First and 10: Patriots start signing picks, the return of Ben Watson, and much more

Welcome to first and 10, a roundup of all the (mostly) Patriots-related news you need to start your Friday. Grab your coffee and let’s get to it.

Taking you into the weekend with a few notes:



--Love the addition of Benjamin Watson. Love it. Smart, canny veteran. Don't look for him to light up he scoresheet -- it would be a surprise if he caught more than 35 passes, to be honest. But he's as well-respected as they come, and will do a great job providing leadership in the locker room.

--I'm old enough to remember when it was a big deal when rookies agreed to their contracts. While there are still various negotiating points for some picks -- many of which were artfully spelled out here by our man Miguel last May -- for the most part, with the deals slotted, it makes it all fairly easy these days. To that end, the Patriots apparently agreed to deals with four picks on Thursday.

--We're scheduled to speak with the Patriots' assistant coaches Friday at noon. No word on just how many of them will be available -- as you guys probably know, there's no defensive coordinator on the masthead, as well as no position coaches at cornerback, defensive line (although it sounds an awful lot like DeMarcus Covington will take over here), or wide receiver right now.

Now, on with the links...

1. Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown talked to me from halfway around the world -- he was on a safari in South Africa -- about Chase Winovich and how he might fit with the Patriots. Lots of good stuff here on Winovich, both from an on-field and off-field perspective. “There’s no one who will give more, try harder, or compete harder than he will,” Brown said of Winovich. “My thing as a defensive coordinator? The more he was chasing the quarterback, the better off we were.”

2. N'Keal Harry spent some quality time with us Thursday afternoon at Gillette Stadium.

3. Been telling you guys this for the last couple of weeks, and now, it looks like it's going to be a reality: Watson is coming back to the Patriots.

 

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I believe it is important to finish what you start. This Saturday, I will be walking with my fellow Kent State graduates. Completing what I started back in 06. It is important to me that I make my parents proud as I fulfill a promise that I made to them that I would, one day, be a college graduate. I also want to set a great example for my daughter, so that when I talk about the importance of a college degree, I can show her that earning my degree was important to me. To my fellow Golden Flash graduates, Congratulations! #LetsGo⚡️⚡️⚡️

A post shared by Julian Edelman (@edelman11) on May 9, 2019 at 3:28pm PDT