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Patriots mailbag: Is Justin Fields an option at quarterback?

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Patriots mailbag: Is Justin Fields an option at quarterback?


The NFL offseason is moving quickly, and under new leadership, the Patriots will need to make a decision at quarterback soon.

The NFL scouting combine is a week away, and in three weeks, the Patriots will be allowed to speak to impending free agents. The team must have a plan on how they’ll approach their biggest need at quarterback and whether they plan to add that player via free agency, a trade or the draft, before the new NFL year begins on March 13.

Let’s dive into some potential options in this week’s mailbag.

@ZackFitzNFL
Are the Patriots around in the Justin Fields talks?

I’ve been told not to rule out anything at quarterback. If the Patriots would rather take an offensive lineman, wide receiver or a player at another position at No. 3 overall (or trade down), then making a deal with the Bears for Justin Fields seemingly would be an option.

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That being said, Fields’ team needs to decide on his fifth-year option this offseason. He’s proven he can be a starter, but he’s in the lower tier among NFL quarterbacks. The Patriots need someone better than that to compete now and in the future. It seems to make more sense to swing for the fences and take Caleb Williams, Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels.

An acquiring team would take on $3.2 million by trading for Fields, so he is a bargain. He ranked 23rd among 32 quarterbacks with a -0.009 expected points added (EPA) per play. He was 21st in PFF grade, 23rd in PFF passing grade and 23rd in QBR.

Fields experienced his best season in 2023, but he’s been in the NFL for three seasons now. How much more will or can he improve?

If Fields is the option, then the Patriots would need to decide between a wide receiver like Marvin Harrison Jr. or an offensive tackle like Joe Alt at No. 3 overall. They need both, but that’s not really an option.

@Deeep_Blue
How active are patriots going to be in the free agent market? Top targets?

They pretty much have to be active in free agency. Not to get too into the nitty gritty, but the Patriots need to spend 90% of the salary cap in cash over the next three seasons. They’re only set to spend $216.2 million in cash over that span. The 2024 salary cap is projected to be $240 million. Even if the cap didn’t rise in 2025 and 2026 (it will), the Patriots are only set to spend 30% of the cap in cash from 2024 to 2026.

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So, they need to spend a lot of money over the next three offseasons, and they need better talent.

I’d start with trying to bring back safety Kyle Dugger and offensive lineman Mike Onwenu. From there, I’d try to add a top-flight wide receiver.

@KleaverBlock
Watching the impact that having a 1-2 combo (Mahomes/Kelce) can have, what’s the QB/Receiver combo you’d like after the offseason?

Williams and free-agent wide receiver Tee Higgins.

But Williams seems destined to go in the top two picks, and there’s no guarantee that Higgins will make it to free agency.

Maye and someone like Mike Evans would be more realistic and would still help.

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@DomDoesNFL
Do we see a Gilly Lock reunion this offseason?

That depends on what Stephon Gilmore is looking for this offseason. If he wants to win, then New England isn’t the best place to do it. If he wants to earn top dollar, then maybe the Patriots would be a good destination.

@PatsSTH1969
Thoughts on the New Pats ponying up market value + Cash for Baker and taking the draft haul that will come after the Drake Maye and Jaylen Daniels Pro Days? If no Baker take 1 of the 2?

It makes the most sense for Baker Mayfield to return to the Buccaneers.

@boston_fan73
Welcome back, Doug. There has been some talk of the Pats trading down & drafting an OT or WR. If they don’t draft a QB at 3.

What draft classes are deeper for QB, WR, and OL, this year’s class, or next year’s?

Could this push them to take a QB at 3 regardless of player?

It’s too early to assess next year’s draft, but this year’s class has three quarterbacks, three wide receivers and three offensive tackles listed in the top 15 of The Athletic’s draft prospects. It’s tough to do better than that.

All three positions are pretty deep in this year’s class, as well.

@llsoxfans
No question, just hoping you’re doing okay given the circumstances. Good to see you on the Twittersphere. My thoughts remain with your family. I appreciate you!

Thank you. Very much appreciated.

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@GoldEP_
Non patriot question will you be watching the ufl

I’ll be monitoring it. Not sure how much I’ll actually be watching, however.

@RickLawsonEP
Do the o-linemen we currently have n the roster fit the new offensive scheme? Based on the new scheme would you keep Onwenu?

