Projo Pats Blog

February 2008 Archives

New England has announced that linebacker Tedy Bruschi, receiver Kelley Washington and long snapper Lonie Paxton have been re-signed.

This is from the team's release:

Tedy Bruschi, 34, will enter his 13th season with the Patriots since being drafted by the team in the third round (86th overall) of the 1996 NFL Draft out of Arizona. The 6-foot-1-inch, 247-pound linebacker has been a Patriots team captain in each of the last six seasons dating back to 2002. Bruschi has led the Patriots in tackles in each of the last two seasons, totaling a team-best 99 stops in 2007 after pacing the club with 124 tackles in 2006. Over his 12-year career, Bruschi has played in 176 games with 127 starts and has recorded 1,063 tackles (679 solo), 30.5 sacks, 12 interceptions for 187 yards and four touchdowns, 61 passes defensed, 18 forced fumbles and six fumble recoveries, including one returned for a touchdown. Bruschi’s 176 games as a Patriot rank eighth on the team’s all-time list and in 2008 he will become the 10th player in team history to spend 13 or more seasons with the club.

Last season, Bruschi co-captained a Patriots defense that allowed just 288.3 yards per game – the fewest for the franchise in 28 years, dating back to when it allowed an average of 270.2 yards per game in 1979. In 2006, he was the leading tackler on a Patriots defensive unit that set a franchise record by allowing 14.8 points per game. Bruschi was the NFL’s Co-Comeback Player of the Year in 2005, returning to action six games into the season after suffering a stroke in February of that year and helping to solidify a defense that allowed a total of just 10 points over a three-game span that December. He was named to the Pro Bowl following a 2004 campaign in which he earned AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors three times and the Patriots won their third Super Bowl in four years. In 2003, Bruschi ranked second on the team with 137 tackles as the Patriots won the Super Bowl and led the NFL in allowing just 14.9 points per game. Bruschi was elected as a captain for the first time entering the 2002 season and that year became the first linebacker in team history to return two interceptions for touchdowns in the same season. In 2001, he finished third on the team with 73 tackles as the Patriots won the Super Bowl for the first time in team history. He started all 16 games in 2000 for the first time in his career, one season after recording a career-high 138 tackles in 1999. He became a regular starter for the first time in 1998. As a rookie in 1996, Bruschi was part of the Patriots’ AFC champion squad and totaled two sacks in his first Super Bowl.

Bruschi is the Patriots’ all-time leader in playoff games played, participating in 22 career postseason contests, including five Super Bowls. He is one of just 14 players in NFL history to play in five or more Super Bowls, and his 22 playoff game appearances are tied with Brett Favre and Adam Vinatieri for the lead among all active NFL players.

Lonie Paxton, 29, will enter his ninth season in New England since being signed by the Patriots as a rookie free agent out of Sacramento State on April 19, 2000. The 6-foot-2-inch, 260-pound long snapper has played in 125 career games and has provided snaps for every Patriots punt, extra point and field goal attempt in all but three regular-season games over his eight seasons.

Paxton’s consistency has played a role in the increased success of New England’s field goal units since he joined the team. In the eight years since Paxton assumed long snapping duties in 2000, New England’s field goal kickers have converted 83.0 percent of their kicks (195-for-235), a mark that ranks fifth in the league. The rate of success is in contrast to the team’s 75.0 percent field goal conversion rate (189-for-252, 23rd in the NFL) over the eight seasons that preceded Paxton’s tenure (1992-99).

Paxton has snapped on 10 career game-winning field goals and has made 13 career special teams tackles. He has snapped for every kick in the career of Stephen Gostkowski, who is the Patriots’ all-time leader in field goal percentage, converting 84.5 percent of his kicks (49-of-58).

Kelley Washington, 28, is a veteran of five NFL seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals (2003-06) and New England Patriots (2007). He was signed by the Patriots as an unrestricted free agent on March 13, 2007. The 6-foot-3-inch, 216-pound wide receiver has played in 58 career NFL games with six starts and has caught 72 passes for 893 yards (12.4 avg.) and nine touchdowns. In 2007, his first season in New England, Washington played in 14 games and finished second on the Patriots with a career-high 18 special teams tackles, including a team-best nine solo special teams stops. He recorded the first blocked punt by a Patriots player in eight years when he blocked a New York Jets punt on Dec. 16, setting up a Patriots touchdown.

