Quarterback Tom Brady returns to the helm of the offense coming off of a remarkable season that saw him toss 36 touchdowns with only 4 picks, mostly without Randy Moss. Over the course of the year Brady threw 335 passes without an interception, a new league record. BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Kevin Faulk return to man the running back position with company from a couple of rookies. New England drafted Shane Vereen out of California in the second round and Stevan Ridley from LSU in the third to infuse some youth at the position. Wes Welker is in his second year off of a torn ACL suffered late in 2009 and should bounce back after an understandably difficult 2010. Deion Branch returned to the team via trade in the middle of the year, but failed to break 50 catches. Coming over from Cincinatti via trade is the always entertaining Chad Ochocinco. Ochocinco butted heads often with the Bengals coaching staff and management. They finally decided enough was enough and dealt him to New England for a relatively low draft pick considering his talent. If he can regain his old form, Ochocinco could provide Brady with his best downfield target since Randy Moss. The Patriots also boast one of the best tight end tandems in the league with the young duo of second year players Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. The offensive line will likely be improved with a full year from Logan Mankins who held out the maximum allotted time in 2010.

The Patriots made many more splashes on defense, particularly the defensive line. Looking to show more 4-3 alignment this season, New England needed more big bodies up front. Bill Bellicheck sent a 5^th round pick to Washington for much maligned defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth. A motivated Hayneswoth with Vince Wilfork will give them a pair of mammoth disrupters in the middle. Joining those two in the trenches will be former Jet Shaun Ellis and Andre Carter. With the new acquisitions many teams will struggle with containing the New England’s revamped defensive line. The linebacking corps is solid with stud Jerod Mayo, Brandon Siler, and Rob Ninkovich. Manning the cornerback positions are Devin McCourty, coming off a very impressive rookie season, and Leigh Bodden. Patrick Chung and Brandon Meriweather round out the defensive backfield at the safety positions.

The Patriots will always be Super Bowl contenders as long as they are led by MVP candidate Tom Brady, and fortunately he is in command again this year. Brady could have an even more talented array of weapons to work with this year. If the newly acquired players on defense work out, the Patriots will be in very good shape. Regardless the offense is prepared to compete in shootouts if necessary. The Patriots will be challenged by Rex Ryan and the Jets, but look for them to take the division crown anyway.

Return specialist Desmond Howard was named Super Bowl betting MVP after registering 154 kickoff return yards, which included the game-winning 99-yard return for a touchdown. Howard also recorded 90 punt return yards, which gave him the Super Bowl record for most total return yards with 244. The victory extended the NFC’ reign in the championship game, as it was the conferences 13th straight Super Bowl win. The former Heisman trophy winner became the first special teams player to win the MVP award, overshadowing Brett Favre’s 246-yard, two-touchdown performance in the only Super Bowl win of his career.

Slot magician Wes Welker will be back this year and hopefully 100% healthy. His absence was a big reason why the Pats flamed out against the Ravens in the playoffs last year. Randy Moss is still there. He can still play. Ben Watson is a viable option at tight end as well. The Pats never were a run-heavy team with Brady at quarterback, and I don’t suspect that will change this year. Laurence Maroney will again get the bulk of the carries with a myriad of others pitching in such as Fred Taylor, Sammie Morris, and others.

Defense is where the Patriots fall flat. At least, that’s how they fell flat against the Ravens last year. This year looks to be even tougher, as the veteran corner of the group in Leigh Bodden has been placed on the injured reserve list for the year. As a result, they will have the youngest secondary in the league. That could spell trouble. The offense will definitely have to make up for the shortcomings of the defense. Still, as bad as the defense supposedly was last year, they still only allowed 17.8 points per game, the fifth lowest in the league.

It should be an interesting AFC East this year. I think the Patriots hold on to their division crown, narrowly escaping the Jets with an 11-5 record.

By Josh Delp of the Sports Fan Blog Network

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“I’ll have teams calling me, and they won’t be [bad] teams,” Springs told The Boston Globe. “I’m cool. I would come back to New England. I wish them the best. I’m going to miss those guys.”

Springs told the Globe that he had arthroscopic knee surgery in January, though he stressed that the injury was not the reason why he was released.

“It’s not a knee issue,” he told the newspaper.

Click here to read the full article – By of ESPN.com

Already this offseason, the Patriots have signed Wilfork and Gerard Warren to go along with pass rusher Tully Banta-Cain.

New England and Burgess have had dialogue since before the free-agent signing period started the first week of March.

Click here to read the full article – By Adam Schefter of ESPN.com