1 DAY AGO - Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports With two open spots on their 90-man roster, the Patriots are taking a look at some potential linebacker depth. The New England Patriots are looking into possibly adding to their linebacker corps. As was announced by the XFL on Friday, the team invited one of its players — Carson Wells — on a tryout basis. The tryout took place on Thursday, according to a report by Doug Kyed of A to Z Sports. Wells, 24, played college football at the University of Colorado. Primarily playing on the edge for the Buffaloes, the 6-foot-3, 241-pound defender appeared in 41 total games for the school. He registered 17.5 sacks and 154 tackles, one forced fumble, and also intercepted three passes — including one returned for a touchdown. Despite putting up some solid numbers, Wells did not hear his name called in the 2022 NFL Draft. He ended up joining he Cincinnati Bengals as a rookie free agent, but was released after only one preseason game. Wells was not Collapse

2 DAYS AGO - DL Keion White at the Combine | Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images Daily news and links for Friday. TEAM TALK Press Conference transcripts: Bill Belichick - Mac Jones. Patriots Catch-22: Takeaways and position recaps from OTAs. (80 min.) Patriots Unfiltered: Biggest observations from Wednesday’s OTA. (2 hours) LOCAL LINKS Tom E. Curran writes how for the first time in years, the Patriots are building momentum early. Mark Daniels points out how Bill O’Brien’s new offense has excited Mac Jones. Zack Cox points out nine things we learned about the first open OTA practice: The offense is in good hands. Matt Dolloff identifies 9 Patriots who made a good first impression at OTAs. Thornton & Gesicki top the list. Mike D’Abate (Patriots Country) Five takeaways from Patriots OTAs: Who’s in charge? CLNS Media: Greg Bedard gives his main takeaways from OTAs, admits the offense ‘looked good’. (4 min. video) Zack Cox highlights Mac Jones with a lofty prediction for WR Collapse

2 DAYS AGO - Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images New England moved down the board in the first round of this year’s draft. The New England Patriots entered the 2023 NFL Draft in possession of the 14th overall selection in the first round. They did not end up making a pick in that spot, however, and instead decided to move out in a trade-down with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Patriots went from 14 to 17 while also picking up a fourth-round selection, No. 120 overall. Despite sliding down the board, New England was still able to pick up one of the consensus top talents available this year and add Oregon’s Christian Gonzalez to its cornerback group. Pittsburgh was not the only team the Patriots were in touch with about moving down in the first round, though. As a new behind-the-scenes video by the Washington Commanders Commanders shows, they also worked the phones with New England. The Commanders, who also were looking at the cornerback position and had identified Emmanuel Forbes as Collapse

3 DAYS AGO - The New England Patriots held their first open organized team activity on Wednesday, and both quarterback Mac Jones and wide receiver Tyquan Thornton looked good. This video shared by the team is just one of the plays that saw them connect during the session. Collapse

3 DAYS AGO - Rookie WR Demario Douglas makes a catch | Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Daily news and links for Thursday. TEAM TALK Evan Lazar gives us the key takeaways from our first glimpse at the Pats offense led by Bill O’Brien and Mac Jones. Offense focusing on ‘building our own thing’ as offseason program continues. Paul Perillo’s OTA Blogservations: Early impressions of the offense showed a much more cohesive unit under the direction of Bill O’Brien and a refreshed Mac Jones. Mike Dussault writes about the Patriots defense beginning to set a foundation for 2023 with most of their starters back in the fold, along with a promising crop of rookies that could be poised to chip in right away. Press Conferences: Bill Belichick (10 min. video) - Mac Jones (9 min. video) Press Pass: Day 1 of OTAs - Matthew Slater, Ja’Whaun Bentley, Mac Jones, and David Andrews. (1.30 min. video) Photos: Patriots OTAs - May 23 and May 31. Patriots Playbook: Day 1 of OTAs, Collapse

4 DAYS AGO - Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images New England’s starting quarterback is coming off a challenging sophomore season. There is no way around it, the 2022 season was a rough one for Mac Jones. The former first-round quarterback failed to build on a promising rookie season, missed time due to an ankle injury, and overall was unable to lead the New England Patriots offense to a whole lot of success. Almost five months removed from his sophomore campaign, Jones is now trying to make the most out of what he learned. As he pointed out during a press conference following Wednesday’s organized team activity, he wants to turn the challenge that was 2022 into a learning experience to help him and the team in the future. “Really great people are formed through ups and downs,” Jones said. “Just speaking for myself, my sports career I’ve always been on really good winning teams and that’s what this place has been. I’m just learning from all the things, that’s all I Collapse

4 DAYS AGO - NFL/Twitter Belichick was asked about Hopkins during his Wednesday press conference, but he did not offer a lot of information. His team still has a long way to go before being ready to compete in games this fall, but Bill Belichick already is in midseason form. The New England Patriots’ head coach showed as much during his press conference ahead of Wednesdays organized team activity practice at Gillette Stadium. Belichick was asked about veteran wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, whom he has spoken highly of in the past. With Hopkins a free agent following his release from the Arizona Cardinals that was made official on Tuesday, surely there would be some interest. Right? Well, enter Bill Belichick and the most predictable answer ever. “Yeah, I’m not going to comment on players that are not on this team,” he said. And that was that. Whether or not the Patriots will indeed pursue Hopkins remains to be seen, but for now it is clear that Belichick is — true to form — not interested Collapse

4 DAYS AGO - Photo by Bryan Bennett/Getty Images SI’s Conor Orr published 100 bold predictions for the upcoming season, including two related to the Patriots. Coming off a disappointing 2022 season, the New England Patriots are not among the favorites to win the AFC East let alone the Super Bowl this year. Quite the opposite: the general view is that they are closer to the bottom of their own division than the top. Just don’t tell Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated, who recently published a list of 100 bold predictions for the NFL’s upcoming season. At No. 3 he has the Patriots win the AFC East. 3. The Patriots will win the AFC East Bill O’Brien is back and carrying a new bag of tricks from his Alabama getaway. This offense can sensibly grind out games behind a brilliant defense. You’ll ask: But what about the Dolphins, Jets and Bills? My thought is that this division may end up collapsing in on itself a little bit. There are a lot of heavyweight punchers here, each of which have some very Collapse

4 DAYS AGO - patriots.com A free agent pickup earlier this offseason, Anderson is now being coached by two former NFL offensive linemen. The New England Patriots invested in their offensive line this offseason even before selecting three players in the draft. Among the earliest moves they made was adding veteran tackle Calvin Anderson on a two-year contract. Anderson joining the Patriots brings him back to his old stomping grounds: he already spent a couple of weeks with the club to start his NFL tenure as a rookie free agent in the spring of 2019. Over the last four years, however, things have changed quite a bit both for him and the organization. The O-line is one area that has seen turnover. Starting center David Andrews might still be around, but the rest of the group has changed significantly. That is also true for its coaching staff. In fact, the Patriots are now on their fourth offensive line coach since Dante Scarnecchia — who led the unit during Anderson’s first stint — announced Collapse