Washington was drafted by the Bengals with the first selection of the third round (65th overall) in the 2003 NFL Draft. The University of Tennessee product played in all 16 games with three starts as a rookie in 2003 and caught 22 passes for 299 yards (13.6 avg.) and a career-high four touchdowns. That season, he caught a career-long 51-yard touchdown pass in a game against Pittsburgh. In 2004, Washington set career highs in receptions (31) and receiving yards (378) while scoring three touchdowns. His total receptions and total receiving yards both ranked third on the team that season behind only Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Washington played in seven games in 2005, catching 10 passes for 101 yards and a touchdown. In 2006 with the Bengals, Washington played in five games with one start and caught nine passes for 115 yards (12.8 avg.) and a touchdown.

In a bit of a surprising move, the Patriots have announced that tight end Kyle Brady has been released.

Brady, who struggled with plantar fasciitis -- an inflammation of the tissue that connects the toes to the heel -- for much of the season, receiving cortisone shots to minimize the pain. Brought in as a blocking back after New England lost Daniel Graham to free agency last season, Brady played in 14 games with nine catches for 70 yards and two touchdowns.

The 13-year veteran signed a two-year contract with the Pats last year.

We saw this late last night, and in the busy-ness of today forgot to post it: according to this story, Kevin Faulk, who was cited for misdemeanor marijuana possession at a concert last Friday in his home state of Louisiana, passed a drug test and will not have to enter the NFL's substance abuse program.

In the article, Faulk states that the blunts found in the jacket he had on him during a security search and the jacket itself were not his. He said he was upfront with coach Bill Belichick and the Patriots about what had happened and took the drug test on Monday.

Asante Samuel is now a Philadelphia Eagle. The cornerback has signed a six-year deal with the NFC East team, for a reported $57 million. The first three years -- the years that really matter in an NFL contract -- are $32 million, an impressive sum for the former fourth-round draft pick, who has 22 interceptions over the last three seasons.

The deal was done quickly, as Samuel arrived in Philadelphia late this morning and was part of an introductory press conference before 5 p.m. It seems unlikely that it all got done after 12:01 a.m. today -- the official time free agency began -- but that kind of tampering is something that apparently most NFL teams accept.

But once Samuel got to the City of Brotherly Love, the Eagles weren't going to let him leave without a deal being done.

Click the play button below to listen and watch.

If the Philadelphia Eagles website is any indication, the team is excited to welcome free-agent Asante Samuel to the city today.

We'll let you know if we hear anything more -- or if Samuel will be making the City of Brotherly Love his new home.

Junior Seau told the Associated Press today that he had arthroscopic surgery on his left rotator cuff just days after the Patriots lost to the Giants in the Super Bowl.

Seau said he was hurt in the fourth game of the season, in Cincinnati, but played the season in pain. He never appeared on the Patriots' injury report this season.

"There's no grace time there," he said. "I was caught in a wrong position. I just fell on it awkwardly. I felt it and it didn't recover. So I had to deal with it. Every player has an injury during the course of the year. In order to get through it, you have to persevere. No 1, you have to make sure you're not a liability. Obviously that was not the case."

The 39-year old Seau becomes a free agent at midnight, and is still deciding whether he will return for a 19th NFL season.

"I have a choice of playing or a choice of surfing. Those are great choices to have," Seau said.

The deadline to for teams to tender restricted free agents passed at 4 p.m., and New England tendered defensive lineman Mike Wright at the second-round level, meaning he has a one-year, $1.41 million deal with the team (unless the sides work out an extension) -- or, if another team offers Wright a contract that the Patriots decide not to match, that team must surrender its second-round pick to the Pats.

Wright joined New England as an undrafted rookie, making it difficult to tender him at the "low" level. Players given that designation receive $927,000, but if another team signs the player, his original team receives a draft pick equal to the round the player was originally selected in. Since Wright was undrafted out of Cincinnati, the Patriots would receive nothing in return.

The 25-year old Cincinnati native finished last season on injured reserve after suffering a knee injury against Pittsburgh.

Through AP Video, we will have live coverage of today's hearings in the House of Representatives on drug use in sports. The hearings will begin at 9:30; go to this link to watch.

Expected to testify: Former Sen. George Mitchell; MLB Commissioner Bud Selig; NBA Commissioner David Stem; MLB Players Association Executive Director Donald Fehr; NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell; NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman; NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw; NHLPA Executive Director Paul Kelly; USOC Executive Director Jim Scheer; U.S. Anti Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart; NCAA President Myles Brand; Robert Kanaby, Executive Director, National Federation of State High School Associations; Alexander Waldrop, CEO, National Throughbred Racing Association.

