"I'm fixing a hole...."

...only it's more like "now I know how many holes it takesTo fill the Albert Hall."

Enough about the Beatles, I'm really trying to fix the holes for the Patriots. First, our own free agents, in order of likelyhood of return:

Daniel Graham - most likely will get done without the franchise tag (90% chance)

Larry Izzo - as the special teams captian you have to imagine he's back (80%)

Troy Brown - I think he's here if he wants to be (75%)

Banta-Cain - Didn't do enough to impress other teams when he became a starter (75%)
- Wouldn't surprise me if Indy makes a play for him

Heath Evans - I think they let Patrick Pass go, and he's been a great blocker(75%)

Don Davis - flexible veteran special teams performer, just what Belichick likes (70%)

Seau - if he doesn't retire he'll have a home in NE (70%)

Asante Samuel - sources close to the Pats say they won't let him walk away for nothing. If they are unable to sign him to a deal, they will franchise him and if he won't play under a franchise tag next season, they'll trade him - just like they did with branch. Although, they may be able to get a 1st round pick as well as a 3rd or 4th. As much as I'd like to see him back, I don't think the Pats are willing to pay 10 million per for him (6yrs 36million and 24 million signing bonus)and someone else will be. (25%)

None of these guys really fills the glaring needs on this team. There are a ton of free agents out there and I've got my favorites. I'll list them for you, but keep in mind the Pats rarely set the market for free agents and are only active AFTER other teams have started signing players for a couple of weeks. The lone exception is Colvin, so I guess it's possible they will go get a big free agent or two. They are supposedly around 30 million under next years cap, so there's no excuse not to improve this off-season. And they'd better improve dramatically if they intend to do better than 8-8 against their brutal schedule next season.

LINEBACKER
The consensus is that the Pats must get younger and faster at LB. Given the Pats history with LB acquisitions, (they hit with Vrabel, Colvin and Seau but missed terribly with Brown and Beisel) this will be the most interesting position to watch this off-season. Here's the best of who's out there:

Lance Briggs - (Bears) Young, fast and atheletic playmaker. Bringing him in will cost the Pats a ton of money, especially given his comments about being reluctant to play in a 3-4. His acquisition would also mean that Vrabel gets moved inside fulltime.

Adelius Thomas* - (Ravens) At 29, he's not young, but he would certainly make the Pats younger. He has experience on the inside and the outsied and has even played as a DE in passing situations. Given his flexibility and experience this is probably the guy the Pats will/should target. *He's the guy I'd like to see them acquire.

Kawika Mitchell - (Chiefs) Leading tackler on an average defense, but has 4 years of experience as an inside LB. Plus he's only 27 and decent in pass coverage. The Pats may elect against him because he may be too small for their liking (6'1 253). He'd come cheaper than the Briggs and Thomas of the world.

London Fletcher-Baker - (Bills) A little on the old side at 31, but again, he would make the Pats younger at LB. You can't argue with his 9 years as an inside LB and his production (146 tackles and 4 INT's last season). He's intriging because he's productive as hell, but his age may limit the amount of competition to sign him. The Pats may not like his size either (5'10 245).

Rob Morris -(Indy) I don't think the Pats would really go after him, but the whole Indy-NE thing makes him interesting. It was after indy inserted him into the starting line-up that they started to stop the run. He is older at 32, but he's only ben in the league 7 years (he's a mormon and had to do missionary service for 3 yrs). He also played mostly outside and could transition to the inside. I could see Indy signing Banta Cain and the Pats retaliating by signing him or vice versa.

SAFETY
We've got to find an heir to Harrison. Hawkins is a nice player, but he's no Rodney. Neither is James Sanders and I'm not counting on Wilson suddenly returning to old form at safety. There are a couple of very good, 1st round, impact Safeties in the draft, but I'll do more onthe draft later. Here's the 4 best free agent safeties (and I like them all!)

Gibril Wilson* - (Giants) 25 yrs old, 103 tackles 3FF and 2 INT's last season, 114 tackles 2 FF and 2 INT's 2 yrs ago - his first as a starter. Young and productive. *Although I like all the safeties I'll mention here, Wilson's the guy I'd like to see in a Pats uniform.

Ken Hamlin - (Seattle) 26 years old, big hitter put up 96 tackles and 3 INT's last year. The knock on him is that he can be beat in coverage.

Deon Grant - (Carolina) Has already been mentioned around NE as a possible target. This is the guy that Colvin consulted afterhis hip injury. Grant had the same injury, the same surgery 2 yrs prior to Colvin and still has the same metal implant in his hip. I don't see the production here (only 60 tackles) but he's only 27 and would probably be a target because he'd come cheap.

Michael Lewis - (Philly) Another guy that's been mentioned as a possible Pats target. I'm very interested in his situation, to see if he gets short money or goes big time. The Eagles don'thave a lot of cap space and tried to sign him early last season with very short money. When he balked, the Eagles severly limited his playing time. Two years ago he had 107 tackles 1 FF and 2 INT's, last year in limited duty he had 58 tackles 1FF and 2 INT's. The Pats may be able to get him at a reasonable price, given the other free agent safeties out there.

There is really no one to speak of at CB, which makes signing Asante all that more necessary. The other Cornerback is Nate Clemets from Buffalo who is about the same player as Samuel. The other option for the Pats may be to sign one or two of these Safeties (or draft one) and move Eugene Wilson back to Corner.

Then there is the Dwight Freeney situation. I cannot verify that he is a free agent. Some sites say he is, some say he isn't. This is what I found: Dwight Freeney’s number comes up after the 2006 season — he signed a seven-year deal which voided to five based on reaching minimal incentives after being drafted 11th overall in 2002. Now, it would be great to see him leave Indy. In order to bring him to NE he'd have to switch to an Outside LB rather than DE. I think that's a pipe dream, but one never knows. Keep an eye on his situation.

WIDE RECEIVER
There are no #1 wide receivers available via free agency. You may be able to acquire Owens or Moss via trade, but I think that's highly doubtful. The Pats should focus on having 4 #2 receivers. Gaffney and Caldwell are ligit #2's and hopefully Jackson can progress to that for next year. Signing another #2 would give them a pretty decent corps of recievers.

Donte Stallworth - He's very fast, but will already be on his 3rd team in 5 years. I think he made a name for himself that his production doesn't live up to (38 catches 5 TD's last year and 70 catches 7 TD's 2 years ago). I sincerely hope the Pats don't sign him.

Patrick Crayton - I like his heart, you can watch him and tell that he'll do waht it takes to win. Plus he was burried behind Glenn and Owens. I think he's a great fit in NE. 36 catches and 4 TD's doesnt tell the story. How about the one game he started last season - 5 catches 104 yds and a TD. He won't be very expensive either.

DJ Hackett* - (Seattle) - This is a guy I believe is about to enter his prime and be very productive. He's been burried behind (and learning from) Bobby Engram, Darrel Jackson, Nate Burleson and Deion Branch. How was he supposed to be productive? *This is the receiver to get.

Drew Bennett - (Titans) - Rumor has it he wants to go to a place with a chance to win right away and doesn't want to build with Tennessee. Had a great season one year with Billy Volek as his QB. He's still only 28 and his size (6'5 206) makes him a nice target in the red zone.

That's it. Bring in a fresh LB, S, resign Asante and shore up the receivers. The draft is stocked with atheletic, impact players. The Pats current administration has nailed it's #1's in the past (Seymour, Graham, Warren, Wilfork, Mankins), so hopefully they'll continue that trend this year too.

Oh yeah, somebody told me there's a game on this weekend. Who cares. I might just watch the Family Guy marathon instead.