Tuesday Patriots Notes: Daniel Fells, Troy Brown, Matt Light

The Patriots know how to do free agency. When they see a player on the open market that fits their scheme, they go out and get him. It doesn't have to be the highest profile guy who necessarily gives them the best chance to win on Sunday. That's exactly what they got in free agent tight end Daniel Fells.

After spending time with six different teams in his career, Fells agreed to sign on with the Patriots for three years, and joins an already spectacular tight end crop in Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. Fells' name came onto the NFL radar last season, when he developed into one of Tim Tebow's favorite targets in Denver, starting a career high 15 games.

So why did Fells agree to come into an already crowded Patriots receiving corps? For him, it's easy. It's all about winning:

"Traditionally, just looking at this offense, Tom's going to find the open man." said Fells, who has averaged about 1.5 receptions per game over the course of his career. "That's definitely something that appeals to everybody."

"From an offensive standpoint they go out there and they put up points, they find the open man, it's not just about one player, like you have two good tight ends," Fells said. "There's not a lot of teams that use both tight ends and get them all kinds of catches. There's usually just one guy that stands out, and you have a bunch of players that are standing out on this offense."

TROY BROWN EXCITED FOR PATRIOT HOF BID

After putting in 15 years with the Patriots and establishing himself as one of the best receivers in team history, Troy Brown is being rewarded for his accomplishments. Brown, along with defensive back Fred Marion and head coach Bill Parcells are the three finalists for the Patriots 2012 Hall of Fame class.

Even since retiring in 2008, Brown has stayed involved in the organization, as he most recently was selected as an honorary captain during the Patriots Super Bowl run last season and being given the honors of announcing their second round selection. When he looks back at his football career, he sees himself as a pure football player:

"I think I've said this before," Brown said. "Maybe not the tallest or biggest or fastest or strongest or whatever, but just the best football player. Not the outstanding wide receiver or most outstanding punt returner, but I think overall pound-for-pound and everything else, best football player. I feel like I could do everything pretty well. It didn't matter to me what coach asked me to do - if it was go in there and block, I just enjoyed playing the game."

MATT LIGHT IS DWIGHT FREENEY'S BIGGEST FAN

During his ceremonial retirement at the Patriots Hall of Fame, long time left tackle Matt Light had a lot to talk about. When asked about who was his biggest challenge in one-on-ones, Light said that it was undoubtedly Indianapolis Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney. Light explains:

"He's a guy that I had a lot of respect for. It's not just the way he plays the game, it's how many different ways he can make you look silly out there, [of] which, there are plenty," Light said of Freeney. "I can go through them all. We can go watch film of he and I, and you'll see it yourself. He's just an all around great player. And he's not a guy that talks a lot out there, he doesn't have anything to say to you, he's not trying to beat you with his words. He's going to go out there and he's going to put the work in and he's going to show you how bad you can look.

"I always appreciated that out of him - not making me look bad - but definitely the challenge, going out there and trying to face a guy like him. And he was really in our division as much as anybody else is in our division, so we saw each other a lot."