According to Louisiana station KATC, Patriots running back Kevin Faulk was cited for misdemeanor marijuana possession on Friday night.

(This is a correction of an earlier posting which said Faulk was arrested.)

Faulk, a team captain last season, was at the Cajundome for a concert featuring rapper Lil Wayne and a random security check turned up four joints.

He is the second Patriots player this month to be cited for marijuana -- just days after the team's Super Bowl loss, special teams standout Willie Andrews was arrested in Lowell, Mass.

New England has announced that veteran linebacker Rosevelt Colvin as well as Oscar Lua have both been cut by the team.

Colvin's release, first reported by the Boston Globe earlier today, is something of a surprise. Though he was set to earn $7.6 million this season, the final year of the six-year free agent deal he signed in 2003, New England's linebacking situation is very much in flux: Tedy Bruschi and/or Junior Seau could decide to retire, and while Adalius Thomas and Mike Vrabel both are experienced at middle linebacker, backups Pierre Woods (an OLB) and Eric Alexander (MLB) are both inexperienced at this point.

However, Colvin suffered season-ending injuries in both 2003 -- a hip injury that initially was believed to be career-threatening -- and this season, when a foot injury in November 25 put him on the shelf. Without Colvin, the Pats' pass rush seemed to suffer.

The move saves New England $5.5 million (Colvin's base salary for the season) against the salary cap by releasing him.

Lua was drafted in the seventh round out of USC last year and was placed on injured reserve with a knee injury before the regular season began. It was believed he would be part of the future at middle linebacker.

East Providence native Jamie Silva just made his media debut here at the Combine, his shoulder-length dirty-blonde hair held back with a thin elastic headband, and wearing the week's uniform -- a dark gray sweatshirt with his critical information on it: DB40 on the front and "Silva 40" on the back. The numbers are assigned alphabetically, so Silva comes 40th on the list of 57 defensive backs at the Combine.

Silva came into the media room just before 12:30 p.m., and his day was already nearly eight hours old -- he woke up at 4:45 a.m. to begin his testing, which started with a urine test, and then included dozens of medical tests and then his measurements. Teams measure every conceivable thing, from height to body fat and weight to hands, thighs and arms.

Still left today are meetings with teams, a dinner with the other members of Group 11, the final testing group of the Combine. Silva and the other members of Group 11, including Kansas star Aqib Talib and I-AA standout Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (cousin of San Diego Pro Bowler Antonio Cromartie), won't go through their on-field testing until Tuesday, but we'll be checking in with him for the next few days to give you a better idea of what it's like to go through this four-day job interview through Silva's eyes.

Say this for Drew Rosenhaus: the man knows how work a crowd.

He held court just outside the media workroom here, and while his chat was mostly centered on Zach Thomas, he fielded questions about players he has around the league and showed that he a) knows his clients and b) gets little sleep.

As far as his three Patriots clients, Rosenhaus said he's been talking with the Patriots about both Donte Stallworth and Jabar Gaffney, but "more likely Donte will become a free agent."

He said talks in regard to Gaffney are "ongoing" and that he and Izzo have a verbal agreement with the team on a one-year deal.

Agent Drew Rosenhaus just announced that linebacker Zach Thomas has signed with the Dallas Cowboys, uniting him with his hometown team.

Rosenhaus said the financials were very close with the three teams Thomas talked with -- Dallas, New England and New Orleans -- but what swayed it for Thomas was the chance to return to Texas, where he grew up, where his family still lives, and where he starred at Texas Tech.

Dallas is giving Thomas $1 million in base salary, a $1 million signing bonus and $1 million is what he called easily reachable incentives. It is a one-year deal, though Rosenhaus said that could change.

More in a few minutes.

Before he was hired by Bill Belichick and the Patriots, Dom Capers had an offer from the Cowboys to serve as a "defensive consultant." But he turned it down after asking defensive coordinator Brian Stewart -- whom Capers hired as a coaching assistant in Houston, Stewart's first NFL job -- if he would be uncomfortable with his taking the gig.

Stewart said he would be uncomfortable, and Capers pulled out of the opportunity.

"It shows what kind of class he has," Stewart said here at the Convention Center. "Like most leaders, he has a way of not just looking at the moment, but looking ahead. I appreciate that."

