{"id":40442,"date":"2022-04-17T05:00:37","date_gmt":"2022-04-17T09:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/?p=40442"},"modified":"2022-04-17T11:10:27","modified_gmt":"2022-04-17T15:10:27","slug":"patriots-news-04-17-special-teams-facing-big-changes-in-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/2022\/04\/17\/patriots-news-04-17-special-teams-facing-big-changes-in-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots News 04-17, Special Teams Facing Big Changes in 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning, here are your weekly <\/span>Patriots news 04-17 <\/b>and some NFL notes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Happy Easter Sunday to everyone, we hope that it is a safe and happy one for all of our friends and relatives today.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Patriots will begin their offseason strength and conditioning workouts tomorrow, which is the first step to football coming back this summer.\u00a0 Friday is the deadline for restricted free agents to sign their tender for the upcoming season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And the 2022 NFL Draft is just 11 days away and runs from 28-30 April. One of my favorite times of the year, when many of us will be glued to the television for three days. Most draft analysts have the Patriots sliding back in the first round. But a few more recent mock drafts had the Patriots moving up in Round 1 to snatch a top prospect.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That would be intriguing, to say the least\u2026 It isn\u2019t like they haven\u2019t done this before.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Friday was the anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing. We all will not forget\u00a0 Martin Richard, Lingzi Lu, Krystle Campbell, Sean Collier, and Dennis Simmonds. #BostonStrong<\/span><\/p>\n

Quick Hitters For the Patriots, and the NFL:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Bill Belichick:\u00a0 <\/b>The Patriots head coach turned 70 years old yesterday and shows no signs of stepping away from the game any time soon. On Friday, Belichick was in Tennessee and visiting with Vanderbilt baseball coach Tim Corbin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Corbin is from New Hampshire and has been a guest at a Patriots training camp in the past. Belichick has ties to Vandy, his father Steve coached there for three years and Bill was born in Nashville and named after the head coach of the Commodores football team at the time. Belichick and his long-time girlfriend Linda Holliday also have a home in nearby Franklin.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Brady \u201cFinal TD Pass\u201d Ball: <\/b>The ball that Tom Brady threw to Mike Evans for a 55-yard TD in the NFC playoffs, which was thought to be the last TD pass of his career was sold in March for $518,000, just 24 hours before he unretired.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Leland Auctions which oversaw the auction of the ball has since rescinded the sale because Brady is expected to throw many more TDs this season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“We wanted to do the right thing,” Lelands said to ESPN. “It’s the most unique situation that we’ll probably ever encounter in our lifetimes — at least when it comes to sports memorabilia. We’re still not to the end of the book yet; we’ve written a chapter.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Matt Patricia: <\/b>The Patriots’ senior football adviser to Bill Belichick was reportedly largely involved in bringing home the trade for Miami WR DeVante Parker, according to The Athletic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The team\u2019s new director of player personnel Matt Groh spoke about Patricia\u2019s role in landing Parker earlier this week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Dolphins weren\u2019t just going to be able to keep everybody, and when a player became available, I would say Matt Patricia did a great job of being on that early and kind of getting the information to us as quickly as he could,\u201d Groh said, via TheAthletic.com.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we were in on that early, and it really came together well for us, and we\u2019re really excited about having DeVante here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jabrill Peppers: <\/b>The Patriots signed the defensive back to a one-year contract earlier this spring. He\u2019s recovering from a torn ACL he injured in October. He\u2019s expected to be ready to compete this year and could possibly be utilized in a variety of ways including returning punts in 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n

He was asked what drew him to New England and his answer was simple: Bill Belichick.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Playing for Bill, his understanding of the game, what he’s done for the game, the moment I had an opportunity to come learn from him I definitely wanted to jump at it,” Peppers said earlier last week.<\/span><\/p>\n

“He’s seen a lot of ball. He’s coached in a lot of eras. So I’m just more so excited to pick his brain, see things how he sees it, curious to see how he watches film or breaks down opposing offenses.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to go into that safety room and be another asset they can move around and disguise looks and different things. It’s great having guys with similar skill sets because you can confuse opposing coaches and quarterbacks,” Peppers said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Peppers sounds like a Belichick-type of player.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tom House: <\/b>The former MLB pitcher and pitching coach is now one of the throwing gurus for pitchers and QBs and had some interesting comments about developing arm strength, (especially when it comes to a certain 2nd yr QB who many nay-sayers have said will never develop enough arm strength for the NFL).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

House was quoted in our good friend from SI Mike D\u2019Abate\u2019s column this week where he said that Jones can most definitely increase his arm strength.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what I know about dealing with quarterbacks and pitchers, when they show up, very few of them have maxed out their genetic capacity to throw,\u201d House said.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know the farthest that Mac has ever thrown a football, but I guarantee you we can train him to do it. We can re-pattern and retrain his delivery to handle consistent 60-yard throws if necessary \u2026 I could look Coach Belichick in the face and say, \u2018If you need him to throw five 60-yarders this game, he can do it for you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And House at the end of March went further about developing arm strength:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Arm strength and arm speed can be trained.<\/p>\n

Everyone has a genetic max that they top out at. But tired of people saying you can\u2019t improve arm strength\/speed.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Tom House 〽️ (@tomhouse) March 31, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n