FOXBORO, Mass. — Tom Brady didn't put a whoopee cushion on Bill Belichick's chair. Bob Kraft didn't call Jerod Mayo to tell him he's been traded to the Lions. And no one put a bucket of paint above one of the doors in the locker room.
Unfortunately, none of the Patriots will win anything on America's Funniest Home Videos for Thursday's April Fools' pranks, but there was at least one story that came from Thursday morning's session at Gillette Stadium.
New England assistant strength and conditioning coach Harold Nash, who conducts the team's player-development meetings, finished up his series of rookie-development sessions Thursday. The meetings mostly discuss how to handle life as a professional athlete when the players are away from the field, and last year's rookies are required to be in attendance.
"[Nash] was like, 'Sorry, fellas, we've got two more weeks of this,'" quarterback Brian Hoyer said. "And we were about to fight in there. Because coming in, working out [and] going to these meetings is getting pretty boring, so we were about to fight. Then he called April Fools. … That was pretty good because that got the room going."
Aside from that, pranks have been at a premium. In case that changes, linebacker Gary Guyton believes he'll be ready.
"I've been on edge," Guyton said. "I'm good. Don't take anything. Just stay to myself, and I'll be OK."