Capers knew his presence might cause problems for Stewart -- if Dallas' defense improved, Capers might get credit, and if it slipped, then the questions would begin about why Capers wasn't in charge of the defense instead of Stewart.

There's a bit more about the situation here.

As a coach, Stewart -- who gets bonus points here for having spent time as a Syracuse assistant -- said Capers is "very attention-detailed. Very, very. He's very organized, very smart, a very diligent coach. He's going to get the guys to do what he wants."

Dom, welcome to New England.
Thank you.

I guess the best place to start is that your title is going to be special assistant. What are those duties going to entail?
Well, anything that I can contribute to the staff, I’m sure that’ll be ongoing. The first thing is getting in and familiarizing myself with obviously the rest of the staff and the structure of that. My primary goal will be coaching the secondary and anything else that I can contribute.

You say your primary role there will be coaching the secondary?
I’ll be working with the secondary. Like I said, we’ll kind of see how things go and whatever other things I can contribute, I’ll certainly be ready. The biggest thing when you go into a new situation is you try to figure out what your role is going to be. Then you jump in and do the best job in that role that you can. One of the advantages of being a head coach for a number of years is you always knew what you were looking for in assistants and hopefully I can be that guy.

Can you talk about your past relationship with Bill Belichick and how this arrangement came to be?
Well, I’ve always had a lot of respect for Bill. It goes way back when he was the defensive coordinator with the Giants in the 80s. I was down with the New Orleans Saints from ’86 to ’91 and when Bill Cowher took the Pittsburgh job, I went to Pittsburgh with Bill [Cowher] as his defensive coordinator. And of course Bill [Belichick] was at Cleveland at that time and you know there’s a big rivalry between the Steelers and the Browns, so I followed Bill [Belichick] there and of course had great admiration for what he’s been able to do there in New England since he’s been there. It’s unmatched, really.

When someone has as extensive a background on the defensive side of the ball as you do, how much are you looking forward to working with Dean Pees?
Very much so. I’ve had a chance over the last few days to spend some time with Dean and [I’ve] been very impressed by Dean. He’s a guy that’s done a really good job every place that he’s been. We’ve got a lot of common friends in the business and I think they all hold him in very high regard.

You were in discussions with the Dallas Cowboys at one point about possibly joining their staff. Can you talk about why it didn’t work out there and why it was able to come together with the Patriots?
You never know how these things are going to go and I learned a long time ago that it’s important the staffs fit together. It’s like putting a team together. You have to have a feel for what everybody’s roles are going to be and what they can contribute. That’s what makes a good football team and I think it’s what makes a good staff. I just felt going up to New England was a good fit and like I said, I’ve had so much respect for Bill. They’re a multiple-style defense. They can play a lot of different styles. I think that’s what you have to do in this era.

You mentioned that you know Dean Pees. Did you actually check with Dean before you took the job to make sure it was something he was OK with, you coming onboard?
Dean and I went out to dinner the night that I was there and I had a great visit with him. Like I said, we have so many common acquaintances. I felt it would be really a good working relationship or I wouldn’t have felt comfortable doing it, but that wasn’t the case. I felt very good about it.

As someone who has watched Zach Thomas up close the last couple of years, his representative has expressed an interest in New England. Do you think a guy like that, given his style, how much would he have fit in with New England’s 3-4?
Well, you know I haven’t had a real chance to really study the personnel, but I can say this about Zach Thomas: I’ve been in the NFL for 22 years now - this will be 23 years. He’s one of the best preparers that I’ve been around. He’s one of he top guys. I mean, the guy is obsessive in his preparation. He’s very much a professional. He’s the one who spends probably as much time as the coaches do to get ready for the game, and I think that’s why he’s been able to have the kind of production and the success he has over his career, because when he came in, he came in as a fifth- or sixth-round draft pick. He was a later draft pick and just through a lot of hard work and determination and commitment, I think he’s really made himself into a real fine player.

Sticking with linebackers here, I know you said you’ll be coaching the secondary primarily, but can you talk about how the linebacker position has evolved? It seems like these guys are more versatile, they’re bigger, they’re stronger than maybe some of the one- or two-down players of a generation ago.
Everything goes in cycles and I think you probably see a few more 3-4 now and it’s been in the league for a while. You’ve seen it go to where there was hardly any to where there’s more. I think sometimes it’s the type of guys coming out of college dictate that. The flexibility that a good linebacker can give you, one that has the ability to not only rush the passer but drop into coverage and I think that is one of the advantages to have with four ‘backers on the field, as opposed to three. The good thing about Bill’s system is he has the ability to utilize either a 3-4 or a 4-3 and that gives you great flexibility.

