Ho-hum; no free-agent frenzy in Foxboro

As usual with the Patriots, things are rather quiet at the outset of the NFL's free-agent period.

The New York Jets have made big splashes on the NFL free-agent market on the offensive (Pittsburgh Steelers running Le’Veon Bell) and defensive (Baltimore Ravens inside linebacker C.J. Mosley) sides of the ball alike.

The Buffalo Bills went on a free-agent binge, announcing the signing of seven on Wednesday: wide receivers Cole Beasley (from Dallas) and John Brown (Ravens), tight end Tyler Kroft (Cincinnati), running back Frank Gore (Miami) and offensive linemen Mitch Morse (Kansas City), Ty Nsekhe (Washington) and Jon Feliciano (Oakland) among them.

There is renewed hope in Miami, where head coach Brian Flores’ hiring not only has supposedly strengthened the Dolphins but weakened the reigning Super Bowl champion Patriots, given his work as their de facto defensive coordinator and linebackers coach last year.

And, through it all, the free-agent report out of Gillette Stadium has been marked more by subtractions (defensive end Trey Flowers to Detroit, offensive tackle Trent Brown to the Raiders, wide receiver-kickoff returner Cordarrelle Patterson to Chicago and cornerback Eric Rowe to the Dolphins) than additions.

True, the Patriots did make a trade, swinging a deal to bring 33-year-old defensive end Michael Bennett in from Philadelphia for next to nothing, but their work on the free-agent market has consisted of tendering cornerback Jonathan Jones and suspended wide receiver Josh Gordon and reportedly signing three others, all of whom have ties to the team.

Multiple reports on Wednesday indicated that cornerback Jason McCourty, a solid addition to the Patriots’ secondary after being acquired in a trade with Cleveland a year ago, is signing a two-year deal to remain in New England. Meanwhile, the NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport reported that the Pats are bringing back Brandon Bolden, the veteran running back-special teamer (primarily the latter) they cut last year, and re-signing John Simon, the journeyman who found a bit of a niche for himself on the edge of the team’s defense after being picked up as a street free agent last season. And ESPN’s Field Yates reported that core special teamer Matthew Slater had the 2019 option on his contract picked up by the Patriots.

Once again, it’s being said that the rest of the division has improved; cue the talk that the other three teams in the division are catching up to the beasts of the AFC East.

We’ve heard it all before – a lot and pretty much annually at this time of year.

In keeping with past practice, the Patriots have laid low at the start of free agency, which, following the league’s legal tampering period, officially kicked off at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.

Championships are not won in March, they say, and while there are exceptions (the rush to sign cornerback Stephon Gilmore to a five-year, $65-million deal in 2017), that is the approach the Patriots have generally taken to the entire process.

Meanwhile, while it’s not the stuff of which headlines are made, the Patriots continue to stockpile compensatory draft picks, in all likelihood being awarded third-round choices next year in exchange for Flowers and Brown, just as they received this year in the wake of the departures of offensive tackle Nate Solder (New York Giants) and cornerback Malcolm Butler (Tennessee) last March.

It’s standard operating procedure at One Patriot Place.