Patriots notes, quotes, and anecdotes: It’s Tom Brady week!

Good morning, happy Sunday, and welcome into the inaugural edition of my new column ‘Patriots notes, quotes, & anecdotes’ – a weekly piece hitting (and potentially opining) on all of the happenings with the football team that plays down in Foxborough. 

Let’s get started:

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— It’s Tom Brady week!

It’s a busy week coming up down at Gillette Stadium, as the Patriots are set to induct Tom Brady into their Hall of Fame this coming Wednesday, June 12th. For those unaware, 6/12 symbolizes the 6 Super Bowl titles Brady won in New England — and his jersey No. 12.

According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, “hundreds” of Brady’s former teammates plan to attend, and I’ve been told that not only will the 2.5-hour ceremony be can’t miss, but those involved with the planning and execution of the event were actually required to sign nondisclosure agreements in order to keep the secrets of the night exactly that: secrets.

The one downside? The ceremony is scheduled to interfere with Game 3 of the NBA Finals between Boston’s own Celtics and the Mavericks. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. from Dallas.

— Oh yeah, minicamp.

Not only will former Patriots be in town next week, but the current ones as well. New England will host their mandatory minicamp next Monday, June 10 through Wednesday, June 12. Here are five questions I want answered:

5.  Will Matthew Judon, who’s been in and out of the Patriots’ voluntary offseason program, be in attendance? He recently told MassLive that he will be, so he won’t be fined.

4. Can Alex Austin continue his solid Spring and remain New England’s cornerback No. 2 opposite Christian Gonzalez?

3. With Cole Strange out, who can make their mark on the interior offensive line bookending C David Andrews?

2. Do Patriots rookie pass catchers stand out?

1. Will Drake Maye remain ahead of Bailey Zappe on the quarterback depth chart?

— Where do the Patriots sit in the NFL’s wide receiver arms race?

The Vikings made the NFL’s biggest splash this week, signing perennial All-Pro wide receiver Justin Jefferson to a four-year, $140 million contract extension. The deal, which includes $89 million fully guaranteed, makes the 24-year-old the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL and keeps him in Minnesota through the 2028 season.

Jefferson was drafted by the Vikings with the 22nd pick in the 2020 draft and quickly became one of the league’s top wide receivers. As a rookie, he notched 1,400 yards and 7 touchdowns on 88 receptions, and in 2022 led the NFL in both receptions (128) and yards (1,809). The former LSU Tiger has surpassed 1,000 yards in all four seasons.

Naturally, the Jefferson deal has those in Patriots Nation on high alert with the team undoubtedly struggling in the wide receiver department over the last half-decade. They haven’t had a 1,000-yard receiver of their own since 2019 (Julian Edelman — 1,117), and have whiffed on both free-agent acquisitions and draft picks in the process.

Under new leadership in the front office, New England drafted WR Ja’Lynn Polk (R2, 37) and WR Javon Baker (R4, 110) with hopes that down the line, they could dole out a massive contract extension similar to Jefferson’s.

Draft and develop.

— Former Pats first-rounder switching positions.

Speaking of Vikings pass-catcher in the news, Minnesota head coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters that the team plans to move wide receiver N’Keal Harry to tight end this season.

“N’Keal is really fired up about it,” O’Connell said this week. “He has attacked the process, long before we even got started in the offseason program… At this stage in his career a position change is unique, but we’re hoping we’re developing a guy who can be a real third-down weapon, red-zone weapon, with his skill set.”

The Patriots drafted Harry in the first round of the 2019 draft, but after three seasons of clearing 200 yards receiving just once, traded him to the Chicago Bears for a seventh-round pick two summers ago. He signed with the Vikings in 2023, but failed to catch despite being active for nine games.

The one positive trait Harry showed on the field during his stint in New England was his ability as a run blocker. Even when his fate was written and he was declared a bust, the 6-foot-4, 225-pounder would continuously put his body on the line in the run game to help move the chains. Perhaps a position change allows him to add enough value to make the Vikings’ roster.

