What is the story about?
TEAM
TALK
- Community: Drake Maye participates in the 27th Annual Best Buddies Challenge. (1 min. video)
- Patriots Unfiltered: OTA takeaways, mandatory minicamp preview, NFL news. (2 hours)
LOCAL LINKS
- Chad Finn says the A.J. Brown trade comes with risk, but unlike other teams in town, the Patriots are doing everything they can to win.
- Mark Morse’s Patriots Notebook: OTA practice updates, Gonzalez contract talks, remembering Patriots legend Raymond Berry.
- Ethan Hurwitz’ Patriots 2026 WR Preview: It all comes down to A.J. Brown.
- Ethan Hurwitz discusses how OTAs changed the Patriots’ guard depth chart, and whose stock is rising.
- Justin Leger hears from Eagles analyst Barrett Brooks on what A.J. Brown brings to the Pats.
- Mark Daniels spotlights DT Cory Durden who went from practice squad to Super Bowl starter: The sky’s the limit.
- Dakota Randall’s Patriots Rumors: Why Gabe Jacas hasn’t been at OTAs. Mike Reiss recently indicated that an injury likely is to blame. “There currently isn’t any reason to believe that Jacas and the Patriots won’t work out a deal. And Reiss indicated Jacas will be back soon, so the injury doesn’t sound serious.”
- Ethan Hurwitz takes a look at who the Pats will use to fill TE Julian Hill’s role.
- Khari Thompson relays NFL insider Ian Rapoport who says there’s a ‘good chance’ the Patriots will sign Christian Gonzalez to a huge contract extension.“I imagine that he’s going to get a huge deal. I imagine that the Patriots will make it work, I just don’t know that it’s going to be imminent.” /We’re all insiders then.
- Meghan Ottolini makes the case the Patriots must take care of Christian Gonzalez.
- Sara Marshall explains why the Patriots should get a pat on the back for taking their trade offer off the table for Brandon Aiyuk.
- 98.5 The Sports Hub tells us the Patriots’ preseason finale at the Browns on August 27 has been moved to a national broadcast on Prime Video.
- Patriots Daily podcast: Taylor Kyles and Mike Kadlick discuss the current EDGE Rusher room and the need for improvement. What’s going on with rookie Gabe Jacas still not practicing yet? More. (11 min.)
- Patriots Daily podcast: Taylor Kyles and Mike Kadlick talk about the ongoing contract extension talks for Christian Gonzalez; Case for and against giving the star CB an extension. (16 min.)
NATIONAL NEWS
- Matt Verderame (SI) What we learned during a crazy NFL week with trades, extensions and a retirement; Plus, news out of OTAs, too.
- Gilberto Manzano (SI) Ranking the NFL’s best defensive triplets from 32–1 for 2026. Patriots 6th – Milton Williams, Robert Spillane, Christian Gonzalez.
- Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz (USA Today) Ranking every NFL defense from best to worst for 2026. Patriots 13th. “Last year’s fourth-ranked scoring defense was somewhat of an illusion… blah, blah, blah.”
- Gary Davenport (Bleacher Report) Power ranking the 10 best defenses after the Myles Garrett trade. Patriots 6th.
- Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz (USA Today) Ranking best defensive players over 30. Kevin Byard 10th.
- Nate Tice (Yahoo! Sports) Top schematic trend to watch in 2026 NFL season: Will the game speed up or continue to slow down?
- Brad Gagnon (Bleacher Report) How NFL offseason’s biggest moves could backfire in 2026. Patriots-A.J. Brown included. “Don’t be surprised if the Patriots have moved on by 2028 but are left without a first-round pick anyway.”
- Aaron Schatz (ESPN) Worst to first: Ranking NFL’s most likely turnarounds in 2026. Jets 6th out of 8.
- Josh Alper (ProFootballTalk) New GM Jon-Eric Sullivan: Dolphins are 100% not mailing it in this year.
- Stephen A. Smith (ESPN) Russell Wilson is ‘absolutely’ a Hall of Famer. /Nah…
- John Lund (Barrett Media) NFL proved once again it doesn’t need games to control American attention.
