Legal tampering starts Monday. Several random thoughts:
* I think New England is a more attractive destination than they were a year ago. This should not be confused with being one of the most attractive destinations in the league. I think they need to make some progress on the field in order to drastically improve their perception.
* It's great that the Patriots have money to spend. But the cap has gone up so much in recent years that nearly every team has money to spend. The Patriots need to be strategic in how they spend that money.
* I think the Patriots will be in on guys like Ronnie Stanley and Chris Godwin and Milton Williams. In fact, I think there's a good chance they'll be the high bidders on multiple Top 5 free agents. I'm not sure they're far enough along to actually land any of them.
* That's OK. The 2001 Patriots signed something like 18 free agents, none of which they paid huge money to. They signed "stop the bleeding" guys like Roman Phifer, Bryan Cox, Anthony Pleasant, David Patten, Antowain Smith... and Mike Vrabel. That's what this team needs. They need sign enough guys where they're not forced into scenarios where they sign a tackle off the waiver wire in September that ends up starting most of the season or they sign a guy from another team's practice squad on Thursday who ends up starting on Sunday.
* They've got two things to offer free agents in abundance - money and opportunity. I think there's a class of players who will hit the market that will be looking for both where the Patriots will find some success. These are likely to be players coming off their rookie contracts (...so they'll be 25-28 years old) who have either been high level backups, or they've shown flashes but have had some bad injury luck, etc.
For example, if things don't work out with the likes of Ronnie Stanley or Cam Robinson, San Francisco's Jaylon Moore should be someone the Patriots call. He's been Trent Williams' back up for most his career. He's 27 years old with about a dozen NFL starts to his name, and when he's played, he's performed well. He doesn't a lot of wear and tear, he's in the prime of his career, he coming off his rookie contract so he hasn't earned a ton of money, and I'm sure he's dying for someone to give him a chance to play every week. The Patriots should be all over anyone who fits this mold.
* I think there's also a bit of a leadership void on this team. They need some veterans who can set the tone and show some of the younger players how to be professionals.