— Roster moves:

The Patriots made the following roster moves this week:

• Waived OL Andrew Steuber
• Signed WR David Wallis
• Released WR T.J. Luther
• Signed WR JaQuae Jackson

Wallis, an undrafted free agent out of DIII Randolph-Macon, was a rookie minicamp tryout for the Patriots who’s now getting a chance:

“It was a long process getting to rookie minicamp,”Wallis told Gillette Nation’s Ethan Hurwitz. “Being a small school guy, you have to jump through extra hoops in order to get your opportunity,” Wallis said in an exclusive interview. “I worked for this moment since I was seven years old and it was so amazing getting to know all the years of work payed off and I would get a chance at my dream.”

He continued: “It almost didn’t feel real seeing the silver helmet in my locker. I was just so happy to be a Patriot in that moment and was just grateful for the opportunity.”

— Jerod Mayo on No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye:

We spoke with Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo prior to last Tuesday’s voluntary OTA practice down in Foxborough, and among the many things, he had this to say about rookie quarterback Drake Maye:

“He’s doing well. He’s headed in the right direction. A lot of times people think it’s this longitudinal, just straight line up to the top, and realistically, it’s up and down, up and down, up and down. But hopefully, you end up still – from left to right – going in the right direction. So, he’s doing well. You guys, I’m sure, will evaluate him today at practice.”

At said practice, Maye took reps ahead of veteran Bailey Zappe for the first time — sliding in behind only presumed starter Jacoby Brissett. As mentioned above, we’ll see if that continues this week at minicamp.

— Former Pats RB Damien Harris sounds off on Patriots’ offensive approach in 2022.

Now retired and away from playing the game, former Patriots running back Damien Harris took to The Athletic Football Show with Robert Mays this week to talk about his time in the league. Of note, he spoke about his final season in New England and the disarray surrounding the team’s offense:

“…Obviously all the success that was had in New England was because of one person — and it wasn’t Tom Brady. That one person was Bill Belichick,” said Harris. “There were guys like Matt Patricia, like Joe Judge, who left and went other places and, you know, however, whatever situation worked out, they end up coming back and, you know, all of a sudden Matt Patricia goes from defensive coordinator to offensive coordinator.”

“Well why is that?” he continued. “It’s because we’re all just pawns in Bill Belichick’s game of Monopoly and we can all be moved, and we can all be interchanged. We can all be– like, ‘Okay, well you coached here all your life. Screw that. You can go coach here because as long as you imply and instill what I am teaching, what I am coaching, then the team will have success.'”

He also spoke on the downfall of Mac Jones, who he played college football with at Alabama:

“Imma die on this hill, and people will be upset with me, people might be happy with me, people might be somewhere in between: What happened to Mac Jones in New England was not because of Mac Jones. What happened in New England to Mac Jones was because of the fact that you took away an offensive coordinator who coached him to be a Pro Bowler and almost coached us to winning our division with a rookie quarterback in his first year, and then you take — whenever Josh McDaniels left — and then you take Matt Patricia who’s coached defense his entire life and Joe Judge who’s been a special teams coach… and then you just throw them in there and be like, ‘Hey coach this kid up, he’s a first-round pick but as long as you teach him what I say, everything’s gonna be fine. And sh– wasn’t fine.”

Harris also added that he and his teammates knew all along that it wasn’t going to work:

“We knew before our first game,” he explained. “We knew during training camp… There were a lot of conversations between, you know, some of the leadership group at the time. I was one of those guys, and you know we just had a handful of guys that whenever problems or things kind of came around, we would kind of sit down and talk about it and kind of handle it… I remember OTAs, minicamp, we were having these meetings, we were sitting around talking amongst each other like, ‘Yo, how are we going to tell Bill that this sh– ain’t working?'”

“…If anybody had anything to say about it, it was a very, very quick swift, ‘Shut the f– up, I know what I’m doing, and that’s it.'”

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Thanks for reading! We’ll be here every week, no matter how much or how little happens.

Also: Happy Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month. Take care of yourselves. You’re never alone.

Follow Mike on Twitter @mikekadlick for the latest up-to-date Patriots and Boston sports news!