I know that Nick Saban and Bill are close and obviously you were on Nick’s staff at Miami. Did you have any discussions with Nick about joining Bill’s staff or just trying to get a feel for Bill and what to expect?
Well, Nick and I go way back. I mean, we were graduate assistants together back in the early '70s at Kent State. Of course Nick was Bill’s defensive coordinator at Cleveland the whole time I was Bill Cowher’s defensive coordinator at Pittsburgh. Two years ago I came down here with Nick, the year before he left to go to Alabama. During that time, obviously we’d have a lot of discussions about Bill and that’s where you feel like you’re familiar with Bill. [I] never worked for him, having worked with Nick. Nick worked for Bill for quite a while.

A lot of times you hear different players say in signing with New England, you get a chance to get the ring and that’s what they play the game for. You as a coach -- was that a factor at all in your decision to come aboard?
We’ve played against them here the last two years and of course I’ve coached against them for a number of years. I’ll just say this, that I’m the only coach in the history of the league to start two expansion teams from scratch, so I know what the feeling is like to have to go out on that field and know that your talent’s not quite up to the competition. I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for what Bill and his staff have done there in terms of talent acquisition and how hard they are to line up and defend. I mean we certainly saw that this year. So, sure, I’m excited about joining the team that’s had the success that they’ve had, because that’s not always the way that it is. Certainly during the nine years that I was a head coach and when you [work with] expansion teams, you’re always fighting that uphill battle in terms of trying to get the kind of talent you need to go out and have success.

About eight years ago when the Patriots were wondering if they could get Bill from the Jets, your name was mentioned as a possible head coach here. Do you remember that, and how close did things actually get?
I don’t know how close they got. I did come up and visit with them and was real impressed with Mr. Kraft. I knew at that time he was very upfront with me, in terms of their familiarity with Bill, having him before. I visited with them and had a feeling that if Bill would be available, that would be the way to go. They certainly made the right decision, OK? All you have to do is look at what the franchise has done since that point in time. But I was familiar with the organization and familiar with Mr. Kraft and his vision and what he wanted to accomplish there.

With the possibility of losing Asante Samuel to free agency, how much is that going to increase the challenge you may face of having to face the secondary?
All I know about Asante is from playing against him, and he’s obviously a very fine player. That’s the challenge. That’s the challenge in this league now, from one year to the next, you’re team can change tremendously. If you do end up losing a good player you have to try to find somebody to take their place and that’s an on-going challenge in this league now in terms of being able to adjust, not only your talent, but what you do based on the talent that you have.

Just kind of going back to where we started here, you’ve been a head coach for going back to ’95 - I mean, head coach or a coordinator. Your primary responsibility is going to be the secondary and that would seem like for a guy that had a lot of responsibility in other areas a step back, so to speak. Again, did you and Bill sit down and talk about anything specific with regard to the special assistant tag and what you might offer beyond coaching the secondary?
Well, you know, again, I mentioned anything else that I can contribute I’ll be more than happy to do. I’ve always enjoyed the X and O part of the game, the coaching part of the game and the relationship with the players. You certainly do have a different relationship with the players as an assistant than you do as a head coach. I enjoy the teaching aspect of it, so I’m hoping with the experience that I had in the league that I’ll be able to contribute in any way that might be helpful to helping the team win, really.

How much do you think it motivated Bill to hire you to think that you were the last defensive coordinator to shut these guys out, that 21-0 win you guys had in Miami in the ’06 season? Do you think that that helped at all, in terms of Bill wanting to bring you in?
Well, I don’t know on that. I think we all know that things can change quickly. That was a good day for us and the Patriots certainly turned around. When they came down here this year it was a totally different story. Sometimes you can look pretty smart one day and not very smart the next day. There’s so many variable to go into things. I think over the years we’ve competed against each other and both being defensive coaches going back into the 80s, Bill’s Giants defenses. I used to spend a lot of time watching those and we had some pretty good defenses at New Orleans at that time. There were a lot of similarities and I think like you encourage your players to watch the top players. As coaches, you spend a lot of time watching the top defenses to see if there’s anything you might be able to pick up and use within your system.

Michigan wide receiver Mario Manningham just met with the media and it turns out he has something of a connection to the Patriots -- he played high school football for Thom McDaniels in Ohio.

