greenville, Texas who "has killed and skinned coyotes."

New England added an offensive lineman with the 171st pick, taking Colorado State tackle Clint Oldenburg.

Oldenburg isn't even listed on nfl.com's extensive list of prospect profiles, but he's 6-foot-5, 297 pounds and a former tight end. According to scout.com, he's a prospect who needs to improve his mechanics.

Now that it's official (we have the release from the Patriots, so we know it's true ;) that Randy Moss is a Patriot, we can sit back and look at what this means for New England.

First off, it means that Tom Brady, who may or may not have been unhappy with the receiving corps he had last year, doesn't have much to complain about any more. Moss is the biggest addition to a group that has already been bolstered by the acquisitions of Donte Stallworth, Wes Welker and Kelley Washington.

Moss is already fifth on the NFL's list of all-time touchdown receptions, with 101, and he reportedly ran a 4.29-second 40-yard dash just last week -- at 30 years old.

The trade means New England now has 10 wideouts on the roster: Moss, Stallworth, Washington, Welker, Chad Jackson, Reche Caldwell, Jabar Gaffney, Bam Childress, Kelvin Kight, and Jonathan Smith.

And left off that list is Troy Brown, whom Bill Belichick has said he'll welcome back but hasn't yet signed a contract.

The question is, who will be on the roster come Sept. 2? Moss, Stallworth and Welker will, as will Jackson and likely Gaffney. Caldwell should be nervous, and Kight and Smith probably won't be kept. Childress, however, blossomed into a standout special-teams player last season, which holds value with the Patriots.

Our theory? Stallworth's contract is supposed to pay him BIG money next year, in the form of $8 million in bonuses -- $6 million on Feb. 25, 2008 and $2 million more on March 1 -- not long after the season ends.

So "rent" Stallworth for this season (albeit it at a $3.6 million rental fee), give Jackson the whole season to heal his torn ACL and really learn the offense, then let Stallworth loose and hope Jackson is ready to go for 2008 and add him to Moss, Welker and whomever else is on the team.

There's been no word yet on just how dramatically Moss will restructure his deal -- he was due $9.75 million this year and $11.25 million next year -- or if more years will be added to it.

The Patriots have selected another Miami defensive player, taking Hurricane defensive tackle Kareem Brown with their remaining fourth-round pick, 127 overall.

Brown is a 6-foot-4, 290 pound Miami native, and was the Hurricanes' defensive lineman of the year last fall. Part of the defensive tackle rotation his first three seasons, Brown started nine of 13 games last year at both left and right tackle.

His 20 1/2 career sacks are second-best in Miami history for a tackle.

Scouts say Brown is an unfinished product, and he was hurt by a disappointing performance his Miami's pro day. He is good at pushing the pocket and can take on multiple blockers, but he needs to develop better moves as a pass rusher.

Former Brown star and Massachusetts native Zak DeOssie was selected by one of his father's former teams, the New York Giants, with the 116th overall pick.

The 6-foot-5, 250 pound linebacker was thought to be a good fit for New England, especially since he seemingly has the smarts to play inside linebacker in the Pats' system, which is one of the most difficult jobs to master on the roster.

The trade between New England and Oakland that is bringing Randy Moss to the Patriots is official. The Raiders will receive the Pats' first fourth-round pick, 110th overall. Moss is here at Gillette and took a physical this morning, sealing the deal.

Adam Schefter reported that the talks between the Pats and Raiders started Friday night, and that New England initially offered a sixth-round pick, which Al Davis rejected. Talks picked up again last night.

Hey all --

Good morning and welcome to day two of the 2007 NFL Draft, where we are back in our customary spot in the Gillette Stadium pressbox.

The big news of the day is a report from the NFL Network's Adam Schefter that the Patriots have indeed acquired wide receiver Randy Moss from the Oakland Raiders in exchange for a fourth-round pick today.

Moss has agreed to dramatically restructure his contract -- he's currently scheduled to make $9.75 million this season -- and will likely be kept on a short leash. Though Moss' only legal trouble since coming to the NFL was an incident in Minneapolis where he "bumped" a meter maid with his SUV, he has admitted to taking plays off, not holding his blocks on run plays, and infamously mooned the Lambeau Field crowd during a playoff game two years ago.

