The New England Patriots made a couple roster moves the last few days.  They released recently signed TE Bo Scaife earlier in the week.

Scaife just came to the Patriots two weeks ago after he had spent the last six seasons with the Tennessee Titans after the club drafted him in the sixth round of the 2005 draft out of Texas.

The team also re-signed S James Ihedigbo who played on 67% of the team’s defensive snaps in 2011.  Ihedigbo was born in Africa but grew up a Patriots fan in Northampton, MA and went on to attend UMass.  Prior to coming to the Patriots he had played with the New York Jets.

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The New England Patriots signed 3rd round draft pick Jake Bequette, a defensive end out of Arkansas.

Bequette, pronounced Beckett, signed a four-year deal with the team and terms were undisclosed.

At Arkansas he appeared in 48 games, starting 42, and recorded 126 tackles, 23.5 sacks and 35 quarterback pressures.

Last year he led the SEC and was third in the nation with 10 sacks.

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While other owners in the Hub sit back and watch their team crumble and under perform it’s nice to know that one owner in the area is a capable leader and an extraordinary example when it comes to philanthropy.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was voted as the 2012 recipient of the George Halas Award by the Pro Football Writers Association.  He is the first Patriot to win the award and more importantly the ONLY OWNER distinguished with this honor.

He is the 43rd recipient of the award given annually on Hall of Fame weekend.

The award named after legendary Chicago Bears coach and owner George Halas is given to the player, coach or staff member who overcomes the most adversity to succeed.  Halas a charter member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame was with the Bears from their inception in 1920 until his death in 1983.

Kraft is honored not only for his part in ending the lockout but for how he dealt with it while dealing with a personal tragedy, in the sickness and subsequent death of his wife Myra.

It was because of her that he was a part of negotiations as she persuaded him to continue despite her illness.

The lockout ended on July 25, 2011 a mere five days after his wife passed.  A grieving Kraft stood out front of NFL headquarters in New York and announced the agreement with the union.  Many owners and union members that day praised Kraft and the incredible strength he had shown despite his greatest loss.

Other who have won the Halas Award include: Joe Namath, Gale Sayers, Dick Butkus, Roger Staubach, Joe Montana, Mike Utley, Mark Bavaro, Dan Marino, Mark Schlereth, Tony Dungy and Drew Brees.

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The New England Patriots made some additions to their roster early this week.  They signed rookie free agent TE Tyler Urban who played his college football at West Virginia.

They also added WR Jesse Holley, a former Dallas Cowboy.  Holley, who played at North Carolina, spent the last three seasons in Dallas after winning a shot at a tryout by winning Michael Irvin’s reality show, “4th and Long”.

Holley, who also spent time with Cincinnati and the BC Lions of the CFL, is most likely a longshot at making the roster with all of the depth the team has a wide receiver in mini camp.

In addition the team claimed TE Jake Ballard on waivers from the New York Giants.  Ballard is best remembered for catching a TD pass in the Giants game at Foxboro last year and then tearing his ACL in the Super Bowl and collapsing on the sideline.

Ballard is not expected to play this season and will most likely be IR’d but he is under contract for 2013 the two-years combined will only cost New England $1.1 million in salary so yet another low risk high reward deal for the Patriots.

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It’s being reported that the New England Patriots have signed TE Rob Gronkowski to a new 6 year $54 million contract extension.  No word yet on the breakdown of the deal for the record setting tight end.

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The New England Patriots made a bunch of roster moves today and one about a week ago that I was holding onto for a time like this.

Last week the Patriots released WR Anthony Gonzalez who they had signed this off season as a free agent hoping that he’d be healthy enough to play.  Apparently that wasn’t the case, as it looked like he still needed some more time to get ready to play and wouldn’t be able to fully compete in camp and in preseason games.

Gonzalez made his name catching balls for Peyton Manning in Indianapolis but has been injury plagued the last few seasons and has only played sparingly.

Today a league source has told the media that New England will be releasing former Pro Bowl WR Chad Ochocinco who was acquired in a trade last July from Cincinnati.  Ochocinco had hoped to revive his career in Foxboro but he hardly saw the field even though his teammates and coaches defended him as a hard worker.

Reports are that the team tried all of Thursday to trade Ochocinco but were unable to find a compatible or possibly even a willing trade partner.

Ochocinco probably saw the writing on the wall when New England signed an entire fleet of new wide receivers this offseason including Brandon Lloyd, Jabar Gaffney and Donte Stallworth. Ochocinco and Gonzalez are now free agents and able to sign with any of the NFL teams.

The team also confirmed today that they released DE Markell Carter, TE Nick Melillo and OL Jon Opperud.  Melillo and Opperud were recently signed undrafted free agents.  Melillo played his college ball at Kentucky while Opperud attended Montana.

