With Boston College nearby, and Bill O’Brien as a close friend, Mike Vrabel and the Patriots have plenty of intel when it comes to monitoring local players potentially worth drafting.

Even so, it never hurts to compile additional data, and Monday’s Pro Day gave the Patriots — along with 29 other teams — another opportunity to see what the Eagles have to offer. Vrabel and O’Brien watched intently, side by side, as players completed drills and more in front of a packed crowd inside the Fish Field House.

“Mike’s done an unbelievable job at the Patriots in a very short time, turning that around,” O’Brien said. “We try to recruit guys that are tough, that are smart, that are dependable, and I think those are the type of guys that he’s looking for on his team. So yeah, you’re hoping there’s a little bit of a pipeline.”

Twelve players participated in the event, including 11 former Eagles: offensive linemen Jude Bowry, Kevin Cline, Delby Lemieux (Duxbury/Dartmouth), and Logan Taylor; running backs Jordan McDonald and Andre Hines Jr. (BC/Wagner); wide receiver Lewis Bond; tight end Jeremiah Franklin; defensive linemen Quintayvious Hutchins and Sed McConnell; linebacker Vaughn Pemberton; and long snapper Ben Mann.

Some had the chance to interact with Vrabel, who stayed for the duration of the event alongside Patriots offensive line coach Doug Marrone and vice president of personnel Ryan Cowden.

Hutchins (6 feet 3 inches, 240 pounds) said Vrabel gave him feedback, including hand placement and how to leverage his body weight. While there was certainly some added pressure given the circumstances, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It was genuine,” Hutchins said. “He took the time out to see something in me, to stop his day to say something to me. It was a moment of shock of him coming to me face to face, but it was really cool.”

Vrabel also had an extended conversation midway through the event with Taylor (6-7, 312), a capable tackle and guard.

Bond (5-11, 190), who caught passes from current Boston College quarterbacks Mason McKenzie and Grayson Wilson, said having Vrabel nearby shows the type of connections present at BC.

“Great guy,” Bond said of Vrabel. “He kind of reminded me of Coach O’Brien a little bit. All about football. Smart, knows football. He’s very disciplined and going to lead that way.”

For Bond, BC’s all-time leader in receptions, Pro Day was another opportunity to prove himself after he didn’t receive an invite to the NFL Combine. He displayed his usual precise route-running abilities and reliable hands and made a splash throughout the day.

Bond remembers watching his teammates compete at Pro Day his freshman year. He has remained in contact with former BC star Zay Flowers, who has shown him that putting in extra work yields fruitful results.

O’Brien said he believes Bond has a “really good shot” to be drafted and highlighted his versatility and dependability as defining attributes.

“Lewis Bond is one of the best players to ever play here,” O’Brien said.

He also praised Bowry and Taylor for their intelligence and character, along with their talent, and expressed confidence in their ability to blend into their surroundings at the next level.

O’Brien said that when former Eagle Zach Allen spoke to the team last week, he noted that Boston College is held in high regard in NFL locker rooms. His goal is to keep that tradition going after Donovan Ezeiruaku, Ozzy Trapilo, and Drew Kendall impressed in their rookie seasons last year.

“The NFL locker room is a sacred place to be, and I think guys like BC guys fit right in there because of the type of guys they are,” O’Brien said.

Bowry (6-5, 311), who has worked with O’Brien, Marrone, Vrabel, and Dante Scarnecchia at various points, is optimistic Monday was another step in the right direction.

“There’s always something I can improve, but I think I showed what I needed to show,” Bowry said.

For Lemieux (6-4, 295), a first-team All-American who participated in the Senior Bowl, Pro Day also felt like a full-circle moment after coming to the Boston College campus as a kid.

He grew up watching Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, and the rest of the Patriots win Super Bowls, and it’s still difficult for him to fathom that he has a shot to play in the NFL himself. With that said, he proved Monday that he belongs and fulfilled his mission of leaving with no regrets.

“A big part of this process for me hasn’t been about trying to prove people wrong, but about trying to prove the people right that believed in me and have supported me through all of this,” Lemieux said.

