According to Adam Schefter and Field Yates of ESPN, New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman has been suspended four games for using performance enhancing drugs. Edelman is appealing the suspension.

New England Patriots star tight end Rob Gronkowski announced today at the One Mission's Buzz Off For Kids With Cancer charity event at Gillette Stadium that he would be in attendance for Patriots Mandatory Minicamp from June 5th-7th after missing all of the Patriots OTAs in April and May.

Drafting Sony Michel, while exciting, was very out of character for the Patriots. Since Bill Belichick took over as coach in 2000, the Patriots had drafted one tight end, one running back, and no wide receivers in the first round of the NFL draft, until last week. Generally, the “skill position” players are viewed as a luxury rather than a necessity in the first round in the eyes of Bill Belichick and he usually likes his chances of finding a player to fill a need at one of those positions later in the draft. Moreover, the aforementioned one running back and one tight end that the Patriots previously did take we're Ben Watson and Laurence Maroney, both of which never lived up to their draft position.​

Just about a year ago at this time, New England Patriots fans were ready and excited for Brandin Cooks to join Tom Brady and the Super Bowl winning offense. Cooks was coming off back to back 1,000 yard seasons in New Orleans and many expected his production to get even bigger playing with Tom Brady, despite the fact that in New Orleans he was playing with perhaps the best deep ball thrower in the NFL in Drew Brees.

It’s raining. Almost nine in the morning on the west coast and the University of San Diego players are preparing for their pro day. However, the player everyone is there to see never went to USD. The only connection he has with San Diego is that he was drafted by the San Diego Padres, whom he never ended up playing for. That player is of course, Johnny Manziel. Manziel had been working out with NFL hopeful USD wide receivers and they asked him if he would throw to them on their pro day to help impress NFL scouts. A nice gesture, but one that may have cost them some attention, as all eyes would be focused on Manziel.

The Patriots have filled a lot of their holes already in free agency signing Jeremy Hill and Adrian Clayborn and trading for Danny Shelton and Jason McCourty, but there’s still plenty more work to be done. Here are 5 names that the Patriots could still be targeting as free agency begins to wind down.​

When free agency began, the #1 priority for the Patriots around Boston was made clear: re-sign Nate Solder. With Tom Brady turning 41 before next season, the idea of letting their starting left tackle walk with no clear replacement in sight seemed too risky of a proposition for most. Solder, after all, was the top tackle on the market and the drop off from him to the next best available tackle, Chris Hubbard, was a steep one. Hubbard, who got a 5-year, $36 million dollar deal from the Browns, graded out as a below average tackle last season according to Pro Football Focus.

The New England Patriots, and mainly Bill Belichick, have been under fire lately.  Individuals in the media, fans in the area, and many others are claiming this is the downfall of the team.  To some degree that is true.  Tom Brady is not getting younger, Rob Gronkowski is clearly considering retirement, and players are leaving and signing elsewhere (like Danny Amendola). That said, there is no reason to think they won't be dominant for at least a couple more seasons. The 'downfall' won't be immediate.