Wednesday's New England Patriots Links 5/23

Here are this morning's top stories:

BOSTON HERALD

Kraft Talks Up Welker - Jeff Howe
Howe has quotes from Robert Kraft, who spoke to the NFL Network yesterday and reiterated that he'd like to see Wes Welker be a "Patriot for life".

Belichick played a 'Huge Role' in Kettani's appeal with the Navy - Jeff Howe
Howe has an entry on the role Bill Belichick played in the appeal process for Eric Kettani to be able to leave the Navy after he was recalled to duty last October.

TIMES UNION

NFL Making Thigh and Knee Pads Mandatory in 2013 - Barry Wilner
Wilner has an article on a couple of rule changes, including one that will make both of those pads mandatory in 2013, or players will be sent back to the locker room by an official.

ESPN BOSTON

Mesko: Knee, thigh pads not an issue - Mike Rodak
Rodak has a reaction piece with Zoltan Mesko, who says that the mandatory pad rule isn't a problem for him, and if it increases safety he's 'all for it'.

Mesko set to host 'ZoliOke' fundraiser - Mike Rodak

Rodak has notes on Zoltan Mesko's upcoming event on June 9th to support Boston Children's Hospital in an event that's similar to the Karaoke event former Patriot Larry Izzo used to be a part of. If any fans remember those videos, one can only hope a few emerge from this one as well.

Updated Look at Jersey Numbers - Mike Rodak
Rodak breaks down the list of roster additions and has jersey numbers for each.

PATRIOTS.COM

From the Hart: Patriots OTA first-look observations - Andy Hart
Hart looks at video footage from Patriots Today, and offers up some good observations from some of the early workouts this week.

Ask PFW: Personnel-ly speaking - Paul Perillo
Perillo has a great Q&A piece this morning, and offers up some good insight in this entry.

NESN

Wes Welker Continues to Prove Invaluable Even in Face of Patriots Contract Dispute - Luke Hughes
Hughes writes that despite the fact Welker turned down a 2-year $16 million contract extension during the 2011 regular season, signing his tender shows where his loyalties lie.

MASS LIVE

Tom Brady, Brandon Lloyd and Chad Ochocinco among those present at Patriots OTA's - Nick Underhill
Underhill writes that these three among others are in Foxboro this week for the team's organized workouts.

NFL.COM

Tom Brady's Father not sure he'd let son play football - Gregg Rosenthal
Rosenthal highlights a piece from Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports where Tom Brady Sr. told him in light of the recent news on concussions, he's not sure if he had to do it over again if he'd let his son play football.

YAHOO SPORTS

Tom Brady's father would be 'very hesitant' to let his son take up football in concussion era - Michael Silver
As mentioned in the link above, this is the full article from Silver who spoke at length to Brady's father, and you can read quite a few quotes from him here.