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers still do not have a starting quarterback for the 2026 season.

As the Steelers make their preparations for the 2026 NFL Draft, they are waiting on the decision of Aaron Rodgers. The 42-year-old is still debating whether or not to return for a 22nd NFL campaign, and the Steelers are caught in the middle.

Rodgers and the organization have to make progress in order to get him to return for 2026, but that isn’t stopping his former teammates from encouraging him to come back. That includes one of his Green Bay Packers teammates and member of The Pat McAfee Show, A.J. Hawk. The former Packers linebacker said on a recent episode that he’s been encouraging Rodgers, unsuccessfully, to return to Pittsburgh for one more year under new head coach Mike McCarthy.

“No joke, I’ve been sending him texts,” he said. “Telling him, ‘Hey, Aaron you gotta go back, you need to go play for Pittsburgh, you need to play for Big Mike.’ He’ll either say ‘shut up,’ or nothing.”

Steelers Keep Waiting

While the answer is not quite what the Steelers wanted to hear, they continue to wait for Rodgers to make a call. At this point, it’s clear that it’s Pittsburgh or retirement for him, but he’s taking his time deciding.

If he can replicate 2025, it’s hard to envision why he wouldn’t want to return. Even in a much less mobile version of himself, Rodgers managed to collect 3,337 passing yards, throwing for 24 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. With McCarthy’s focus on offensive now in charge, the idea is that life would be easier for the veteran QB in this new-look Steelers offense.

In the meantime, the Steelers have made no backup plans as they have just Will Howard and Mason Rudolph under contract for 2026. It’s Rodgers or nothing for Pittsburgh, just as it’s Pittsburgh or nothing for Rodgers.

Hawk and Rodgers’ Bond Goes Way Back

The relationship between Hawk and Rodgers goes back 20 years. The two played together for nine seasons in Green Bay from 2006 to 2014, highlighted by their Super Bowl championship in 2011.

In the decade since being teammates, the two have remainded close friends. Rodgers has been a frequent guest on The Pat McAfee Show as well since the program’s debut, giving the duo even more time to rehash the glory days.

Still, it hasn’t been enough for Hawk to persuade Rodgers’ decision making. There’s no one who can impress upon the future Hall of Fame quarterback, who marches to the beat of his own drum own his own time.

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PORTLAND (WGME) – New numbers from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services are revealing a recent spike in cases of alleged fraud, waste and abuse in Maine over the past few years.

The state released the data after CBS13 filed a public records request.

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services Fraud Investigation and Recovery Unit is responsible for looking into allegations of fraud within major state assistance programs.

That includes MaineCare, SNAP and temporary assistance for needy families.

We looked back eight years to get a sense of just how many cases the state has seen.

According to data CBS13 obtained through a public records request, in 2018, the unit received more than 1,400 fraud complaints.

In 2019, it was more than 1,000.

Amid all those complaints, investigators found 77 were “intentional program violations.”

Many more over those two years were referred to the Attorney General, local district attorneys and even federal prosecutors for review.

We don’t know the outcomes of those cases.

Fast forward to 2024, where complaints reached close to 1,000 again. This time, the unit found 164 intentional violations.

Fifty-one were referred to local DAs, five to the AG and three to the federal government.

Last year, there were still hundreds of complaints, and investigators found only 52 intentional violations, with 38 cases referred for prosecution on some level.

And as of February of this year, the unit has received 94 complaints and found three program violations.

So far, no cases have been referred for prosecution.

Maine DHHS also has a program integrity unit, focused on waste, fraud or abuse within Maine’s Medicaid program.

Complaints have risen there, too, from 153 in 2023 to 183 in last year, a nearly 17 percent increase.

About a dozen of those cases were referred to the U.S. Inspector General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which accepted all for investigation or prosecution.

The Maine Attorney General’s Office says when a complaint is referred to them, it’s reviewed, and the AG then decides whether there is enough evidence to move forward.

We’re still waiting on a response from the U.S. Inspector General about how they handle these case referrals.