New England Patriots links 7/19/23 – Spotlight on the cornerbacks; Pressure’s on ahead of camp

Daily news and links for Wednesday.

TEAM TALK

• Mike Dussault examines the Pats roster at cornerback: Picking the locks, the bubble players and who’s in the mix.
• Mike Dussault tackles this week’s Patriots Mailbag: Pre-camp roster watch, dark horses and wild cards.
• Paul Perillo’s NFL Notes: Pats pass on Hopkins, More.
• Alexandra Francisco reports Patriots captain Deatrich Wise Jr. visited the Ron Burton Training Village for the first time on Monday after winning the prestigious Ron Burton Community Service Award in 2022.
• Training Camp: Mike Dussault and Evan Lazar break down positions to watch at Training Camp. (11.32 min. video)
• Patriots Unfiltered: State of the roster, Training Camp position battles to watch, DeAndre Hopkins signs with Titans. (2 hours)

LOCAL LINKS

• Andrew Callahan counts down the seven biggest questions leading up to training camp. No. 7: Can Mac Jones return to form?
• Doug Kyed identifies five Patriots breakout candidates to watch for this season, including RB Pierre Strong.
• Mark Daniels picks out the five Patriots facing the most pressure this summer. Trent Brown, Jack Jones included.
• Mike D’Abate (Patriots Country) After missing OTAs, minicamp, JuJu Smith-Schuster ready for Training Camp.
• Ian Logue (PatsFans) Patriots TE Hunter Henry quietly hard at work preparing for 2023.
• Sara Marshall (MusketFire) Training camp player profile: Wide receiver Demario Douglas.
• Lauren Campbell notes Jack Jones took to Twitter for the first time since his June arrest and spoke out on being compared to Grizzlies star Ja Morant. ‘Me and Ja not the same’.
• Keagan Stiefel notes the Patriots are reportedly ‘kicking tires’ on running back depth.
• Matt Dolloff examines the list of factors to consider in a potential pursuit of Dalvin Cook.
• Mike Kadlick talks about evaluating the value of running backs.
• Sean T. McGuire looks at how Kendrick Bourne factored into decision on DeAndre Hopkins.
• Mike Kadlick suggests five free agent wide receivers the Patriots could consider.
• Ryan Heckman (MusketFire) 3 backup plans after missing on DeAndre Hopkins.
• Mike Cole isn’t happy about the Patriots wasting Mac Jones’ advantage; DeAndre Hopkins is the latest missed opportunity to maximize Jones’ value.
• CBS Boston notes Mac Jones is nowhere near ESPN’s rankings for top quarterbacks in 2023.
• Chad Finn makes the case that the Patriots missed out on DeAndre Hopkins for one reason: Bill Belichick chose not to get it done.
• Justin Leger notes Tom E. Curran questions why the Patriots ‘continue to increase the degree of difficulty’ on Mac Jones, along with Belichick’s decision making and his reluctance to go the extra mile to sign premier talent.
• Bill Speros spits out some old-man snark this morning, directed at Kraft and his new lighthouse, Patriots honks, Belichick, Mac Jones, and the entire ‘Subaru Outback’ of a team (when they could have had a ‘DeAndre Delorean’.)
• Jason Ounpraseuth relays Tom E. Curran claiming Bill Belichick is on the hot seat this season and has been since 2019 with Jerod Mayo in line to take over.
• Jordy McElroy (PatriotsWire) Bill Belichick’s missteps as GM unfairly overshadowing coaching legacy.
• Ian Logue (PatsFans) Patriots Notebook: News and notes.
• Jordy McElroy (PatriotsWire) 50 most dominant NFL players of 2023, Nos. 50-26 and Nos. 25-1.
• Jordy McElroy (PatriotsWire) 54 days till Patriots season opener: Every player to wear No. 54 for New England.
• Nick O’Malley wants to know why ‘the most athletic’ Gronkowski brother only played in one NFL game.
• Matt Vautour thinks it ‘s time for the NFL and HBO to end Hard Knocks: Forcing a team to participate is a bad precedent and likely to lead to bad television.

NATIONAL NEWS

• Josh Alper (ProFootballTalk) JuJu Smith-Schuster says knee is ready to go for training camp.
• Josh Alper (ProFootballTalk) Kyle Dugger: You can’t just replace Devin McCourty.
• Jordan Dajani (CBS Sports) Ranking five AFC head coaches under the most pressure entering 2023: Bill Belichick headlines list. /[yawn]
• Tyler Greenawalt (Yahoo! Sports) NFL coaching hot seat index: Who’s feeling some heat heading into training camp? Belichick gets one flame, McDaniels has four flames, Vrabel has three.
• Maurice Jones-Drew (NFL.com) Top 10 NFL players from 2021 draft heading into 2023 season. No Pats.
• Sam Monson (ProFootballTalk) The 50 best players in the NFL right now. Nos. 50-21. No Pats.
• Doug Farrar (TouchdownWire) Six players who should have made our ‘50 most dominant’ list — but didn’t. /Still no Pats, lol.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Report: Matthew Stafford declined Rams’ request to re-do deal.
• Doug Farrar and Greg Cosell (TouchdownWire) The Xs and Os: Building the perfect quarterback.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) What happened to the running back market? “Blame the analytics community.”
• Brianna Williams (ESPN) Kawhi Leonard, Deion Sanders and other one-time champions. Darrelle Revis included.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Final obstacles for Commanders sale are removed.