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I didn’t get a chance to talk with everyone I hoped to connect with at this year’s combine (I missed out on K.C. Concepcion and Omar Cooper, among others), so don’t yell at me if your guy isn’t below. But here, in no particular order, are some thoughts on 10 guys who stood out for me at the combine this week, viewed through (mostly) a New England prism:

• Jacob Rodriguez: Someone on Bluesky said something along the lines of “If Mike Vrabel could ask ChatGPT to create a linebacker, it would look like Jacob Rodriguez.” I mean, look at this guy.

As my colleague Chad Finn noted, that’s a first-round mustache.

Likely an early Day 2 pick, he fits the mold of a Vrabel guy; a high-motor overachiever with a nose for the football. (He intercepted four passes this season and forced seven fumbles.) A 6-foot-1-inch, 233-pounder, he was initially recruited as a quarterback at the University of Virginia before transferring to Texas Tech. This past year, he won the Butkus Award, and placed fifth in Heisman voting.

So why could he be available? He doesn’t have classic linebacker size like a lot of the linebackers at the top of the draft have. (In a twist, that’s exactly the sort of thing that could appeal to Vrabel, in that he likes his linebackers a little undersized.) For New England, he could certainly provide depth inside alongside the likes of Robert Spillane, especially in a third-down role. (Rodriguez referenced Spillane as one of his favorites when we talked with him.) He has a tendency to get overmatched when it comes to the run game against guards, but if New England takes him on Day 2, it’s certainly feasible to see him as a coverage linebacker/special teamer to start his career and go from there. The Patriots were a team that really struggled against tight ends, and need a coverage linebacker in the worst way. This is the sort of young man who could fill the bill.

• Zion Young: When it comes down to it, this might be the best course of action at No. 31 for New England. Smart, talented, with a high motor at an unquestioned position of need he will likely be if the Patriots stick. Terrific length and bend, impressive burst, and high motor, this 6-foot-5-inch, 262-pounder had 42 tackles, 16.5 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks and two forced fumbles for the Tigers. He can get after the passer, and is stout against the run. I can see New England going for him at No. 31, and the Patriots lining him up alongside Milton Williams and Christian Barmore next year.

Zion Young confirmed that he met with the Patriots while at the combine.

• Caden Curry: Last year, there was Jack Sawyer. This year, it’s Curry. A high-motor edge defender with an Ohio State pedigree, Curry screams out Vrabel guy. The 6-foot-3-inch, 260-pounder feels like a little bit of a tweener, and that’s one of the reasons why he might not be getting the pre-draft love that he deserves. He’s too big to be a pure edge guy at the next level, and not bulky enough to be able to take on guards consistently when it comes to stopping the run. He might ultimately project as a 3-4 end with special teams value. No debating his motor, though. A Day 2ish guy who might slip to the fourth round. Honestly, with Vrabel in place (and coming off a really great year for the Buckeye defense), you can’t dismiss Ohio State guys, even guys who were occasionally complementary parts of that group. Curry feels like a late Day 2 or early Day 3 guy.

• Akheem Mesidor: There’s a lot to like about Mesidor. At 6-foot-3-inches and 265 pounds, he’s a versatile presence who can line up inside and outside, providing pressure (he had 12.5 sacks last season with the Hurricanes) while also and holding up against the run. Two things that give me pause if he’s on the board at No. 31 and you decide you need a pass rusher: one, he’s old. He’s going to be 25 by the time camp rolls around. (Of course, you can take that and make it a positive. No maturity issues there.) Two, there’s an injury history, with foot, elbow, and arm problems. But at the end of the day, this is a guy who appears to check a lot of boxes, and like Young, someone who could be available at 31.

Akheem Mesidor could very well be there at No. 31.

• Kyle Louis: In the same category as Rodriguez. Struck me that he compared his on-field game to Jabrill Peppers; an oversized safety/undersized linebacker who has shown a knack for stopping tight ends. Probably a late Day 2 or early Day 3 guy, Louis could provide a nice hybrid approach as a box safety on third down and other passing situations. Basically, if you can’t find a way to land Rodriguez, Louis might be a really nice consolation prize. He’s excellent in coverage, and for a team like the Patriots that needs help when it comes to coverage linebackers, he’s a good find. He had six interceptions and 10 sacks the last two seasons. The 5-foot-11, 224-pounder is basically an oversized safety who has good speed and can run with receivers in coverage. A solid choice for New England.

• Kenyon Sadiq: I initially thought if he could find a way to stay under the radar, the Patriots might have a chance of trading up from 31 into the mid-20s to get him. Ho ho ho. That dream died Friday night when Sadiq blazed to a 4.4 40 time, which means (in addition to his already sterling numbers and versatility, there’s no way he’s getting out of the top half of the first round. The 6-foot-3-inch, 245-pounder had 51 catches for 560 yards and eight touchdowns for Oregon during the 2025 season. He lined up in the slot, spilt wide, and even in the backfield. (Josh McDaniels would have loved the chance to utilize this guy.) A willing but not elite blocker — and there were a few surprising drops this past season — he’ll still have the chance to eventually supplant the likes of George Kittle as the face of the modern-era tight end in a few years.

• Oscar Delp: I literally almost gasped when he started talking about how his father played college lacrosse at Rutgers, and he initially thought he was going to play college lacrosse as well before he went to Georgia for football. Gasped again when he showed a flash of recognition when I mentioned the name “Chris Hogan.” Buddy, if you were born 10 years ago, you would have been tagged and ticketed for Foxborough.

If New England doesn’t make any notable moves at tight end in free agency (Isaiah Likely?) or can’t find a way to deal up for Sadiq, I could see them going for Delp as mostly a developmental piece in the mid- to late-rounds on draft weekend.

