Matt Groh confirms the Patriots have interest in top remaining free agent

The Patriots headed back to Foxboro on Wednesday to finally begin their first week of training camp. With that comes many interviews with players and coaches before and after practice. And since it's the first time in months, the media have been able to ask some juicy questions, they made sure to ask the most speculated ones first.

That's where the Director of Player Personnel, Matt Groh, comes in.

As a rising star within the Patriots organization in recent years, Groh has become a big part of scouting, the draft process, and seemingly the decision of which free agents they should be inquiring about.

He was asked about the failed pursuit of DeAndre Hopkins, which most Patriots fans are likely past now. Still, the more intriguing questions were about the potential interest in Dalvin Cook, who remains a free agent as training camp begins across the league.

The Patriots have been connected to the running back over the last few months, but only in the eyes of the media. There haven't been any confirmed reports from a Patriots source confirming the team was, in fact, interested or even if they had been in contact with Cook.

But that changed on Wednesday when Groh was asked about their interest in potentially signing the free agent.

"We talked to DeAndre Hopkins, that’s well known. We explore as many options as we can. Dalvin’s another player . . . this is a really unique situation with both of these players. You don’t typically have players of this caliber available at this time . . . as with any unique situation, I think everybody evaluate and looks at (Dalvin)."

It wasn't exactly a direct answer, but it wasn't a definitive no.

It could mean they have been in contact with Cook, especially since they've made it apparent they would like to add another running back to the roster having Leonard Fournette and Darrell Henderson in for workouts last week. But it could also be a way of not providing an affirmative answer to keep other teams on their toes.

Regardless, it will continue to be a story to watch as training camp continues.