The New England Patriots signed 2nd round draft pick safey Tavon Wilson of Illinois.  Wilson was taken with the 48th pick of the second round and was the third selection the team made in the draft.

Wilson was an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention for defense in 2010 and 2011 and was named the teams outstanding defensive back this past season.

He played all 13 games at safety making 48 tackles and had 1 INT and recovered two fumbles.  He has also played cornerback before being moved to safery.  He will give the Patriots some versatility on defense and he could be a possible punt return option.

The team also released QB Mike Hartline, a Canton OH native, who was signed as a free agent out of the University of Kentucky shortly after the season ended.

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The New England Patriots made some changes amongst the coaching staff official on Thursday by announcing that Matt Patricia is now the defensive coordinator.

Patricia, who was the safeties coach, has called all the defensive plays from the sideline since Dean Pees left the team after the 2009 season.

The RPI grad has coached at his alma mater as a grad assistant, then he went on to Amherst College as defensive line coach, then Syracuse as the offensive grad assistant, before he came to New England as the offensive coaching assistant in 2004.

In his time with the Patriots he has been an assistant offensive line coach, linebackers coach, safeties coach and now defensive coordinator.

In addition to the Patricia promotion the team also announced that Steve Belichick was named as a coaching assistant.

Belichick, the son of the head coach, is following in the footsteps of his father and his grandfather, for who he is named.

The younger Belichick, a Rutgers grad, walked onto the football team as the long snapper in 2011 after having played lacrosse for four seasons at the university.

As a coaching assistant his duties and responsibilities will vary with the needs of the team.  The younger Belichick is no stranger to breaking down film and being on the sidelines as he has been seen numerous times near his father during games.

Other differences in this seasons coaching staff from last season are: Pepper Johnson is now the linebackers coach, Patrick Graham will coach the defensive line, Brian Flores is the safeties coach and Josh Boyer has the cornerbacks.  George Godsey moves from offensive assistant to tight ends coach and Joe Judge will be the special teams assistant.

Holdovers from last season include offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who came back to the Patriots during the playoffs, running backs coach Ivan Fears, wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea, special teams coach Scott O’Brien and offensive line coach/assistant head coach Dante Scarnecchia.

The Patriots also signed two undrafted free agents they are RB Brandon Bolden out of Mississippi and DL Justin Francis from Rutgers.

Bolden is second in Mississippi history in touchdowns with 33 including 27 rushing and 4th in rushing yards with 2,604.  In 2011 he played in 10 games and had 4 TD’s and ran for 462 yards.

Francis appeared in 12 games for Rutgers and made 60 tackles, he had 5.5 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 1 interception and 5 passes defensed in 2011.

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The New England Patriots have announced the three finalists for this year’s class for the Patriots Hall of Fame.  Patriots’ fans everywhere can vote for the players through the team’s website at patriots.com, the voting runs through May 31st.

The leading vote getter will be announced in early June and 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.

The three finalists are:

WR Troy Brown played for the Patriots from 1993 to 2007 and had the privilege of catching passes from the two greatest quarterbacks in franchise history, Tom Brady and Drew Bledsoe.

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.

DB Fred Marion played with the team from 1982 to 1991 and recorded 29 career INT’s.  Marion, a fifth round draft pick out of Miami in 1982, played his entire career in Foxboro and was a member of the Patriots first Super Bowl team.

He was also a Pro Bowl selection and an All-Pro in the Super Bowl season as well as a member of the Patriots All-80’s team, 35th Anniversary team and 50th Anniversary team.

Marion says he still watches the Patriots games each week from his Florida home.  He is now a general sales manager for a car dealership and during the season he will wear his old jersey to work on “Jersey Saturday’s” at the dealership.

Head Coach Bill Parcells who coached the team from 1993 to 1996 is a second time nominee for the Hall getting nudged out by Drew Bledsoe in the fan vote last season.  Parcells took over the team as head coach prior to Kraft family ownership and piloted them to their second Super Bowl appearance a loss in Super Bowl XXXI to Green Bay.  After the game he left the team to take the head coach/general managers job with the New York Jets.

With the Patriots, Parcells was a two time Pro Football Weekly Coach of the Year in 1994 and 1996, the 1994 UPI Coach of the Year.

