New England Patriots: Aftermath From 2013 NFL Playoffs Exit

By Craig Ballard
Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE

The New England Patriots had another fantastic season, but it is over as the Ray Lewis retirement tour (and Joe Flacco coming out party) have ended it. We know that Bill Belichick will be looking to reload rather than rebuild as he has a history of plugging in players through the draft and free agency.

The Patriots organization is in great shape going forward as they have a lot of salary cap space, and are likely to have a good draft (usually do…side note – the last time they were eliminated by the Ravens they added Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez in the draft).

Contributors like Julian Edelman and Danny Woodhead are free-agents, and either may look to cash in on their good play with a different team (that is just my speculation). There was a time when it looked like the Patriots were preparing to move on from free-agent Wes Welker, but he finished the season so strong and I am very interested to see how the Pats proceed with the veteran.

I like Sebastian Vollmer, and the 6’8″ 315 pound beast is a free agent who I would think is a must re-up for the Pats. New England has too much money available to let him go.

On defense the Patriots will have to decide if they saw enough from Aqib Talib to warrant a re-up, and Patrick Chung is also a free-agent defensive-back.

@craigballard77

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