The team is still working through whether the coaching changes alter what they look for in offensive linemen. I would still keep Onwenu. You can find a fit for him at guard or tackle.

@Curmudgeon_Mike
With Pats looking at 2-3 years before being relevant should they trade Judon? The “D” wasn’t terrible without him. And they could use more draft capital for the rebuild!
#MailDoug

I’ve mentioned this before, but something will need to be done with Matthew Judon this offseason. The Patriots borrowed from his 2024 salary to give him a raise last offseason. So, they either need to give him a real raise this offseason, an extension or move on from him.

Judon is a team leader, and the Patriots have money to spend. The best option would be to try to make something work to keep him.



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Lukas Reichel has goal and assist in Boston debut to help Bruins top Jets 6-1

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Lukas Reichel has goal and assist in Boston debut to help Bruins top Jets 6-1


Boston Bruins

Boston was coming off overtime losses at New Jersey on Monday night and Montreal on Tuesday night.

Boston Bruins left wing Lukas Reichel (75) shoots the puck past Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) for a goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) AP

BOSTON (AP) — Lukas Reichel had a goal and an assist in his Boston debut, Jeremy Swayman made 22 saves and the Bruins beat the Winnipeg Jets 6-1 on Thursday night to end a two-game losing streak.

David Pastrnak scored his 27th goal of the season and had an assist. Viktor Arvidsson and Pavel Vacha also each had a goal and assist, and Fraser Minten and Jonathan Aspirot added late goals.

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Fighting for one of the final Eastern Conference playoff spots, the Bruins finished in regulation for only the second time in seven games. They were coming off overtime losses at New Jersey on Monday night and Montreal on Tuesday night.

Jonathan Toews ended Swayman’s shutout bid on a tip-in at 5:38 of the third. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 22 shots for Winnipeg.

Reichel came to Boston from Vancouver at the trade deadline and was recalled from Providence of the American Hockey League on Wednesday.

The 23-year-old German winger Reichel made it 2-0 at 6:23 of the second period. Hellebuyck misplayed the puck behind the net on a wraparound, inadvertently knocking it out front for Reichel to swat in.

Pastrnak opened the scoring with 5:08 left in the first. He got the puck back off his own rebound, moved to the front and fired in a wrister.

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Arvidsson knocked in a backhander off a scramble with 1:44 remaining in the second, and Zacha scored at 3:15 of the third.

After Toews put Winnipeg on the board, Minten had a tip-in with 4:08 left and Aspirot capped the scoring with 1:42 to go.

The Jets opened a three-game trip after an eight-game homestand.

Jets: At Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Bruins: At Detroit on Saturday night.

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Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy wins 2026 Red Smith Award – The Boston Globe

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Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy wins 2026 Red Smith Award – The Boston Globe


Few columnists can say their words triggered that kind of reaction. Shaughnessy could and often did.

It’s work like that and much more over a 53-year career that has earned Shaughnessy the 2026 Red Smith Award. The award is presented by the Associated Press Sports Editors each year to a writer or editor who has made major contributions to sports journalism.

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Shaughnessy grew up in Groton, Mass., about 35 miles west of Fenway Park. His love of Boston sports comes naturally. His knowledge and experience are unquestioned. But as a sports columnist, he has long been a polarizing figure.

“He views himself as the ombudsman for the fans,’’ said Bob Ryan, his fellow Globe columnist and a Red Smith Award winner, too. “He definitely feels that his job as a columnist is to afflict the comfortable. He inherently challenges authority. He knows there’s going to be pushback. He doesn’t mind it; he can take it. He is fearless in that regard.’’

There has certainly been pushback in sublime and ridiculous ways.

At Fenway Park, Shaughnessy likes to position himself on the suite level during games. People with information they want to share are constantly parading past. Unhappy with this, Red Sox management instructed a security guard to escort him back to the press box. Undaunted, Shaughnessy solved the problem by getting a ticket from a suite owner he knew.

Then there was the man in full clown regalia on the streets of New Orleans before the Super Bowl in 1997 who recognized him.

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“Shaughnessy, you suck,’’ he yelled.

Dan’s response: “Well, you’re a clown.’’

None of it ever stopped him from writing what he believed needed to be said. He is known for biting criticism, but he is a gifted writer when crafting a poignant, touching tale.