It is with the Parcells tenure and the drafting of Bledsoe that started the Patriots on their championship ways as he layed the foundation for the greatness that the franchise went on to achieve under the leadership of the Kraft’s and Bill Belichick.

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New England Patriots offensive tackle Matt Light is apparently calling it quits after 11 seasons all in Foxboro.  According to a report on ESPN the Patriots have placed Light on the “Reserve/Retired” list, effectively ending his NFL career.

And what a career it was.  The 33-year old Light was the team’s second round draft pick (48th overall) in the 2001 NFL Draft out of Purdue University.

In his college career with the Boilermakers, Light was Second Team All-Big Ten (1999) and First Team All-Big Ten (2000) and played on an offensive line that in his senior year allowed only seven sacks of quarterback Drew Brees.

As a Patriot he started 12 of the 14 games he dressed for in his first season and was the starting left tackle in the teams Super Bowl XXXVI win over St. Louis as a rookie.  He went on to earn members ship on the Football News 2001 All-Rookie Team.

Overall in New England, Light started 153 of the 155 games he played in.  He was a 2007 All-Pro, a 4-time Pro Bowl selection, is a three-time Super Bowl champion, a five-time conference champion, won the Madden Most Valuable Protectors award and is a member of the Patriots All-2000’s team and 50th Anniversary team.

Last June he signed a two-year contract with New England and he will leave with one-year remaining on the pact.

Always engaging and personable expect Light to find a job talking about football with some television network in the near future.

Light was third on the team in seniority behind only Kevin Faulk and Tom Brady and they are the last active players to have been on all three Super Bowl championship teams.

Expect second year players Nate Solder and Marcus Cannon to compete for the Light’s old job on the offensive line.

Update: Light made his retirement official on May 7, 2012.

this article originally ran on April 25, 2012 when the news of Light’s retirement came about.

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We’ve found out about the New England Patriots roster moves in a variety of ways in the Bill Belichick era.  They’ve come from the team via release or website, sometimes Belichick will announce the roster moves during a press briefing, players sometimes will tweet they have signed and then there’s the good old agent calls the media route.  But never in the time Belichick has run the team have we gotten roster information from Peyton Manning, until now.

Seems Manning during a chat with some media let it out that his former Indianapolis Colts teammate RB Joseph Addai will sign with New England.

The Patriots had a shot at Addai once before in the first round of the 2006 NFL Draft but decided to take RB Laurence Maroney with the 21st pick and pass on the LSU running back.

Addai was then taken 30th by Indianapolis and has gone on to rush for 4,453 yards and 39 touchdowns in six seasons with the Colts.  He was released on March 9 by Indianapolis along with TE Dallas Clark, S Melvin Bullitt and LB Gary Bracket all former mainstays of the very good Colts teams of the 2000’s.

He is expected to compete for time with 2nd year running backs Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen, as well as Danny Woodhead.  With fullbacks Eric Kettani, Spencer Larson and Tony Fiammetta on the roster New England now has 7 running backs on the roster plus a decision to make on long time Patriot Kevin Faulk, who is a free agent.

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The New England Patriots signed wide receiver Jabar Gaffney to a two-year contract bringing back one of QB Tom Brady’s favorite targets to Foxboro.

Gaffney, a member of the Patriots from 2006 to 2008, is a former 2nd round pick (33rd overall) of the Houston Texans in the 2002 NF Draft out of the University of Florida.

In addition to the Texans and Patriots, Gaffney has played for the Denver Broncos and last season for the Washington Redskins.

Entering his 11th season in the NFL, Gaffney has 443 career catches for 5,622 yards and 24 TD’s.

He is the son of former New York Jets WR Derrick Gaffney and the cousin of free agent CB Lito Sheppard.

In addition to Gaffney’s signing the team also has released WR Tiquan Underwood after one season with the team.  Underwood, a former 7th round draft pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2009 NFL Draft out of Rutgers, is well known for his cool high top fade haircut.

This is the fourth time the Patriots have released Underwood since last September; it includes being released on the night before Super Bowl XLVII only to be re-signed two days later.

It appears Underwood’s release is in direct relation to the Gaffney signing as not counting Wes Welker, who is yet to sign his franchise tender, the team has 11 wide receivers currently on the roster.

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Junior Seau, who played 20 NFL seasons with the San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots has reportedly taken his own life with a self inflicted gunshot wound to his chest.

