New England state of mind

We have stroked New England incessantly since December, but now we've got two more reasons to do so again. The Patriots are playing the free-agent and veteran-signing markets perfectly, and if they weren't already a model for the rest of the league to follow after winning the Super Bowl, they're more of one now.

On Tuesday New England reached agreement with a big receiver who is a poor man's Keyshawn Johnson (minus the loquaciousness). Free-agent wideout Donald Hayes has the size (6-foot-4, 220 pounds), durability and ability to catch the ball in a crowd that has made Johnson millions. Imagine if Hayes hadn't played in Carolina's stunted passing game last fall with Chris Weinke . He'd have easily caught 90-something balls and would be a $5 million ticket right now. The Patriots got him for about $1.7 a year over two years. Perfect deal. Perfect because he was a great fit, and perfect because if someone had paid Hayes gazillions, New England would have walked away from the table and settled for Joe Jurevicius at a lowball price. That's the Patriots' MO: We can teach good players to play better, so we won't mortgage the future on anymore.

And Wednesday, New England got middle linebacker Ted Johnson -- good leader, nice player, devastated by injuries in recent years -- to re-sign at $1.65 million for a year. That's a savings of more than $2 million over what he would have cost the team in cap money this season. On March 1, the Pats told Johnson to go out and seek his fortune. Try to get a big deal somewhere, and if you can, God bless you. If not, you can come back here for $1.65 million a year. No mind games with a guy who's been a good, yet too often hurt, player and a valuable person off the field. Amazing what happens when you level with players and tell them the truth. They appreciate it. And they come back.

Chandler on the cheap

The Ravens would love to see free-agent quarterback Chris Chandler make it to June 1, when they could sign him for a rock-bottom price after finishing the cleaning out of their roster. But the Bears have other ideas. Chicago wants to sign the former Falcons signal caller and had Chandler in for a visit this week to convince him he'd have a chance to play for a contender this year. Bears general manager Jerry Angelo has made it very clear that Jim Miller will be the starter entering training camp, but you know how those things go. The first time Chandler got hot in a preseason game, the job would be his.

O-Town leaves us with nothing at all

It's a sign of how dull next week's annual league meetings in Orlando look to be that the biggest piece of news, at least from a competitive standpoint, could relate to noise pollution. For too long home teams have been pumping in artificial noise and Welcome-to-the-Jungle type music while visiting teams are in huddles, trying to hear themselves think. What that is, simply, is cheating, and teams like the Vikings must be forced to stop this unfair home-field advantage now. So the Competition Committee will try to get a bylaw passed next week to force teams into stopping the music and the fake noise once the 40-second clock starts. Great idea.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Check out his Monday Morning Quarterback column every -- and you should see this coming -- Monday.

 

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