The last 24 hours has illustrated just how dumb the “legal tampering period” is, as numerous teams are already reporting deals in place with many of the top free agents on the market. So who cares what happens at 4pm today? It’s not like the old days when there would be a deluge of information the moment the league year started.
Anyway, the Patriots haven’t had an active day so far, but there have been plenty of reports about who they’re interested in and the headline is at the wide receiver position.
Patriots have already been linked to four receivers: Marvin Jones (Lions), Travis Benjamin (Chargers), Rishard Matthews and Mohamed Sanu.
— Mark Daniels (@MarkDanielsPJ) March 9, 2016
The need at wide receiver is an obvious one, with Brandon LaFell‘s departure it’s the only true starter spot open on the entire team. But now the Pats are down to Rishard Matthews and Mohamed Sanu as potential targets, though I’m not sure either are true X-receivers for the Patriots’ system that would fit the role that LaFell played (well in 2014).
I’ve always liked Sanu. He’s got good size, is smart and versatile, but my main interest in him was in upgrading the slot spot. But again, he’d fit nicely with this receiver corps and make up for some of the size they lost with LaFell. As for Matthews I’m less interested. He’s less than physical and doesn’t really bring anything interesting to the party.
Jermaine Kearse might just be the best value option left if they miss out on Sanu.
The Pats have also reportedly expressed an interest in Jets running back Bilal Powell. This is a move I didn’t really see coming because I always saw Powell as more of a third-down back, which the Pats already have two pretty good ones of in Dion Lewis (recovering from ACL surgery) and James White. Powell seems a bit redundant to me, but when you look at what the Pats had left at the end of 2015 there’s no question they sure could’ve used him then.
Yes, the Patriots are interested in Bilal Powell. And yes, he would be a tremendous fit for how Belichick likes to use his RBs. #nyj
— Manish Mehta (@MMehtaNYDN) March 9, 2016
Hope remains that the Pats will also get in on Matt Forte. So far, other than some reported interest from the Packers, things have been pretty quiet on that front. I still think that Joique Bell is my under-the-radar guy.
We all know the Pats play things close to the vest, and that for them free agency isn’t about the early splashy moves but the good value deals that will play out over the next couple weeks. There’s still plenty of action to come.