Now 30 years old, Moss has never been to the Super Bowl and sees New England as his best chance to get there before his career ends. He is coming off a career-worst season with Oakland, having amassed just 553 receiving yards with three touchdowns last year.

It's believed that the Raiders are getting the Pats' first pick in the fourth, which is the 110th.

Shalise Manza Young will be blogging from New York City throughout both Saturday and Sunday. Check back often for the latest news on what the Patriots are up to. Barring any Draft-day maneuvers, New England has the 24th and 28th pick in the first round, picks that are expected to be made between 3:30 and 4:15 p.m. Saturday.

The Boston Globe reports today that tight-end David Thomas, a rookie during the 2006 season, broke his foot while participating in the team's offseason workout program. The report says that Thomas is expected to make a full recovery, but that a timetable for his return is not known.

Thomas, who played at the University of Texas, was a third-round selection by New England in the 2006 Draft. He caught 11 passes for 159 yards, including 5 catches for 83 yards and a touchdown in the Christmas Eve game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

With Daniel Graham gone through free agency, Thomas is in line to get more playing time this year.

The Patriots have officially announced the signing of cornerback Tory James.

James, 33, is an 11-year NFL veteran who spent the last four seasons with Cincinnati; he is tied for fourth among active players with 39 career interceptions. He has recorded at least four picks in each of the last six seasons, including 2004, when he had a career-high 8. James made the Pro Bowl after that season.

shalise

Patriots coach Bill Belichick released a statement a few minutes ago, speaking about author David Halberstam, who died in a car accident in California earlier today.

Halberstam, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who was working on a book about the 1958 NFL Championship game between the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants (a fond memory from Belichick's childhood), also wrote "Education of a Coach," the biography of Belichick that also shed light on the relationship Belichick had with his late father, Steve.

"It was a privilege and honor to watch David practice his craft and an even greater one to call him a friend. David was as warm, considerate, intelligent, interesting and accomplished a person as I have ever met and his loss is heartbreaking."

Halberstam was 73.

Hey all --

When we saw that linebacker Al Wilson had officially been cut by the Broncos on Friday night, we immediately thought of the Patriots and their need at inside linebacker.

But Wilson's agent, Peter Schaffer, told us via email that there has been no interest "as of yet" from New England.

Wilson, who turns 30 in June, has been a consistent performer for his first eight years in the league. In 15 games last year, he had a team-high 101 tackles (78 solo), a sack and a forced fumble. The five-time Pro Bowler is also a locker-room leader, serving as a Broncos captain for the last six years.

However, there are questions about his health. Wilson hurt his neck running into teammate Gerard Warren on Dec. 3 against the Seahawks, and had to be carted off the field. He missed Denver's last game of the season with the neck injury, as well as a thumb injury.

While Wilson says his neck is getting better, he has not yet been cleared by doctors yet.

In a farewell press conference, Wilson said, "If I can get medically cleared, hey, I'm going to go out and play. I feel like I still can play. It's not about the money. I'll only get out there and play if I'm healthy."

Wilson was Denver's first-round draft pick in 1999 after a standout career at Tennessee.

shalise

Hey all --

Patriots owner Bob Kraft may be looking for a new sport to get his family involved in: NASCAR. According to this article in the Knoxville News-Sentinel, team owner Robert Yates of Robert Yates Racing, is reportedly talking to Kraft about an ownership share.

Earlier this year, Red Sox owner John Henry and the Fenway Sports Group entered into a 50-50 partnership with Roush Racing.

In addition to the Patriots, the Kraft family also owns the New England Revolution soccer team.

Robert Yates Racing has two cars in the Nextel Cup -- the #88, driven by Ricky Rudd, and the #38, driven by David Gilliland. The Ford cars use motors developed by the Yates and Roush teams.

Hey all --

We had a beautiful (well, at least marginally attractive) little analysis of the season schedule written -- and then our internet went down and it all went away.

