Patriots new DB coach Corwin Brown has a long history with Bill Belichick.

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Albert Breer reports that ex-Notre Dame assistant Corwin Brown -- one of the guys let go along with head coach Charlie Weis -- has been installed as secondary coach in New England.

The buzz in Mobile the last couple days was that, in fact, Weis had helped place Brown with an NFL team, but it was unclear which one. Now, it is clear.

I did an extensive story on Brown back in 2007 for this publication, and got some pretty good stories along the way. Here's one pretty good one, that you might have seen alluded to here on Twitter ...

When Bill Belichick arrived to coach the Patriots defensive backs in 1996, Brown was in his fourth NFL season and already knew that, after he was done playing, he wanted to coach. He made this clear to Belichick, and the coach found ways to help tutor him, staying late to watch extra film and such to show Brown how to see the game from a coach's eyes. Brown followed Belichick, and Bill Parcells, to the Jets in 1997 and spent two seasons there, so those two are pretty tight.

Brown got his start in coaching with Al Groh -- his defensive coordinator in his four seasons as a Patriot -- at Virginia from 2001-03, and was one of the few held over from Herm Edwards' Jets staff by Eric Mangini. He's been at Notre Dame the last three years, where he was co-defensive coordinator and associate head coach.

Heath Evans brings a bit of the Patriots Way to the Saints.

Coach Payton ask me today at lunch what I thought about the team schedule. I told him I thought it was perfect! The guys had Monday to Wednesday off, except for some conditioning and some light weightlifting and a few Super Bowl logistics meetings.

His question got me thinking about the 2007 season run to the Super Bowl and the tough days of practice we had leading up to departing for Arizona. All year, we had been fighting the bug of complacency. We started and finished the year in such a dominant fashion that Coach Bill kept the pressure on us at all times to not buy into the lie that we were unbeatable. Needless to say, that years’ prep for the Super Bowl was far from easy.

When asked for advice by Coach Payton, it is so hard not to see everything through the eyes of Bill Belichick. I grew so deeply rooted in the "Patriot Way" during my stay in New England that my mind is forever ingrained with the Patriot DNA, that I feel like I am always trying to bring a little bit of New England to New Orleans.

I guess what I love the most about being a Saint is that we have a coaching staff that is always willing to learn something new. I love the fact that we have coaches that aren’t ashamed to ask how something was done somewhere else out of respect from where I have come.

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I find myself in a bittersweet time of my life. Super Bowl 44 (which has always been my number).  My second Super Bowl in three years. But I am not preparing to face the Giants to cap off our undefeated season with the Patriots; instead, I am on the sidelines of the Saints facility with a reconstructed ACL.

Like I said — bittersweet. Here, I have the opportunity for the ring that every NFL player wants, but I am not on the field to earn it. I’ve never thought of myself as emotional or selfish, but now I find myself having self-centered and crazy thoughts. Most players, when they go on Injured Reserve (which means they are done for the rest of the season, no matter what), are basically free from all team responsibilities and they go home to rehab and prepare for the next year. The Saints asked me to stay in town and to be a part of all the meetings, game plans, and all the rest — everything but practice and games on the field.  Maybe being "out of sight and out of mind" would be a blessing.

Instead of doing too much self-pity, I’ve tried to focus on two things: putting on my coaching hat at the facility — imparting whatever wisdom I’ve gotten from my nine years in the league to what is a very young running back room. Then outside of the facility, I am focusing on the Heath Evans Foundation (www.HeathEvans.Org). We have a great opportunity to raise money and awareness for the problem of childhood sexual abuse through our raffling of four Super Bowl tickets, $5,000 cash, and three nights at the Saints team hotel! Visit the site to get your chance to win — and keep an eye on this blog for all my thoughts and emotions as we prepare to make history for the Saints franchise and the great "Who Dat" Nation!

I can't help but personally wish Heath Evans the best of success with his recovery, with his team in the Super Bowl and with the charity work that is so important in his life.

Time to show him the money.

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Shalise Manza Young offers her thoughts on the Vince Wilfork contract situation.

