Welcome to first and 10, a roundup of all the (mostly) Patriots-related news you need to start your Monday. Grab your coffee and let’s get to it.
--We're now officially two-plus weeks after the Super Bowl, and there's been no official announcement from Rob Gronkowski or Devin McCourty on what's up for 2019. You have to be slightly encouraged about Gronkowski's future after the report from ESPN on Sunday indicating he's been at Gillette this offseason. Right now, I still believe both return for next season, but we shall see.
--Franchise tag window opens Tuesday, and runs for 15 days. That might give us the first indication regarding the state of negotiations with Trey Flowers -- in year's past, the Patriots have occasionally used it as a stopgap during contract talks to make sure there's no player movement until a new deal is done.
--Going to put the finishing touches on the positional snapshots over the day or so.
Now, on with the links...
1. Miguel delivered a really smart look at how the Patriots could extend Tom Brady's contract to free up some cap space.
2. This is a terrific column from Greg that makes you sit up and say, "Hey, wait a minute. That's a really good idea." Hasn't Julian Edelman done enough to deserve a bump this offseason?
3. Greg also had a weekend Q&A that was pretty epic. Check out the full transcript here.
4. Last call for my weekend notebook, which hit on a bunch of things, including whether or not the Patriots have to approach the negotiating table a little different this offseason because they've had an extraordinary (for them) amount of turnover on the coaching staff.
5. Mike Reiss says Gronkowski has been a regular at Gillette since the start of the offseason.
6. Michael Renner of Pro Football Focus has some "dream homes" for the league's top free agents -- he says Flowers would fit in Tennessee.
7. Edelman was at the Dayton 500 over the weekend, and talked about his admiration for the drivers' what his offseason has been like, and the state of his facial hair. Edelman he said doesn't know if he'll grow the beard again next year, but he said the righteous facial moss he sprouted this past season was because he took Bill Belichick's advice. "He says put everything in the draw and worry about it after football season," Edelman said. "So I put my razor in the draw and I worried about it after football season."
8. With the franchise tag window set to open later this week, Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com has a look at some tag candidates. When it comes to New England, he pinpoints Flowers as a possibility. "Bill Belichick is loath to use the franchise tag, but Flowers could (and should) represent an exception," he writes. "He has been the Patriots' best defensive player on balance over the last three seasons, all of which have wound up in the Super Bowl."
9. Over the weekend, NBA commissioner Adam Silver talked about parity in the NBA, and used the Patriots as an example of the fact that despite New England's recent run of dominance, the NFL remains competitive. "I don't think success necessarily means that a different team wins the championship every year," Silver said. "I mean, I look at the NFL, which among sports leagues, probably has the best parity and the best system in terms of creating competition than any league I'm familiar with, yet the New England Patriots have been in the Super Bowl nine out of the last 18 years. And I don't think anyone points to that as a sign that the system isn't necessarily working. I think what people recognize is you want parity of opportunity, but you don't want to artificially create competition that somehow takes away incentives for teams to be great."
10. Last but not least, we've got this week's Patriots Q&A kicking off Monday at 2 p.m. Get your questions in now, because it's going to be epic.
Extra Point:
Patriots owner Robert Kraft has arrived at the NBA All-Star Game in Charlotte pic.twitter.com/AjfUm7xFCf
— Mike Uva (@Mike_Uva) February 17, 2019