After almost a full day of radio silence, the Patriots have been making some serious noise on the free-agent wire of late.
First the signing of Danny Amendola and not Wes Welker, followed by an agreement with utility player/return specialist Leon Washington on Thursday afternoon. Now, it appears they are making even more waves with at least one Pro Bowl veteran.
The Patriots will host former Falcons defensive end John Abraham on Friday, according to Mike Reiss of ESPN Boston. In fact, Abraham had already arrived in New England on Thursday night likely to get a head start on his meeting with Bill Belichick and team personnel.
The rumor did surface that Abraham might have already signed with the Patriots, led by a report on Reddit — of all places — offering a story and a photo of Abraham.
Whether signed as of now or not, Abraham would be an intriguing option for the Patriots as an edge rusher. The team struggled to find much pass rush help beyond defensive end Rob Ninkovich and rookie Chandler Jones last season.Trevor Scott was expected to fill the void that Mark Anderson left when he bolted for Buffalo, but the veteran lineman was only able to produce three sacks in limited action.
Abraham is the NFL’s active leaders in sacks with 122, and even at 34-years old is still durable and productive. He missed just two games in six seasons with the Falcons and has racked up 9.5 or more sacks in each of the last three seasons — including 10 in 2012.
With Nink and Jones pretty well established off the edge it would make sense for Abraham to be that third pass-rushing option. Aside from Anderson, the Patriots did also find some solid value in Andre Carter two years ago, so this does seem like a potentially fruitful path for them.
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Photo via Facebook/John Abraham