Anyway, all in all it's a pretty favorable schedule for the Patriots -- five nationally-televised games (though, surprisingly, not the rematch with the Colts), only one instance of where they're on the road for consecutive weeks (weeks 6 and 7, at Dallas and at Miami) and the bye week is in week 10, which seems like an ideal time.

We do find it pretty interesting that the game against the Colts, the rematch of the AFC Championship game, will not be a prime-time game. It's at 4:15 p.m., in Indy, in week 9.

But the Divisional round rematch with San Diego is a Sunday night game, in week 2 at Gillette Stadium. While New England and Indy have a rivalry -- the Nov. 4 game will be the 10th game between the teams since 2001 -- methinks the game with the Chargers could get ugly. San Diego acted up when it won here in 2005, and then there was the game in January, which seemed contentious throughout and ended with Philip Rivers calling Ellis Hobbs "sorry" and LaDainian Tomlinson calling out Bill Belichick for the behavior of the Pats players.

For his part, Hobbs said yesterday that he acknowledged immediately after the game that he was wrong for dancing at midfield at Qualcomm Stadium, and said as much to Tomlinson. As for Rivers' remarks, Hobbs felt the quarterback had let emotion get the best of him and "sank to my level."

Belichick and Tomlinson made nice at the Pro Bowl.

New England plays one other Sunday night game: week 12 (Nov. 25) against the Eagles in a rematch of Super Bowl XXXIX; and two Monday night games: Oct. 1 at Cincinnati, and Dec. 3 at Baltimore. The Patriots close out the regular season with a prime-time Saturday game, Dec. 29 at the Giants.

Super Bowl champ Indy is also on prime time five times this season, while Dallas will be on prime time seven times.

Remember, any game after week 10 is subject to change because of flex scheduling.

For the full NFL schedule, click here.

shalise

Hey all --

The Patriots apparently will once again have a glut of punters on their roster, as they have matched the one-year, $1.4 million offer the Broncos made to Todd Sauerbrun last week.

The 34-year old punter spent the final five games of the season, including playoffs, with the Patriots. As part of his contract, Sauerbrun agreed to give the Patriots the right of first refusal, though as a 12-year veteran he would have been an unrestricted free agent.

Sauerbrun averaged 43.7 yards per punt with New England, which now has four punters under contract -- Sauerbrun, Josh Miller, Danny Baugher and Tom Malone. Baugher and Malone are currently in NFL Europa, with the Rhein Fire and Berlin Thunder, respectively.

shalise

Hey all --

Saw this on Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback today. Gil Brandt, a former Dallas personnel man and current nfl.com writer said this last week on his Sirius NFL radio show:

"Wes Welker is a good football player ... but you're not going to win championships with that kind of player.''

Since we didn't hear it, we don't know in what context it was said. But on its face, it looks like a) a foolish statement and b) the type of statement Bill Belichick will use to further motivate Welker, the receiver New England traded for last month.

By all accounts, Welker is a great locker room guy, unselfish, and versatile. Hmm, sounds like a younger version of Troy Brown, no? And we all know how utterly useless Troy Brown has been...

shalise

The Boston Globe is reporting today that restricted free agent cornerback Randall Gay is visiting the New York Jets today.

The Patriots tendered Gay, who has missed significant amounts of time due to injury the past two seasons, at the second-round level. Should the Jets -- or any other team -- make Gay an offer, the Pats have seven days to match it. If they do not and Gay goes to another team, that team would send New England its second-round draft pick in this month's draft.

The Patriots currently do not have a second-round selection, having sent theirs to Miami as part of the Wes Welker deal.

As part of his tender, Gay would receive $1.3 million from the Pats this season if he stays, or if the sides do not work out a longer-term deal. The third-year pro, who started in Super Bowl XXXIX as a rookie, has not yet signed the tender.

CHICAGO (AP) — Former New England Patriots receiver Darryl Stingley, who was paralyzed after a hard hit during an NFL exhibition game nearly 30 years ago, has died. He was 55.

