Bedard: Patriots at the combine - Tom Brady talk, tight ends in focus, free agency & contract tweaks

With the scouting combine starting officially on Tuesday, the NFL's team-building period unofficially begins. This is a time when teams move on from some players, while laying the groundwork for adding players through free agency and trade.

A primer on some of the Patriots-related issues that could pop up in the news this week.

TOM BRADY ON THE OPEN MARKET

While there's certainly been some tampering going on with Tom Brady to this point — it's just part of the deal and both sides do it — it will ramp up a notch this week in Indy. Expect agents Don Yee and Stephen Dubin to hold some clandestine meetings this week with prospective teams to get the lay of the land.

I would expect to hear some leaks, as we've already heard, to come out. But what we hear and from whom is just as important as what we don't. Let me explain.

From everything that I've heard, not much has changed between Brady and the Patriots. Both sides are still open to a reunion and might actually prefer it, and there is expected to be a meeting at some point after the combine and ahead of free agency.

Yet you'll continue to hear the drumbeat about Brady moving on, his possible excitement about relocating and also leaks about specific teams.

One person involved in this situation told me to be leery about that. If Brady was already out the door and ready to move on, why would it be in his best interest to allow news of potential suitors to leak out? The money isn't really going to be all that different from team to team. If Brady knew he wanted to leave and the finalists for his services, why wouldn't he just keep that quiet and out of the press?

There are always reasons for leaks. I believe the Brady camp knows exactly what they want — a return to the Patriots with more respect and a better surrounding cast because both sides know they are each other's best chance to win the next two years — and are trying engineer that outcome but driving up the anxiety of the Krafts.

It reminds me of that scene in Hunt for Red October where Russian subs are banging away at their sonars, trying to drive the Red October ...

"At their speed, they could run over my daughter's stereo and not hear it."

"They're not searching for Ramius. They're driving him."

"Driving him where?"

"The hounds to the hunters."