Bedard's Daily Briefing 03.14.19: Patriots pacing themselves in free agency, Celtics & Bruins back at it

Good morning!

A few random thoughts while I wonder if it could be until late August until the Patriots do something major...

• So while so many other teams are busy "winning the offseason" by signing and trading by the bushels, the defending champs just plod along, doing their thing, by signing back depth pieces and keep the cap in check.


• So far they've re-signed Brandon Bolden (Jeremy Hill replacement), Phillip Dorsett (someone has to play receiver) and Jason McCourty (could-be starter, could-be depth piece — depending on how the youngsters do).


• I would expect this to continue with an eye out for a couple trades, if the right situations come up.


• The Patriots still have to re-sign their kicker and punter (if that's what they do). Basically, the Patriots don't have much cap space to do much else thanks to their aging roster and misses/lack of known commodities in the draft.


• No, this wasn't the team finding some market inefficiency and attacking it. They just haven't gotten much out of their draft in recent years. They didn't go from the 10th-youngest roster in 2014 to third-oldest in four years because they wanted to. They had to.


• Possible targets?


• The Walking Wounded, I mean the Bruins, are in Winnipeg to take on the Jets.


• A good look at Celtics' defensive woes by B-Robb. They host the Kings tonight.

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