Patriots Exec Opens Up On Failed DeAndre Hopkins Pursuit

FOXBORO, Mass. — Bill Belichick typically stays tight-lipped when asked about potential Patriots trade or free agency pursuits. And that trend continued while DeAndre Hopkins was on the open market.

But Matt Groh is a different story.

Groh, entering his second season as New England’s director of player personnel, is more of an open book — at least by Patriots standards. And when asked Wednesday about losing out on Hopkins, who recently signed with the Tennessee Titans, Groh offered a legitimately decent answer.

“We explore every option that’s out there,” Groh said after New England’s first training camp practice. “DeAndre became available pretty early on in the spring. Obviously, there were reports even before he was released.

“Spent time working on it. We exhaust(ed) every option. We had him in here, talked to him. … But look, everybody’s got a chance to get in it right now. You look at the salary caps, basically, anybody can make anything work right. You just move some things around and get creative. I know we were one of the teams mentioned that was most prevalent, but we exhausted our options and did what we thought made the most sense.”

Groh also was asked about free agent running back Dalvin Cook, who’s been connected to the Patriots in multiple reports. He confirmed New England’s interest in the 27-year-old while adding it’s rare for a player of Cook’s caliber to be available this late in the offseason.

Whether Cook and the Patriots eventually unite is anyone’s guess. One thing we do know: The Patriots will see Hopkins first-hand when they visit the Titans in late August for a set of joint practices and a preseason matchup.