PatsPropaganda

Interesting stuff on McDaniels and the future of the Patriots offense. Sign me up for option A.

The Patriots can go three directions with the passing offense:

■ Retain Welker, add the outside X threat (probably in the draft), and move Welker to the outside Z position.

■ Retain Welker and keep him in the slot to work a high-low game in the middle with Rob Gronkowski, make Aaron Hernandez the X, and sign (Danny Amendola and Edelman) or trade (Percy Harvin) for the Z.

■ Move on from Welker, find a big-time X, fill the Z with a terrific athlete with the ball in his hands in a short area, and let Hernandez and Gronkowski rule the middle.

For those of you looking to ride the free agency rumor train there’s some fun speculation in this link. Personally I don’t really get too worked up about “the Patriots are interested in this guy” talk, in all likelihood they’re gauging interest and price for just about everyone on the market. That’s what good teams do.

It’s also quite common for agents to say the Patriots are interested in their players just because they know it will drive the cost up and/or force other teams to potentially get involved. So until the Patriots actually sign someone don’t expect there to much rumor-mongering here.