The big surprise was the release of Carter who just recently was given a big practice squad contract that was going to pay him about $375,000 this season.  He was highly thought of in the organization and the team seemed to want to make some sort of commitment to him.  He spent all of last season on the practice squad after being taken in the 6th round of the 2011 draft out of Central Arkansas.

In addition to the cuts the team also signed veteran free agent tight end Bo Scaife.  He spent the last six seasons with the Tennessee Titans after the club drafted him in the sixth round of the 2005 draft out of Texas.

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Former New England Patriots WR Troy Brown who played with the team from 1993 to 2007 and had the privilege of catching passes from the two greatest quarterbacks in franchise history, Tom Brady and Drew Bledsoe has been elected to the 2012 Class of the Patriots Hall of Fame.

Owner Robert Kraft said in announcing Brown’s selection that included fan voting that he was his wife Myra’s favorite player.

Brown beat out former head coach Bill Parcells and defensive back Fred Marion for the honor.

Brown, who played his entire career in New England, was an 8th round draft pick out of Marshall in the 1993 NFL Draft.  He made the Pro Bowl team was an All-Pro selection in 2001.  He is a three-time Super Bowl champion and played in 5 Super Bowls in his career.  He is a member of the Patriots All-2000’s team and 50th Anniversary team.

In addition to his skills as a wide receiver, he also returned punts and played defensive back when the team was in a bind.  When Brown retired he was the franchise leader in receptions with 557.

He will be enshrined in the Hall at Patriots Place on Saturday September 15 the day before the team’s home opener against the Arizona Cardinals.

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The New England Patriots have announced the signings of two more members of their 2012 NFL Draft Class.

First round pick Chandler Jones, a defensive end out of Syracuse, has come to terms with the team.

Jones who missed the first five games with a knee injury registered 4.5 sacks in just 7 games and surely would have been a Top 10 pick if it weren’t for the injury. He was a 2011 1st Team All-Big East selection.

His brother Arthur Jones plays for the Baltimore Ravens and his other brother Jon is a UFC World Lightweight Champion.

The team also announced it signed sixth round pick Nate Ebner, a defensive back/special teams players from Ohio State.

Ebner, who walked on to the football team at Ohio State in 2009, is also a world class rugby player having won the MVP of the 2007 and 2008 World Rugby Cup.

With five of the their seven selections in the fold, only first rounder Dont’a Hightower and third rounder Jake Bequette remain unsigned.

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The New England Patriots signed 7th round draft pick S Alfonzo Dennard, known to his friends as “Fonzie” to a four-year contract.  Monetary terms were not disclosed but rumor is he’s down at Arnold’s buying the gang dinner.

Dennard, who played his college ball at Nebraska, is facing criminal charges stemming from an April 21 incident in Lincoln NE when he got into a fight with another man.  It took four officers to subdue him and he is facing charges for 3rd degree assault, 3rd degree assault on a police officer and resisting arrest.

Head coach Bill Belichick said the team doesn’t believe that is the type of person Dennard is and that people make mistakes.  He added that they believe in him and have no issue with the charges.

The team also signed its other 7th round pick WR Jeremy Ebert of Northwestern, the team did not offer a contract to Richard Roeper.

Ebert also signed a four-year deal with the team and with these signings the team has locked up 3 of its 2012 draft picks.

Yet to sign are 1st round picks DE Chandler Jones and LB Dont’a Hightower, 3rd round pick DE Jake Bequette and 6th rounder S Nate Ebner.

The Patriots also announced they signed rookie free agent OL Jon Opperud out of Montana.  He is not to be confused with former Red Sox first baseman Jon Olerud.

The 6 foot 7, 300 pounder was originally signed on April 29th by Seattle but was released on Tuesday.  He can play either tackle or guard.

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New England Patriots All-Pro wide receiver Wes Welker has signed his franchise tender according to a team official.

The Patriots gave Welker the franchise tag back on March 5th as one of 21 teams to select a franchise player.

By signing the tender Welker is guaranteed to make $9.51 million dollars for the 2012 season.  He and the team still have until July 14 to reach a longterm agreement and drop the franchise tender.

If no agreement on a new contract is reached prior to July 14, Welker will play this season on the one-year guaranteed deal.

By signing his tender it allows him to participate in the OTA’s and training camp instead of being on the outside looking in.

It was anticipated all along that Welker would not hold out of camp looking for a comtract and he hinted earlier Tuesday morning during a WEEI interview that he wouldn’t miss any of the season.

Welker, whose on the verge of becoming the most prolific pass receiver in Patriots history, has said New England is the place he wants to be.   He is just four catches shy of breaking the team record for most catches by a wide receiver which is currently held by Troy Brown who had 577.

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