It's been a busy (and short) offseason for the Super Bowl champion Patriots, which comes to an end next week with the start of 2017 training camp.
At a youth football camp he hosted over the weekend, WR Julian Edelman sounds ready to get back to work.
"Yeah, that's what time of year it is. Late July is football season," he told reporters. "That's the fun part of this whole thing. This is fun, you love doing the events and everything, but I was put on this earth to play football so I'm looking forward to it."
Given how active the champs have been at teambuilding this offseason, one scribe asked Edelman a taboo question about a potential undefeated campaign as a follow-up to last year's title run. "Stupid" was how he bluntly described such talk at this time of year.
"My focus is more on trying to get ready for the season, trying to learn your teammates, form your identity… That's it."
One of the high-profile new additions to the roster is LB David Harris, formerly of the AFC East rival New York Jets. He, too, sounds like a players anxious to start the 2017 season with his new club.
"They reached out to me and I pretty much accepted on the spot that I wanted to play there," Harris said at a youth camp of his own this past weekend. "Great organization. They're the gold standard of the NFL. Why wouldn't you want to be a part of that?"
An ESPN blog post examines how Harris’ arrival could have a positive ripple effect on New England's linebacker corps.
Finally today, fresh off his cameo on last night's season premiere of "Game of Thrones," singer Ed Sheeran is angling to make an appearance at a Patriots game sometime soon. The Boston Globe has details.