The shooting occurred sometime before 10 a.m. PT this morning at his Oceanside CA home.  The local emergency dispatch center received a 9-1-1 call about 10 a.m. from Seau’s housekeeper reporting the shooting.

Seau, who was one of the greatest linebackers to ever play the game and a surefire Pro Football Hall of Fame member, has battled suicide demons in his past.  Once he retired his life seemed to change drastically without football in it, as he appeared several times in tabloid news stories in print and on TV.  Nearly two years ago he was accused of assault by Reality TV entertainer Tila Tequila and then he drove his car off of a cliff just hours after being arrested on those charges.

Drafted 5th overall by San Diego in the 1990 NFL Draft out of Southern California,  he starred for 13 seasons with the Chargers taking them to a Super Bowl before he was traded to Miami where he played with the Dolphins for three seasons before retiring.

Just four days after retiring as a Charger in August 2006 Seau signed a contract to play for the New England Patriots.  He played a full season in 2006 and in 2007 he would be named a team captain and play in his second Super Bowl.  In 2008 and 2009 he played partial seasons for New England coming back when Bill Belichick called and asked for his help.

In November of 2011 he was inducted into the San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame during Alumni Day ceremonies in a game against the Denver Broncos.

Seau was heavily involved in community work through his foundation, he also had a clothing line called “Say-Ow” and he owned “Seau’s the Restaurant” in Mission Valley CA.

Married for 13 years before he got divorced in 2002, he leaves three children, a daughter Sydney (19); and sons Jake (17) and Hunter (12).

In his playing career he earned 12 Pro Bowl nominations, 10 All-Pro selections, he was a 2-time AFC Champion, the 1992 UPI Defensive Player of the Year and NEA NFL Defensive Player of the Year.  He was also the 1994 AFC Player of the Year, a member of the NFL’s 1990’s All-Decade team, the Chargers Hall of Fame as well as their 50th Anniversary team.

He made 1,849 tackles, had 56.5 sacks, 18 INT’s and 3 forced fumbles in an outstanding career.

Junior Seau died tragically and amazingly is already the 8th member of the 1994 Chargers Super Bowl team to pass away.  He was only 43.

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One of my favorite players and one of Bill Belichick’s most trusted veterans Gerard “Big Money” Warren is returning to Foxboro in 2012.

Warren, who is entering his 12th NFL season out of the University of Florida, can play both defensive tackle and defensive end.  He was originally the first round draft pick of the Cleveland Brown (3rd overall) in the 2001 NFL Draft.

This is Warren’s third season in New England after spending time with Cleveland, Denver and Oakland.  In his two previous seasons with the Patriots he has played in 27 games starting 10, has 43 tackles and 4.5 sacks.

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photo credit: Reuters Pictures

The New England Patriots have reportedly locked up yet another undrafted free agent for the training camp roster by signing Kentucky WR Matt Roark.

Mr. Roark, out of Acworth GA, is 6 foot five and a former quarterback in high school.  Roark who made steady progress in his Kentucky career saw an increase in his playing time in 2011.

In addition to wide receiver, Roark saw time on the special teams unit as the “middle jumper’ and is credited with 6 blocks (5 extra points and 1 field goal) during his time with the Wildcats.

His father Ray Gover is a former Kentucky defensive back and wide receiver.  At this time we are unsure if he will bring his little friend “Tattoo” with him to Foxboro or how many white suits he owns.  We are also trying to find out if he owns a Cordoba with rich Corinthian leather.

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The New England Patriots added a fourth undrafted free agent to their roster late Saturday after the draft was completed when they signed University of Miami DT Marcus Forston.

Forston, who at one time was projected as a top pick amongst the defensive linemen available in the draft, has seen his stock dive over the last two seasons.  Coming out of high school he was considered a five star recruit and the number one defensive tackle in the nation.

The former Hurricane profiles as a defensive tackle in the 4-3 and is said to be strong but not always motivated, Forston has the talent to shed blocks and get up field.

He hurt his ankle at Miami and redshirted for a season and then followed that up with a mediocre junior season and still declared for the draft.  Many scouts and personnel staff said his workout at the combine was rather unimpressive leading him to be skipped over in the draft.

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photo credit: AP Photo