Thom is the father of New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

Manningham said he's never met Josh, but if playing for the son is anything like playing for the elder McDaniels, "it should be a piece of cake," Manningham said with a smile.

The Philadelphia Eagles have signed Bam Childress to a two-year contract, the team announced today.

Childress was originally brought to New England as an undrafted free agent out of Ohio State in 2005, and spent the majority of his time with the team on practice squad, including all of last season. Against Jacksonville on Christmas Eve 2006, Childress had two receptions; in his rookie season, he played in one game at both receiver and corner.

Though he was never promoted to the 53-man roster last season, New England paid Childress nearly twice what most practice squad players make to entice him to remain with the organization in case they did need him. Opposing teams can sign a player off a practice squad if they place him on the 53-man roster and thus compensate him as such.

New Patriots special assistant/secondary Dom Capers just wrapped up a conference call and indicated that his "special assistant" title is not something that's defined as of yet.

"Anything that I can contribute to the staff," Capers said. "The first thing is to familiarize myself with things; my primary role is coaching the secondary and anything else I can contribute.
We'll see how things go and whatever I can contribute I’ll be ready. When you get into new situation, you find out what your new role will be and jump right in."

Capers has spent years teaching and refining a 3-4 defensive system, though his job title includes him being in charge of New England's secondary. That unit may suffer a big loss with the potential departure of All-Pro cornerback Asante Samuel. Capers doesn't know much about Samuel as a player, but he knows how to deal with losing a key player.

"All I know about Asante is from playing against him," he said. "But that's the challenge of playing in this league now is from one year to the next your team could change tremendously. That's an ongoing challenge in terms of being able to adjust to your talent, but also what you do with the talent you have."

Though Capers has never worked directly with Bill Belichick, he feels as though he knows Belichick through Nick Saban -- Saban and Capers were graduate assistants together at Kent State in the 1970s, and Saban went on to become Belichick's defensive coordinator in Cleveland. Saban hired Capers as his defensive coordinator in Miami two years ago. And over the years, Belichick and Capers' teams have faced one another numerous times.

While some have seen the hiring of Capers as a sign that current Pats defensive coordinator Dean Pees might be in trouble, Capers said the two had dinner together earlier this week so Capers could make sure Pees was fine with the move.

"We have a lot of common friends in the business and they all hold him in high regard," Capers said of Pees, whose last job before New England was as head coach at Kent State. "Dean and I went out to dinner the first night that I was there (in Foxboro), so I had a great visit with him. We have so many common acquaintances, and I felt it would be a good working relationship."

Capers recently turned down the chance to serve as a consultant to the Cowboys' defensive coaches after Dallas defensive coordinator Brian Stewart expressed discomfort with it; Capers gave Stewart his first-ever NFL job when Capers was head coach in Houston.

When asked about Dallas, Capers didn't mention the situation with Stewart, but acknowledged that putting together a coaching staff is much like putting together a team; all the pieces should fit together well, and everyone should know their role.

With the Dolphins, Capers coached linebacker Zach Thomas, who visited with and received an offer from New England this week. Capers was asked how Thomas might fit in to the Pats' defense.

"I haven’t had a real chance to really study the personnel that much but can say this about Zach Thomas – I've been in the NFL for 22 years now, and he’s one of the best preparers I've been around. He's obsessive in his preparation; he's probably going to spend as much time as the coaches do. That's probably why he’s had success in his career -- he came in as a fifth, sixth round draft pick and through hard work and commitment made himself into a (great) player."

Capers also discussed his last dalliance with New England -- eight years ago, he interviewed with team owner Bob Kraft for the head coaching position that ultimately went to Belichick.

"I don’t know how close they ever got (to hiring him), I did come up and visit, I was impressed with Mr. Kraft, he was upfront with me in terms of his familiarity with Bill, and I had a feeling if Bill would be available that’s the way they would go," he said. "They certainly made the right decision."

Capers holds the distinction of being the only coach in league history to get two expansion teams off the ground -- he was the first head coach of both Carolina and Houston -- and that also means he's lost a lot of games. Getting the chance to join a highly successful organization is another plus.

"I know what the feeling is like when you have to go on the field and know that your talent is not up to that of the competition," he said. "So I have a tremendous amount of respect for what Bill and his staff have done. Sure I'm excited about joining a team that has had the success that they've had. During my nine years as a head coach, I was always fighting that uphill battle to get the talent you need to have success."

