New England Patriots links 1/31/23 - Restocking the shelves: Scouting safety, third-down back; More

TEAM TALK

• Transaction: Patriots sign Lynn Bowden Jr. to a future contract.
• Mike Dussault spotlights potential Patriots to watch at 2023 Senior Bowl.
• Tamara Brown finds New England connections run deep at East-West Shrine Bowl.
• Shrine Bowl: Day 3 recap. (1.53 min.video)
• Mic’d Up: Troy Brown and Brian Belichick at Shrine Bowl practice. (1.09 min. video)
• Patriots Catch-22: Shrine Bowl Day 3 recap, studs of the day and other standouts. (62 min.)

LOCAL LINKS

• Phil Perry explains how the Conference title games shine light on Pats offseason priority: They’ll have to try to stockpile talent at receiver.
• Mark Daniels analyzes the safety position and how they performed in 2022: Is safety a bigger need for the Patriots than we think?
• Zack Cox makes the case for and against re-signing Jabrill Peppers. Peppers provided versatility and physicality in his first season in New England.
• Chad Finn says Mac Jones will at least have a chance to succeed next season and looks at if he’s capable of being the Patriots QB the next time they are a true championship contender.
• Dakota Randall makes the case for and against re-signing Yodny Cajuste. Cajuste was a 2019 3rd-round pick.
• Kevin Tame, Jr. (Patriots Country) Where’s Jakobi Meyers rank on Top 50 PFF list?
• CBS Boston hears from longtime friend and colleague John Perry, on what Bill O’Brien will do for the Patriots’ offense and Mac Jones.
• Mark Daniels addresses the Patriots’ fear that O’Brien would leave after one year of finding success in New England. Belichick should “work to develop younger offensive coaches on the roster as he did with O’Brien when McDaniels left in 2009. And that’s how McDaniels ended up replacing Charlie Weis in 2005.”
• Zack Cox talks about a report that the Patriots wanted to coach a specific group of draft prospects at this year’s East-West Shrine Bowl.
• Karen Guregian notes the Patriots appear focused on third down back prospects.
• Daniel Flick (Patriots Country) Shrine Bowl practice Day 3: Who’s catching Bill Belichick attention?
• Conor Roche suggests seven players to watch on the Patriots’ coached team at the East-West Shrine Bowl, including a couple of wide receivers with local ties.
• Mike D’Abate (Patriots Country) Shrine Bowl offensive line scouting: 3 prospects to watch.
• Alex Barth gives us a Patriots-centric 2023 Senior Bowl preview.
• Zack Cox reports the Patriots signed versatile receiver Lynn Bowden to a future contract ahead of free agency.
• Matt Dolloff explores whether the Patriots should call the Raiders about their offensive weapons.
• Hayden Bird tells us how much salary cap space the Patriots are projected to have in 2023.
• Henry Bova explores whether the Patriots should draft Zay Flowers.
• Phil Perry wonders if the next Pats offensive line coach is hiding in plain sight. What about Billy Yates?
• Michael Hurley spotlights how the NFL’s “expedited replay” process failed spectacularly on DeVonta Smith’s “catch” in NFC Championship game.
• 98.5 The Sports Hub highlights Scott Zolak on how the NFL has a massive officiating problem.
• Sean T. McGuire points to the Butt Fumble as the moment that most encapsulates the era of the New England Patriots beating the bag out of the New York Jets. /I’m always up for another Butt Fumble article.
• Michael Hurley points out some pretty good social media-ing by the Patriots, bringing back the Hunter Henry catch controversy with Patrick Beverly-inspired meme.
• Locked On Patriots podcast: Mike and Murph discuss potential Patriots prospects at the Shrine Bowl and recap the action from Conference Championship Weekend. (43 min.)

NATIONAL NEWS

• Kevin Patra (NFL.com) NFL sets salary cap at $224.8 million per team in 2023.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) With salary cap in place, franchise and transition tag amounts for 2023 are known.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) “Expedited review” has become a vague and inconsistent device for fixing mistakes. /Only certain mistakes in certain games for certain teams. And that’s the problem.
• Arnie Stapleton (AP) Analysis: NFL wasn’t at its best in conference championships.
• Albert Breer (SI) The NFL needs to address its burgeoning injury epidemic.
• Michael Rosenberg (SI) It’s time to stop awarding first downs for non-malicious infractions.
• Jeffri Chadiha (NFL.com) The First Read, Super Bowl LVII: Six factors that could determine NFL’s biggest game.
• Cody Benjamin (CBS Sports) Super Bowl 2023 lookahead: Chiefs vs. Eagles date, time, TV, stream, odds, key matchups, early prediction.
• Conor Orr (SI) Thirteen highly specific predictions for Super Bowl LVII.
• Jordan Dajani (CBS Sports) Super Bowl 2023: Five early bold predictions for Chiefs vs. Eagles, including a surprise MVP candidate.
• Bryan DeArdo (CBS Sports) Chiefs join small group of teams to play in three Super Bowls in a four-year span.
• Cody Benjamin (CBS Sports) Ranking 12 losing teams’ chances of reaching 2024 Super Bowl.
• Cameron Filipe (Football Zebras) Carl Cheffers is the referee for Super Bowl LVII.
• Bucky Brooks (NFL.com) Five standouts from Monday’s East-West Shrine Bowl practices.
• Eric Edholm (NFL.com) 2023 Senior Bowl preview: Burning questions for NFL scouts hitting Mobile. Practices for the 2023 Reese’s Senior Bowl begin Tuesday.
• Oliver Hodgkinson (ProFootballNetwork) 2023 Senior Bowl: Top 10 NFL Draft prospects competing.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Vic Fangio to Dolphins isn’t official until it’s official, per Fangio himself.
• Extra Point Taken podcast (The Ringer) Sheil Kapadia & Ben Solak examine a very concerning coaching carousel; Plus, breaking down why Bill O’Brien was a bad hire for the Patriots (25.39 min. mark); More. (72 min.).

Basically, Belichick settled for someone he knows when he could have called any position coach in the college or NFL ranks but didn’t. All O’Brien will give you is ‘he’s better than Patricia/Judge’. Belichick had an opportunity to add some risk, creativity or innovation but he didn’t. Analyst admitted he had no names to suggest as candidates but wanted to say, “Oh, Belichick picked outside the box”. It’s not a ‘clever’ or ‘aggressive’ or ‘unknown minority’ hire so that makes it uninteresting.