1. There’s been a lot of discussion the last few days relating to Julio Jones potentially being traded by the Falcons, and if it happens to the Patriots. It would need to be after June 1 since that’s when salary cap benefits from a trade kick in, but if the Patriots are truly interested that wouldn’t matter to them. So, are they truly interested? NFL Media’s Mike Giardi reported they have had internal discussions about a trade, but he noted it wasn’t specified how serious those discussions were. Looking at a potential fit, it may not make a ton of sense. First off, Jones has a cap hit of $15 million this year and then $11 million the next two seasons. That doesn’t seem like something the Patriots would be all that interested in taking on. And then in terms of a fit on the field, the Patriots are obviously heavily committed to tight ends Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry, so will have multiple tight end sets. Then they have wide receivers Jakobi Meyers, N’Keal Harry, Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne on the roster. Obviously, Jones is better than those options, but the Patriots are financially committed to Agholor and Bourne for this season and seem unlikely to move on from Harry or Meyers at this point. Snaps for wide receivers will be somewhat limited. It’s also not like Jones is entering or is in the prime of his career. He’s 32 years old and coming off a season where he played just nine games because of a hamstring issue. While Jones is a big name and a skilled wide receiver, at this time it feels like it doesn’t make total sense for the Patriots.
2. OTAs will get underway for the Patriots this week and the No. 1 storyline, discussion point, thing to watch for is the quarterback position. Does Cam Newton look any better than he did a year ago? Does Mac Jones seem overwhelmed? How does Jarrett Stidham look? How are the reps split? It certainly will be interesting and will give the first glimpse of how Bill Belichick and Co. view the position.
3. Another player to watch will be Harry. Does he look any different in his third season in the league? His OTAs and training camps have been very inconsistent. One day he will look like he’s turned a corner, but then he will follow that up with two or three poor days, sometimes not even being on the field. This is a big season for Harry and the Patriots would benefit in a big way if Harry can give them anything more than what he has so far.
4. Attendance will also be a talking point, as the NFLPA still does not want players to attend voluntary offseason workouts and Patriots players put out a statement through the union weeks ago that said “many” of them would not be attending the workouts. The team reportedly has had good attendance so far, but it will be interesting to see which players are not present.
5. One clue as to which players are not present came with the team adding running back Tyler Gaffney this past week. ESPN’s Mike Reiss reported a couple veterans at the position were not present and rookie Rhamondre Stevenson is split off with rookies. Veteran running backs on the roster are James White, Sony Michel, Damien Harris and Brandon Bolden.
6. Another thing that will be learned this week, or at least know more about, is how the coaching staff looks. There were a few assistants added this offseason and then how involved is Matt Patricia? He seemed very involved in the draft process and has been signing free agent contracts, but how much on-field coaching will he be doing?
7. The media will get their first look at the 2021 Patriots this Thursday when the OTA session is open to the press. The media will get to watch two more OTAs — June 4 and June 10 and then all of mandatory minicamp, which is scheduled for June 14-16. Get ready for tons of QB analysis.