We just spoke with Alonzo Shavers, one of the agents for Asante Samuel, and he said Samuel is excited to hit free agency on one week from today, but that no team has so far been ruled out of the mix.

Though Scott Pioli is here in Indianapolis as well, Shavers would not say if the two have met up to discuss numbers -- New England is the only team that can negotiate with Samuel right now, though of course at 12:01 a.m. on Feb. 29, Shavers and Jay Bianco can start fielding calls from all 32 teams.

"There's always communication going on with our situation," Shavers said. "We don't eliminate anyone until we've signed a new deal and move to a new city."

Shavers called New England Samuel's "birthplace," and Samuel has said he'd like to remain with the Patriots. But he is also anticipating the chance to hit the open market; it is expected that Samuel's deal will exceed the $28.5 million over the first three years Nate Clements got from San Francisco last year. Clements' deal was announced as eight years, $80 million, but the final year of the deal was already voided, making it a seven-year, $64 million pact.

The agent also acknowledged that with Oakland's Nnamdi Asomugha and Seattle's Marcus Trufant -- the other top-flight corners that would have been available -- being taken off the market with their teams slapping the franchise tags on them "gives us more leeway."

Hey all --

Welcome to Day 2 of the NFL Combine, which is the day receivers, running backs and quarterbacks are taken through their paces as far as measurements, physicals and the like are concerned.

More team officials will also be at the podium here at the RCA Dome/Convention Center, including Giants' coach Tom Coughlin, Colts' coach Tony Dungy, and Cleveland coach -- and former Pats defensive coordinator -- Romeo Crennel.

We'll update you as much as possible throughout the day.

shalise

New England has announced changes to its coaching staff: longtime coach Dom Capers has been brought on as a special assistant/secondary, Bill O'Brien was promoted to receivers coach from offensive assistant, and former receivers coach Nick Caserio has moved back into the front office as director of player personnel.

Left unsaid in the release is that former secondary coach Joel Collier has been let go.

Capers, who has spent 22 years in the NFL, was most recently the defensive coordinator in Miami for the last two seasons.

Speaking about Capers, who has served as head coach of the Panthers and Texans, Bill Belichick said, “I have known Dom for a long time and respect him tremendously as a coach, particularly defensively. To add a coach of his caliber is an outstanding opportunity for us. I look forward to getting to work with Dom and (defensive coordinator) Dean [Pees] immediately.”

Caserio spent last season as receivers coach, but must have decided that he prefers the front office; from 2004-06, he served as New England's director of pro personnel, and the year before that, he was an area scout. In his first season with the team, 2002, Caserio was an offensive coaching assistant.

He is a former college teammate of offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels at John Carroll University.

O'Brien, a Brown alum, left Duke before last season to join Belichick's staff as an offensive assistant. He will take Caserio's role as receivers coach.

In news first reported by ESPN's John Clayton, the Patriots have not used the franchise tag on receiver Randy Moss; the deadline for teams to designate a franchise player was 4 p.m.

The feeling is that Moss and the Patriots are close to signing a long-term deal with the receiver and he likely will not hit the free agent market.

When New England acquired Moss in a draft-day deal last April, he signed a one-year contract with incentives that marked a significant pay cut for he veteran wideout compared to what he was due to make with his previous club, Oakland.

Moss came to the Patriots and returned to his previous impressive form, with 98 catches for 1,493 yards and a league-record 23 touchdowns. He also was praised as a great teammate, and did not cause any ripples save for the restraining order a Florida woman filed against him during the playoffs.

Tom Brady has made no secret of his fondness for Moss as a teammate, and said at the Super Bowl earlier this month that he figures he has at least 10 more seasons left in him and would like to have Moss with him for as many of those as possible. Brady was not happy when the Pats traded Deion Branch to Seattle, and expressed as much publicly; clearly, it is in New England's best interests to keep the best quarterback in the game happy.

Had New England franchised Moss, he would have gotten a one-year contract for a guaranteed $7.85 million. When teams designate a franchise player, they have until July 15 to work out a long-term deal with him. Otherwise the player signs the tender and the sides can't meet again until after the season concludes.

Eleven teams used the franchise tag this season.

This isn't the first time we've realized that Bill Belichick and Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher aren't exactly buddy-buddy, but Fisher made some comments today that seem like a shot at Belichick.

