Welcome to first and 10, a roundup of all the (mostly) Patriots-related news you need to start your Wednesday. Grab your coffee and let’s get to it.
A few things I think I think at this stage of the calendar:
--Rob Gronkowski will play for the Patriots in 2019. Not sure if it will be the whole season, if it'll be the Willie McGinest plan, or Bill Belichick will manage him the same way he did Mark Bavaro all those years ago. Or maybe he'll just play after being talked into one more year by Tom Brady. But he'll be a part of this team in some form or fashion this coming season.
--New England will use one of its picks in the first two rounds on a defensive tackle. Too many good ones and too big a position of need.
--The Patriots will add at least one more wide receiver in trade or free agency, and at least one in the draft.
--And one question: Will the Red Sox honor the Patriots at the home opener like they've done in previous years? I have to think that because they're going to be getting their World Series rings and raising a banner, we won't see the Patriots this time around.
Big Pro Day schedule Wednesday: Baylor, Boston College, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Pittsburgh and USC.
Now, on with the links...
1. So what's going to happen with Stephen Gostkowski? In an offseason where the Patriots have done their due diligence when it comes to fortifying their special teams' unit, their veteran kicker is without a contract. What could they do if they lose him? We look at a few possibilities.
2. The Tuesday notebook looks at the news of Ryan Allen getting re-upped, as well as the fact Belichick showed up at Alabama Pro Day.
3. The Pro Football Focus team has a look at every team after the first rush of free agency. "New England let others overpay players that did their job in a Pats uniform but weren’t worth the millions of dollars they’d collect on the free market. Bill Belichick & Co. said goodbye to great players in Brown and Flowers in favor of building the roster through the draft – a winning strategy they’ve used for quite some time now."
Ryan Allen is the highest graded punter in New England history!
He’s also the only #Patriots punter in the PFF Special Teams Era (since 2013), but he was the 24th graded punter in 2018, seeing only 39.1% of his punts to be returned, 12th at the position. #PuntersArePeopleToo https://t.co/usxqrbOz6m
— PFF NE Patriots (@PFF_Patriots) March 19, 2019