Welcome to first and 10, a roundup of all the (mostly) Patriots-related news you need to start your Thursday. Grab your coffee and let’s get to it.
A few quick notes before we jump into things this morning...
—Let's reset the Patriots’ own free-agent board:
Lost: Trent Brown, Trey Flowers, Cordarrelle Patterson, Eric Rowe, Malcom Brown, LaAdrian Waddle.
Re-signed: Jon Jones, Josh Gordon, Jason McCourty, John Simon, Phillip Dorsett, Ryan Allen.
Unsigned: Chris Hogan, Danny Shelton, Stephen Gostkowski, Albert McClellan, Ramon Humber.
--Thirty-five days until the draft -- five weeks from Thursday night.
--Pro Day slate for Thursday: California, Louisville, UMass, Missouri, South Carolina and West Virginia. Where will Bill Belichick be? If he stays on the trail, my guess is either South Carolina or West Virginia.
Now, on with the links...
1. With the first wave of free agency in the books, how do the AFC playoff teams from last season stack up at this point on the calendar? We take a look at the myriad of changes that have gone on with the conference elites.
2. The notebook leads with Lawrence Guy and James White getting a little financial bump from the team, despite missing out on a couple of incentives. And Belichick was part of the second stop on a back-to-back Pro Day tour -- a day after his appearance at Alabama, he was in the house for Georgia Pro Day.
3. Mike Reiss updates the list of Patriots' own free-agent signings and has a look at what each of them mean for the franchise.
4. Dante Scarnecchia was at BC Pro Day Wednesday. The Patriots were one of 32 teams represented.
5. Chase Stuart always has some smart and analytical stuff on his site. This one looks at quarterback records against Belichick's Patriots. One of his questions: Can you name the signal-caller who is/was 3-0 in his career in those situations? Interesting story.
6. Nate Davis of USA Today has his leaguewide post-free agency power rankings, and the Patriots top the list. "Until proven otherwise, right? They dealt for DL Michael Bennett but were minor players in free agency, letting DE Trey Flowers, LT Trent Brown and others go," writes Davis. "But this is New England — expect an ace to emerge from Bill Belichick's cut-off sleeve at some point, likely nearer (to the) draft."
? PATS ART GREAT AUCTION ALERT ?
Starting today @ 4pm EST until Fri Mar 22, 9pm EST, you can bid on this one of a kind 9" x 12" painting of, and autographed by, @dandrews61 from the Super Bowl 53 parade. 100% of the proceeds benefit @WarriorDogs https://t.co/2xRmkxFP3G pic.twitter.com/N60Z4qRAYl
— Fitzy (@FitzyGFY) March 20, 2019