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.

Boston Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney announced today that the Bruins have signed forward James Hagens to an AHL amateur tryout agreement (ATO).

“We’re very excited to have James join the Bruins organization and take this next step,” said Sweeney. “James is an important part of our future, and this is a great opportunity for him to get immediate experience at the professional level in Providence and continue his development, while keeping all options open.”

Hagens will join the Providence Bruins for their team practice at Amica Mutual Pavilion on Tuesday, March 24, at 10:15 a.m.

Hagens, 19, was selected by Boston in the first round (seventh overall) of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft. The 5-foot-11, 193‑pound forward appeared in 34 games with Boston College this season, pacing Hockey East skaters in scoring with 23 goals and 24 assists for 47 points. He also led the team with six game-winning goals, two hat tricks and 133 shots.

Hagens was named to the conference’s All-Rookie Team after posting 37 points (11 goals, 26 assists) during the 2024-25 season. Across two years with Boston College (2024-26), the forward skated in 71 games, totaling 34 goals and 50 assists for 84 points.

Prior to his collegiate career, Hagens spent two seasons (2022-24) with the United States National Team Development Program (USNTDP), where he recorded 72 goals and 115 assists for 187 points, the fifth‑most in program history.

The Hauppauge, New York, native has represented the United States internationally in two IIHF World Junior Championships (2025, 2026) and two IIHF U-18 Men’s World Championships (2023, 2024). Hagens won gold at the 2025 World Juniors and the 2023 U-18 tournaments. He holds the IIHF U-18 Men’s World Championship single‑tournament scoring record with 22 points in 2024, earning tournament MVP honors and helping the United States capture silver.

On most days, somewhere between soundchecks and late-night sets, Jeff DaRosa laces up his running shoes and steps into a quieter world.

For nearly two decades, the 43-year-old has been a multi-instrumentalist for Dropkick Murphys, the Boston-bred Celtic punk band synonymous with packed venues and relentless touring — most recently with their new split album “New England Forever,” released March 17. 

Discipline, by his own admission, was never part of that life.

But this April, he’ll take on a different kind of stage: the 2026 Boston Marathon, running in support of the Claddagh Fund — and, in many ways, for himself.

‘It’s kind of like a drug’

Running first entered DaRosa’s life casually — some 5Ks with his sister, a turkey trot, the occasional half marathon. It had a subtle pull.

“It’s kind of like a drug,” he said. “You just need a little more. You find it to be more attainable.”

Still, running Boston — one of the world’s most iconic races — felt distant. After the 2013 bombings, and the band’s performance at the Boston Strong benefit show, the idea lodged in the back of his mind. 

“It was this weird fantasy,” he said. “Like, maybe one day.”

A turning point at 40

For years, the demands of touring kept the fantasy at bay. The band’s annual March run of St. Patrick’s Day shows always collided with marathon training season, making serious preparation impossible.

The shift came when DaRosa turned 40. He quit drinking — on Marathon Monday, coincidentally — and found himself craving something new.

“I was just a rock musician that kind of didn’t have much discipline in my life. All I had to do was be on stage,” he said.

Offstage, life was accelerating. A father of three, he felt time slipping. 

“I was really craving to hold on a little tighter to life or something.”

Running became an antidote — a form of meditation, he said, that made him feel more present and grounded.

Starting over

Since getting sober, running has become both ritual and anchor — even on tour. He recently wrapped a five-week run of shows while training nearly every day.

His approach is simple: “I just wake up and go,” he said. “If I think, it totally stalls me out. I have a coffee. I go.”

In that repetition, he’s found what he’d been missing. “It’s been a life changer for me — the discipline I so badly craved.”

He trains mostly alone, though friends cheer him on and join him for the longer efforts when schedules align. Even mid-run, listening to music, his mind drifts to gratitude. 

“The whole time, I’ll be thinking about how grateful I am for my kids,” he said. “It’s so weird.”

Lessons from the road — and the race

DaRosa ran his first marathon in 2024 at the Mesa Marathon in Arizona — an experience he called, with a laugh, “a disastrous situation.”

By mile 15 he was limping, and an 89-year-old runner beside him offered simple wisdom: that’s why they call it a marathon.

He finished anyway. 

“Part of this experience for me is to show my kids that you work at something, and you can do it.”

That lesson reshaped how he sees the sport. The race itself, he’s come to believe, is almost beside the point. “It’s the training that is the true — I don’t know,” he paused. “It’s where you really find out about yourself, I think.”

Boston, at last

This year, the timing finally aligned. The band will be in Boston. The training is there. And an opportunity that once felt abstract is now real.

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He’s keeping his expectations low, including his finishing time.

His one lighthearted goal: to beat Oprah’s marathon time — a 4:29:15 mark he narrowly eclipsed in Arizona.

“My friend wrote to me, ‘You beat Oprah,’” he said. “And I just laughed and laughed and laughed.”

But beneath the humor is something quieter, something more intentional. Running, he said, has brought him back to himself after decades lost in the noise of the road. 

“Somewhere along the line, life just started to fly by,” he said. “I just wanted to hold on closer to it.”

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For DaRosa, the Boston Marathon isn’t really about the finish line. It’s about showing up — for his kids, for himself, and for the version of his life he’s still shaping.

“To just be present,” he said. “That’s it.”

Annie Jonas is a Community writer at Boston.com. She was previously a local editor at Patch and a freelancer at the Financial Times.

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