New England Patriots Rundown: Kyle Arrington, Buffalo Bills nuggets

This New England Patriots Rundown piece contains quotes from team-first slot cornerback Kyle Arrington, updates on two Buffalo Bills rookie wide receivers, and news on a team that has stated they are not interested in veteran defensive back Charles Woodson.

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1. Kyle Arrington inked a rich four-year deal with the New England Patriots this offseason, affirming Bill Belichick’s love for Arrington and Arrington’s place as one of the better slot CBs in the league. He told the Boston Herald’s Karen Guregian why he gave up the No. 24 to incoming strong safety Adrian Wilson, “It’s one of those things where anything I can do to solidify the camaraderie within the group, I’m down for it.”

Arrington, who will wear the No. 25 next season, was also involved in helping the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. Per the Boston Herald, he was raising money on Friday night on behalf of The One Fund Boston and ended up raising $7,500 whilst partaking in photos and signing autographs at Scoreboards Bar & Grill.

“All I needed to hear, was fund-raising for The One Fund,” Arrington said. “It’s a shame what happened that tragic week. As athletes representing this great city, it’s the least we can do, helping out any way we can. We just want to let the city know, as much as they support us, we’ll do the same in return.’’

2. WGR 550 pretty much stated the obvious yesterday on former USC Trojans wide receiver Robert Woods, as they wrote that Woods is “firmly in the conversation” to start next to Stevie Johnson at wide receiver. The Bills made a big effort to change their passing attack through the 2013 NFL Draft by picking up Robert Woods, Da’Rick Rogers, and, of course, quarterback E.J. Manuel in the first round. Woods is clearly the best guy to start at No. 2 for the Bills, and Rogers could win the No. 3 job and then T.J. Graham would to the No. 4 wide receiver in Buffalo.

3. Speaking of Rogers, Buffalo Bills head coach Doug Marrone delivered an excellent quote on the high-upside but enigmatic and inconsistent UDFA signing. Marrone said during a conference call, “It’s a one-shot deal. Either you’ve learned your lesson and you’ve grown up and you’re going to go forward and mature, or you haven’t learned your lesson and you’re going to be out on the street. It’s that simple.”

Any thoughts on how Rogers’s future will shake out for the Bills? Marrone’s quote, in my opinion, was right on point, and I don’t think there can be any disagreements with his logic.

4. Now, back to Woods. I hope nobody compares Woods to Aaron Dobson and does that whole “If they chose this guy instead…”, but I’m sure it’s going to happen. It won’t just happen with Woods (people could also use Keenan Allen and Markus Wheaton as comparison points), but Mike Reiss was the one who brought this up with the fellow AFC East rookie wideout, “Along those same lines, I think it’s going to be interesting to compare and contrast Bills rookie receiver Robert Woods (41st overall) and Patriots rookie receiver Aaron Dobson (59th overall) in the next few years. As Bill Belichick said, the Patriots entered the draft with the intention of addressing the receiver position, and by trading down from 29 to the 50s they took themselves out of the mix for Woods, who reportedly looked sharp in Buffalo’s rookie minicamp. I think Woods was more of a fit for the Patriots than Cordarrelle Patterson (29th, Vikings) or Justin Hunter (34th, Titans), the other receivers taken in the range that the Patriots traded out of. Now they’ll face Woods twice a year.”

As always, great stuff from Reiss.

5. It will be interesting to see when Charles Woodson ends up getting signed by somebody, because he can’t be on the free agent market forever. I never wanted the Patriots to sign him, but I can see Woodson being of value to other NFL teams. One of those teams is not the Cleveland Browns, and their goal is to go younger in the secondary. T.J. Ward is a very good free safety, and the Browns organization is high on the chances of Tashaun Gipson being a breakout S. Former Notre Dame star safety Jamoris Slaughter was drafted by the Browns as well, and it is clear that they want to go young there. ESPN Cleveland’s Tony Grossi wrote yesterday in his mailbag that the Browns are not interested in Woodson, and that’s the best policy for the Browns.

Are there any teams that you guys think should go after Woodson?

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.