Stingley was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital Thursday morning after he was found unresponsive in his home, according to Tony Brucci an investigator with the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

An autopsy was scheduled for Thursday. His cause of death was not immediately available.

Stingley played football until August 12, 1978, when the then 26-year-old receiver went up for a pass during an exhibition game and was hit hard from behind by Oakland Raiders safety Jack Tatum. The hit broke his neck and left Stingley a quadriplegic for life.

Stingley was born and raised in Chicago. He was a star running back at John Marshall High School. He attended Purdue on a football scholarship.

In 1973, he was a first-round draft pick of the Patriots, owned by Robert Kraft.

“On behalf of the Kraft family and the entire Patriots organization, we’re deeply saddened by news of Darryl Stingley’s death, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Stingley family at this time,” said team spokesman Stacey James.

Stingley was the Patriots first-round draft choice in 1973. He had 110 receptions for 1,1883 yards and 14 touchdowns in five seasons. He also had 28 runs for 244 yards and two touchdowns.

Hey all --

As we alluded to before, we were on "assignment" tonight, at a charity basketball game in Natick, Ma. that several Patriots players took part in.

Kevin Faulk, Santonio Thomas, Stephen Gostkowski, Logan Mankins, Kelvin Kight, Bam Childress, Jonathan Smith, Pierre Woods and Natick legend Doug Flutie started the game; just before halftime, Adalius Thomas appeared and played in the second half.

The game was against Natick High faculty and game sponsors.

Faulk was draining long-range three-pointers -- he hit about a 25-foot hook shot off glass -- and Kight banked one in from half-court. Thomas showed how athletic he is with a couple of highlight-worthy moves.

Don Davis also made an appearance, though he did not play.

shalise

Hey all --

We were out this evening on a more relaxed Patriots "assignment" (more on that in a bit) and didn't hear this news about Asante Samuel until we arrived home a short while ago.

We're working to find out what's going on and why Samuel felt he needed to tell NFL Network's Adam Shefter that he's "not happy anymore" and "things are not going well" in his negotiations with the Patriots. Samuel has been given the franchise tag by New England -- which, if it stands, is a one-year guaranteed $7.79 million -- but the two sides have been working on an extension for a couple of weeks.

Samuel has been watching as the Pats signed free agent Adalius Thomas to a big-money contract, and saw cornerback Nate Clements leave Buffalo for San Francisco with an $80 million deal, and Dre Bly signed a five-year, $33 million contract after being traded to Denver.

When we know more, we'll let you know.

shalise

Hey all --

While the regular season NFL schedule won't be released until Thursday, the league did release the all-important preseason schedule today.

With the American Bowl in China nixed, New England's schedule has changed. Where they were scheduled to play a game in Seattle and then in China, the Pats now won't leave the Eastern time zone.

In preseason week one (Aug. 9-13), New England plays at Tampa Bay
Week two (Aug. 16-20), Tennessee plays at New England
Week three (Aug. 23-27), New England plays at Carolina -- this game will be nationally televised on CBS on Aug. 24
Week four (Aug. 31-Sept. 2), the Giants play at New England

The Hall of Fame game will be played Aug. 5 at 8 p.m. and will be shown on NFL Network. New Orleans faces Pittsburgh in the game.

shalise

Confirming earlier reports, the NFL announced today that the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks will not meet in Beijing for an exhibition game before the 2007 season. The so-called American Bowl game had been set for Aug. 9. The NFL says it now plans on waiting until 2009 to hold a game in China.

Mark Waller, senior vice president of NFL International, says the decision to hold a game in China was announced before league ownership decided to hold a regular season game in London between the New York Giants and the Miami Dolphins. Waller said that in order to focus resources on the game in London, which will take place Oct. 28, the NFL decided to pull the plug on the Beijing preseason game.

“Our assessment is that Chinese fans would be better served if our game in China is played at a later date after we have launched our international series of regular-season games and more effectively paved the way for the introduction of our game into China,” Waller said. “As a new sport in China, it is critical that we create the best platform for the introduction of the game. We are delighted Beijing authorities have agreed with our assessment and have invited us to play in Beijing in 2009.”