"I want a long-term deal, or I want to be free," Wilfork said in an appearance Wednesday on WEEI radio. "Point blank. And that’s how I’m looking at it. That’s how my family is looking at it. It’s a short window of opportunity for me to go and make the type of money that I want to make. And hey, like I said, family comes first."

Wilfork’s agent, Kennard McGuire, and the Patriots have not talked terms on an extension since before the start of the regular season, Wilfork said.

It would be surprising if New England did not elect to use its franchise tag on Wilfork. If that happens, it would then be surprising to see Wilfork at Gillette Stadium before Week 10 next season, the last week he could arrive and receive an accrued season.

The Hall at Patriot Place:  The AFL Turns 50 Exhibit

In recognition of the 50th anniversary of the Patriots and the AFL, The Hall at Patriot Place has unveiled "The AFL Turns 50," a special exhibit on display at The Hall throughout the 2009 season. "The AFL Turns 50" is the most extensive collection of AFL memorabilia available for viewing anywhere. This exhibit will be closing on February 7th, so check it out while you can.

Colts president Bill Polian is upset about the Pro Bowl set up this year: (and I heartily agree with him on this point.)

"It's stupid. It's a disruption, but we'll deal with it."

"Well, we'll come back to practice on Wednesday. We'll practice Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. They'll have off Saturday. If it weren't for the Pro Bowl disruption, they would have the weekend off, but they can't because we have to send those players to Miami to do Lord knows what. We'll come back and practice on Sunday and the Pro Bowl players will go and do whatever they have to do and then the team will leave on Monday.

(Host: So the Pro Bowl players you will fly down there and they just fly back that day?) I don't know that they fly them back. I think they plan to keep them down there that evening. They haven't even told us yet what this is all about. We don't even have any details or anything like that. Maybe they will call us Friday and tell us.

In any event the fact of the matter is that we're thinking that they're down there Sunday night and they will meet us Monday, which is a hell of a thing isn't it? It sends a great message to all the young people out there and all the coaches that talk teamwork that you take your best seven players and split them up from your team at the ultimate moment in sports."

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Matt Light grimacing after dislocating his kneecap (ow! ow! ow!) in the Denver game.

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Matt Light talked with ESPN's Mike & Mike in the morning about his injury and the disappointing end to the Patriots season.

“As players, we all talked about it after the game. We were in the locker room and there were a lot of guys hanging their head and it’s a tough situation,” Light said. “We know we have good guys, quality players. But we have to be a more physical team, a mentally tougher team. We have to be guys that act like we’ve been there and done it before.”

Ian Rapoport converses with some potential Patriots targets including Michigan OLB Brandon Graham.

“I love watching the Patriots,” Graham said. “They’ve been winning most of the years and coach Bill Belichick – I just want to have a conversation with him, just to talk to him. When he’s on the field, he seem like he doesn’t say much. He seems like a nice guy, though. I keep hearing good things about him.”

I told Graham of the Patriots love for Michigan linebackers, whether Shawn Crable, Pierre Woods or even Prescott Burgess. He already knew.

“Pierre Woods was just telling me, ‘Keep going and everything’ll take care of itself,’ ” Graham said. “He didn’t want me to worry about it, because when I talked to him last year, he just gave me some insight and said the Patriots love a high-motor guy. ‘Keep running to the ball and don’t stop.‘ ”

Erik Scalavino explains why the Patriots can't re-sign Brady now, with the entire signing bonus hitting this year so his future years' salary cap hits won't be so high.

Because that's not how the salary cap works. When a player is awarded a signing bonus, he typically receives the lump sum right away. For accounting purposes, however, that number is divided by the number of years of the contract. The resulting figure is called the "prorated" portion that is applied to the player's salary cap number each season.

For example, if you sign a 5-year, $20 million contract, $10 million of which is your signing bonus, you would get your $10 million up front, along with your salary for that year, whatever that number is. However, your cap number for each of the five seasons would be your salary for that year, plus $2 million (the prorated portion of your signing bonus).

So, as you can see, giving Brady a huge signing bonus in an uncapped year wouldn't help the Patriots alleviate their salary cap burden. What they might be able to do, in your example, is give Brady (or any other player, for that matter) hefty sums in other kinds of bonuses (workout, roster, makeable performance goals, etc.) that aren't prorated.

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