d with a rib injury.While Dobbs feels he did enough to

FOXBOROUGH http://www.oaklandraidersteamonline.com/josh-jacobs-jersey , Mass. (AP) — The defending champion New England Patriots were looking to a salary cap-friendly veteran addition and their existing depth to address the loss of two starters as the free agency period opened on Wednesday.For the second straight season the Patriots will have a new starting left tackle to protect quarterback Tom Brady’s blind side. Last season’s starter, Trent Brown, was lured away from New England by the Raiders, agreeing to a new deal that a person familiar with it said is worth $66 million over the next four years . The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal had not been announced.New England also lost defensive end Trey Flowers to Detroit after multiple outlets reported he agreed to a five-year contract that could be worth as much as $90 million. With the Lions he’ll be reunited with coach Matt Patricia, who was Flowers’ defensive coordinator in New England.Flowers made $1.9 million in the final season of his rookie contract last season and garnered a lot of attention on the open market. But the price tag was apparently more than the Patriots were willing to pay.Brown’s new deal is the richest NFL contract ever for an offensive lineman. Nate Solder, Brown’s predecessor in New England, penned a four-year, $62 million contract to join the Giants last offseason.New England will hope to fill Flowers’ production with veteran Michael Bennett. New England was finalizing a trade with the Eagles to acquire the 33-year old on Wednesday. When the trade is completed, Bennett will join his fourth NFL team. He is coming off nine sacks in 2018 with Philadelphia and has had at least five sacks each of the past seven seasons.Bennett is set to make about $7.2 million in 2019, the second season of the three-year, $30 million extension he signed with the Seahawks.Bennett confirmed the trade in an interview with ESPN on Tuesday Ben Banogu Jersey , saying he was excited to join the Patriots and coach Bill Belichick, who he referred to as “the Yoda of football.”“The Patriots are a team that people love to hate because they always win,” Bennett told ESPN on Tuesday. “The opportunity to learn from that and be in that environment is good.”His younger brother, tight end Martellus Bennett, won a Super Bowl ring with the Patriots during the 2016 season.It seems the Patriots are confident that Isaiah Wynn, whom they drafted 23rd overall in the 2018 draft, can fill Brown’s void. Wynn missed the entire 2018 regular season after tearing an Achilles tendon in a preseason game.Meanwhile, the Patriots’ twin combination in the secondary will remain intact for another season.Jason McCourty agreed to a two-year deal to stay in New England, according to a person familiar with that deal who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it had not been announced. It will allow him to continue playing alongside his twin brother and safety Devin McCourty. It also helps keep some continuity in New England’s starting secondary, which features the McCourty brothers, safety Patrick Chung and cornerback Stephon Gilmore.Jason McCourty appeared in all 16 games during the 2018 season Parris Campbell Jersey , including 12 starts at left cornerback. He finished with 70 tackles, one interception and 10 passes defended.But the unit did lose some of its depth. Defensive back Eric Rowe agreed to a one-year contract with the Dolphins. A person familiar with that deal says it is worth $4.5 million. Rowe appeared in four games with the Patriots last season (two starts) before being placed on season-ending injured reserve with a groin injury.Notes: The Patriots extended qualifying offers to receiver Josh Gordon and defensive back Jonathan Jones. The team placed second-round tenders on both, meaning any team that signed them would have to send back second-round picks as compensation. It keeps alive the possibility that Gordon could rejoin the team if he is reinstated after his latest suspension for violating an agreement that allowed him to play after multiple drug suspensions. PITTSBURGH (AP) — Josh Dobbs did all the right things last summer, or at least enough of them for the Pittsburgh Steelers to cut veteran backup quarterback Landry Jones at the end of the preseason and promote Dobbs to the spot behind Ben Roethlisberger.Nine months later, none of it matters.Whatever gap Dobbs created over then-rookie Mason Rudolph in 2018 is gone. It’s not an indictment of the ever-meticulous Dobbs so much as a return to the way the Steelers prefer to do business. When Dobbs and Rudolph report to training camp at Saint Vincent College next month with 88 of their teammates, they’ll once again be in a fight for the opportunity to be the first option off the bench.“They understand it is competition and it’s open,” offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner said Wednesday. “But to me, that position is always going to be open no matter who is here. That battle is every single day trying to put us in the best position when if Ben is not in the game, that we have put the right guy in to give us a chance to win the game.”Even if those chances will be focused entirely on the short term.Roethlisberger signed a new contract in April that runs through 2021. Great news for the Steelers, not so much for the two players taken a year apart in the draft — Dobbs in the fourth round in 2017, Rudolph in the third round in 2018 — who saw any real shot at becoming an NFL starter blocked indefinitely Bobby Okereke Jersey , at least as long as they play in Pittsburgh. Dobbs’ deal expires after 2020 and Roethlisberger’s extension coincides with the entirety of Rudolph’s rookie pact.Not that Rudolph is particularly interested in trying to big picture things.“I’m not talking about contracts,” Rudolph said with a respectful shrug. “That’s what it is. Football, you’re either one play away, two plays away sometimes so you’ve got to be ready to go and you’ve got to prepare like you are the starter.”Something Rudolph looks a bit more like this spring than last. The tentativeness that nagged at him as he tried to absorb Fichtner’s playbook has vanished. The former Oklahoma State star has looked far more confident with the ball in his hands and the uncertainty in his voice while barking out signals is gone. Even the guy Rudolph tongue-in-cheek referred to as “Mr. Roethlisberger” has noticed.“They are more comfortable, especially Mason,” Roethlisberger said. “The first year your head is kind of spinning a little bit. You see him settling into it a lot. And he’s not afraid to step to whatever group, whatever receiver. In the past, he might have felt hesitancy to throw to certain guys.”Maybe because Rudolph understands snaps are precious. There weren’t many to go around for him once the regular season started last fall save for the occasional work on Wednesdays while Roethlisberger watched from the sideline as part of a scheduled day off. Rudolph knew it was coming. That didn’t make the adjustment any easier.His goal is to not let it happen again. If there was a silver lining — at least for Rudolph — in the team’s failure to reach the playoffs, it was the opportunity to do a deep dive into Fichtner’s system.“I can get kind of into a little bit of a nerd mentality at times in the offseason,” Rudolph said. “It’s fun. It was fun studying. Back here ready to go and put it on display.”Rudolph isn’t the only one in the quarterback room that’s a self-professed nerd. Until he unseated Jones last summer, Dobbs was a bit of a curiosity Khari Willis Jersey , as well known for his degree in aerospace engineering as his ability to throw a football. He excelled during an extended audition in the preseason — passing for 434 yards and four touchdowns — and suddenly found himself as the primary backup.Dobbs threw meaningful passes in two games, completing a 22-yarder with the team deep it its own end against Baltimore in early November then went 4 for 9 for 24 yards and an interception on the road in Oakland after Roethlisberger exited with a rib injury.While Dobbs feels he did enough to remain second on the depth chart, he’s not exactly pouting. He’s watched Rudolph’s progress over the past 12 months. Dobbs knows if he doesn’t continue to improve, he’ll find himself falling behind or maybe even looking for work come early September.That’s why getting worked up over the potential ripple effects of Roethlisberger’s contract is useless. There’s so much to focus on right now, wondering what his career might look like in two years is pointless.“I want to compete, I want to be the best, I want to find a way to make it better,” Dobbs said. “Whatever it is, I’m trying to build the next fighter jet or I’m trying to be the starting quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers or if it’s dodgeball. I want to be the best dodgeball player out there and if I’m not, I want to figure out how can I get there.”