• Monroe Freeling: This dude is massive. He checks in at 6-foot-7-inches and 315-pounds, with a 34 1/8 length arms. (An 84-inch wingspan!) He can play both left and right tackle, but played 12 games as Georgia’s starting right tackle in 2025. He is a better pass blocker than a run blocker, but if you pair him with someone like Mike Onwenu on the right side, you probably feel better about things. He’s probably a late Day 1 pick. New England might be forced to think long and hard about the young man if he’s there at 31. If everything works out and they take him at either 31 (or trade up in the second from No. 62), it’s reasonable to think the Patriots see him as the eventual heir to Morgan Moses’s job at right tackle, with a possible move to left tackle as needed. There’s also the possibility we could eventually see a left side of Freeling, Will Campbell at left guard, and Wilson at center. But that’s down the road. In the meantime, he’s got the background, size, and positional versatility that might make sense at No. 31.

• Domonique "Big Citrus” Orange: First, the nickname: “Big Citrus” is the best one in the draft. A sizable (6-foot-4-inch, 330 pounds) defensive tackle who is nimble, Orange is a great Day 2 early Day 3 possibility. He’s a two-down defensive tackle — more of a nose tackle than anything — who doesn’t offer much when it comes to pass rush. But he’s got the sort of physical tools that make him a potentially disruptive presence against the run. Bruce Feldman put him on his Freak list: “He benched 450, squatted 650 and cleaned 365 this offseason, but the most impressive thing is his vertical jump of 34 inches at his size.” Not sure you can argue need when it comes to New England’s interior defensive line, but you can’t teach size.

This is defensive tackle Dom “Big Citrus” Orange out of Iowa State. He got his nickname from a team nutritionist. He said his spirit animal is a hammerhead shark, and he wants to endorse “Cuties” when he gets to the NFL. As a reporter, you root for guys who can fill your notebook. and “Big Citrus” might be one of those guys.

• Fernando Mendoza: You can’t really get a feel for the Mendoza Effect until you’ve been near him, but after seeing and listening to him talk about the combine on Friday, I get it. I can see why guys buy in, and how he can hold a room. Charismatic dude who has a likeable personality. The NFL is going to love this guy as the presumptive No. 1 pick. Smart, engaging, and with a tremendous backstory, he’s a PR dream. He has a goofy but well-meaning earnestness that my pal Henry McKenna compared to Rob Gronkowski. He was the big show this year though, joining a long list of combine podium stars like Cam Newton, Tim Tebow, Manti Te’o, and others. Just hope the Raiders don’t break him.

At one point when one guy was trying to ask a second question Friday morning, he actually stopped and said something along the lines of “I want to give someone else a turn with a question.”

• No pod with Hogan this week. We’re scheduled to be back this Tuesday. Instead, I spent some quality time talking with the fellas from “Toucher & Hardy” about the combine, what lies ahead for the Patriots this offseason, and much more.

• LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier stuck up for his old college teammate Will Campbell this week, taking issue with the Twitter tough guys who were critical of Campbell’s play in the Super Bowl. “You know, honestly, it makes me pretty mad seeing the stuff in the media. Honestly, it just kind of shows me what I feel like people sometimes don’t really know what they’re talking about. [They] like to get on Twitter. They live in their parents’ basement, and like to say things that they have no idea what they’re talking about. They don’t know football.”

• The Patriots did show some improvement when it came to their annual report card, but they lagged behind the rest of the league in three key areas, including their team plane. “The Patriots team travel remains a significant concern,” this year’s report indicated. “The team airplane ranks last in the league, with players citing outdated conditions, lack of Wi-Fi, and insufficient space, with one player describing the plane as feeling ‘borderline unsafe.’” Yikes.

• I could be talked into trading up to the mid-20s if Sadiq is still there. I don’t want to read too much into it, but it was interesting to hear Vrabel single out the tight ends in this year’s draft class. Here’s a look at three guys who could be on their radar.

• I know everybody meets with everybody when it comes to combine weekend, but I did think it was notable to see the smile on Akheem Mesidor’s face when I raised the prospect of him being the latest Hurricane to go from South Florida to Foxborough. Anyway, I also really liked Zion Young as well. Lots of impressive big dudes this year.

• Raiders’ GM John Spytek doesn’t sound like someone interested in trading Maxx Criosby anywhere, much less New England. “I’ve been very upfront from the start when I got here that we’re in the business of having really good players on the team, and we need a lot more of them. And you know, it’s hard to build a great team without elite players.”

• Pop Douglas is entering the final year of his deal. He wants to stay in New England, but he said there’s been no talk of an extension. He also said he can’t stop watching the Super Bowl. “I’ve watched it too many times. I can’t stop watching it,” he confessed. “Where did we go wrong? I’ve just been watching over, and over, and over to try to make sense of what happened. I don’t just watch the defense to see what they did so well against us. I want to know what happened. Why? How?”

• Hogan and I are set to pod again on Tuesday morning. (Hopefully with a special guest.) I’ll have a couple more combine-based stories in the next day or two, but the big project that lies ahead is the positional analysis series. We are scheduled to kick that off in early March, and that should take us through the start of free agency.

In the meantime, here’s a handy calendar of some important upcoming dates on the NFL calendar.

March 9-March 11: Free agency “legal tampering” window.

March 11 at 4 p.m. EST: Free agency/new league year begins.

April 23-April 25: NFL Draft.

.• It’s been 36 days (including Saturday) from when I left for Denver to cover the AFC Championship Game (January 24) to today. I’ve been on the road for 20 of those days; January 24-27 (Denver), February 1-10 (San Francisco), and February 22-27 (Indianapolis). If you cut me open right now, I’d be 60 percent Diet Coke and egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches.

Until next time.