The longtime Titans coach addressed the media with other members of the NFL's Competition Committee today, and was asked if their needs to be a clarification of the rule Belichick was found to have broken by having a team employee videotape from the sidelines.

"No. those rules are very, very clear. There is no need to be more specific or clarify
any rules whatsoever as far as the bylaws are concerned," he said.

Belichick has maintained that it was his mis-interpretation of a gray area in the rule that led to New England's videotaping.

Fisher was also asked how he'd react if he learned that his opponent had recorded his walkthrough, as New England has been accused of doing to St. Louis before Super Bowl XXXVI.

I'm not going to answer that question because we're dealing with a hypothetical situation
related to an ongoing investigation right now," he said. "I think you could speculate what my
answer would be. But I'm not going to go into any detail."

Bears head coach and former Rams defensive coordinator Lovie Smith was among the coaches and team officials to address the media today at the Combine, and was of course asked about Spygate. Smith was with St. Louis when the it lost to the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI.

Asked if he felt like New England had some inside information during the game, Smith replied, "No, not at all. Again, I'm having a hard time remembering last year's (Super Bowl). To think back to St. Louis, that's definitely harder for me. But what I recall is that we were beaten by a good football team that year. It was an excellent football game. And that's about all I remember from it."

Smith said his team takes precautions to try and prevent opponents from stealing defensive signals, but it isn't a major focus.

"We take all type of precautions. You have wristband calls and things like that. I don't spend a whole lot of time ... most of our effort goes into trying to find a way to be successful on the football field doing it the right way. We spend most of our time on that. We have precautions in place to guard against that on game day, and that's how we've always done it," he said.

In talking with former Patriots safety Lawyer Milloy yesterday, he relayed a funny story about Tom Brady that didn't make it into our story this morning. Milloy and Brady became close when the former was with the Pats, and has seen the quarterback's rise from fourth-string to star.

It was two years after Milloy had signed with Buffalo, and Milloy hadn't hung out with his friend since he had joined the Bills. So the two, along with some other friends and Milloy's former teammates, including Mike Vrabel, decided to meet at the Kentucky Derby.

"We show up at the Derby in a Suburban, and he steps out of the truck. I go to step out and a big hand stops me. It's his security. I was like, what the hell?," Milloy recalled, smiling. "He had two security guys around him, answering questions from the paparazzi, and we had to walk behind him. That's the difference between a good player and superstar status."

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell just stopped to answer a few questions with the small amount of media here at the Westin Hotel in Indianapolis and said the league is "making progress" in its talks with former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh.

Walsh, who allegedly videotaped the Rams' final walkthrough before Super Bowl XXXVI, has requested indemnification against the Patriots if he tells his side of the story. But Walsh and his attorneys have apparently asked for blanket immunity; the league will only protect Walsh against truthful statements.

"We very much want to talk to him," Goodell said. "We've made progress on the conditions, and what he'll be asked to do and what we will do in return.

"I very much want to meet with him, and I expect that will happen shortly."

Walsh's attorney, Michael Levy, told the Boston Herald this week that Walsh has videotapes. Whether that includes St. Louis' walkthrough the day before New England's win in Super Bowl XXXVI is unclear. On Sunday, the Boston Globe published comments from Bill Belichick in which he denied recording any walkthrough or watching tape of any walkthrough in his time as a head coach, and Scott Pioli said Walsh was fired when it was discovered that the assistant had recorded conversations between himself and Walsh.

New England players Kyle Brady, Troy Brown, Dan Koppen, Matt Light and Richard Seymour are among 114 players from around the league who will participate in the NFL's Business Management and Entrepreneurial Program this offseason.

The program, now in its fourth year, is part of an initiative between the NFL and NFL Players Association aimed at helping players prepare for their post-football careers.

Player enrollment criteria include level of education, professional business experience, interest in starting, owning or managing a busines, and leadership and community involvement.

Seymour will take part in the workshop offered by Harvard Business School; Koppen and Light will enroll at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern; and Brady and Brown will enroll in the workshop at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

By Rich Hoffman
The Philadelphia Daily News

Watching in amazement as Sen. Arlen Specter and some attorneys from the Cincinnati area attempt to turn Bill Belichick and his video camera into a federal case, literally, the following is offered for perspective:

"We know that (stealing signs) became an area of concentration for a lot of teams," the coach said. "I think that crossed the line of ethics; to have teams videotaping me on the sideline, then learning our plays."

The coach in question was Sam Wyche, then of the Tam