First and 10: 36 days until the start of NFL free agency

Welcome to first and 10, a roundup of all the (mostly) Patriots-related news you need to start your day:


With the 2017 season officially in the books, we’re faced with what could be one of the more eventful offseasons in recent Patriots history. With numerous decisions to be made when it comes to the coaching staff, on-field personnel and other issues, Bill Belichick and the franchise will have a lot to consider in the coming days. Here are a few initial thoughts.

—My best guess? The Josh McDaniels-to-Indy deal is going to be announced in the next few days for a few reasons, not the least of which is the fact that both sides are already too far down the road for either one of them to back out now. (Unless some new x-rays of Andrew Luck’s shoulder popped up we don't know about…) I’m going to be really interested to see who ends up going from New England to Indy with him, both coaches and players.

—I’ll second Greg’s column on the Greg Schiano-Brian Flores debate. I’m not opposed to Schiano joining the staff — with so much coaching turnover this offseason, Belichick is going to need a veteran voice who has the capacity to push back if things get dicey. And given their relationship, he’ll tell Belichick the truth. But the best move here is to name Flores as the new DC, and bring in Schiano as an assistant/associate head coach and give him a position. Have him take over Flores’ old job with the linebackers. Or move Stephen Belichick to another spot and have the ex-Rutgers coach take over the safety room, which already has two other Scarlet Knights in Devin McCourty and Duron Harmon.

—I always thought that the local land-speed record for putting Foxborough in the rearview mirror was set by Asante Samuel, who was setting up a deal with the Eagles literally minutes into free agency in 2008 and holding his introductory press conference later that day. Malcolm Butler is going to shatter that record. Meanwhile, it’s never too early to start thinking about available free-agent cornerbacks. There’s also the draft -- we've seen multiple mocks with the Patriots taking cornerback Mike Hughes out of Central Florida at the end of the first round.

—As of Tuesday, there are 36 days until the start of free agency, 79 days until the draft, and 212 days until the start of the 2018 regular season. The only concessions we’re going to make, now that there are no games being played? Well, first-and-10 will probably first-and-5, at least for now. But we'll be sticking around.

Now, on to the links…

1. Greg hits it here — going with Schiano over Flores as defensive coordinator would be a risky move.

2. Matt Patricia is gone — what’s next for the New England defense?

3. Four takeaways from Bill Belichick’s Monday morning conference call.

4. I’ll be having a 1 p.m. Q&A here. Get your questions in now.

5. Gronk’s home was robbed while he was away at the Super Bowl.

Extra Point:

@jhharrison92 tell your guy @tombrady I know he lost his trainer so if he want to get those hands right hmu this off season ! #GrabThat

A post shared by Antonio Brown (@ab) on Feb 5, 2018 at 5:58pm PST