“Whatever he was doing, whether as a beat writer or a columnist, he would always know what story was the most important one to write,’’ said Don Skwar, the Globe sports editor who named Shaughnessy a columnist. “He’s a really good reporter and he knew what people wanted to read about. He had a bead on what was most important.’’

Despite his reputation, not every reader, fan, athlete or coach dislikes Dan. In fact, perhaps the grumpiest of all, Bill Belichick, likes him. During one Super Bowl week, Belichick agreed to take a survey Dan devised, featuring questions of incredible importance, such as Coke or Pepsi? Mary Ann or Ginger?

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That may seem trivial; Dan’s work mostly wasn’t.

He has been named the Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year 14 times and has earned APSE Top 10 columnist honors in the large-circulation category 15 times, including this year. He is the author of 13 books, most notably “The Curse of the Bambino,’’ which chronicled the tribulations of the Red Sox as they failed to win the World Series from 1918 until 2004.

Despite his great love of sports, Dan himself would acknowledge he was not a great athlete. It makes it all the more remarkable that he and his wife of 44 years, Marilou, have had three Division 1 athletes – daughters Sarah and Kate, and son Sam. With five grandchildren, there may be more big-time athletes on the way.

Despite a career forged in print journalism (and Dan has never forsaken his beloved print readers), he clearly discerned the best way to acquire readers was to adapt to the changes in how his column was delivered. He adapted his habits to make sure his column was in front of online readers at the best time of day.

His columnist persona is also balanced by his charitable work, notably with The Jimmy Fund and UNICEF. His connection to The Jimmy Fund is especially personal – his daughter Kate is a leukemia survivor. His co-workers will tell you he is a great teammate, someone willing to assist colleagues from the sports department’s high school writers to its managers, and even the Globe’s “Love Letters’’ columnist.

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Shaughnessy was honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame with the BBWAA Career Excellence Award in 2016. He is the ninth person to win that award and the Red Smith, joining Red Smith, Shirley Povich, Jim Murray, Joe McGuff, Wendell Smith, Sam Lacey, Jerome Holtzman, and Thomas Boswell.

He is the sixth person associated with the Boston Globe to receive the Red Smith Award, joining Bud Collins, Dave Smith, Vince Doria, Leigh Montville, and Ryan.

Garry D. Howard, Hal Bodley, Mark Whicker, Michael Wilbon, and Gary Smith were the next five candidates receiving the highest totals in this year’s Red Smith voting and will automatically return to the ballot in 2027.

Joe Sullivan was sports editor of the Boston Globe from 2004 to 2018.





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This Dorchester resident brings trash to City Hall to raise awareness of the litter problem in Boston

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This Dorchester resident brings trash to City Hall to raise awareness of the litter problem in Boston


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“I’m not invited to these rooms where policies are being made. … but what I can do is point out infrastructure that’s physically visible to everybody,” Alex said. 

Posts from Alex Alex’s Instagram, where he documents his mission to bring damaged city infrastructure and other trash to city hall. Alex Alex

If you see a man pushing a cart full of protruding poles or flattened construction cones down Massachusetts Avenue, it’s probably Alex Alex, making his frequent commute to City Hall in an attempt to clean up Boston. 

“One of the most basic responsibilities of government is to keep areas clean, to manage resources right, and to manage the way that people move around. And I saw that, in Boston, there’s obviously a very clear failure in … those aspects,” Alex said.

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Alex Alex, 25, may be familiar to some Boston residents after he ran a longshot campaign for mayor last fall. After his predicted loss, Alex has not stopped his campaign for a brighter Boston. 

Alex opted to change his last name to match his first after he became an American citizen in 2023.

Alex, who works part time at a restaurant on Beacon Hill, spends his free time pushing a cart around the city, collecting fallen state and city government materials like bus signs, broken traffic cones, and forgotten construction equipment, along with other trash.

He then carts the damaged infrastructure and garbage to City Hall plaza and leaves it there for all to see.

The goal, he said, is to raise awareness about what he describes as inaction from the city and a misallocation of resources that have left ordinary Bostonians behind.

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“I’m not invited to these rooms where policies are being made. I really can’t go to school board meetings, and pitch ideas there, but what I can do is point out infrastructure that’s physically visible to everybody,” Alex said. 

Alex documents the process, filming his trash collections and posting videos on his social media platforms.

“The third time in ten days bringing damaged infrastructure to City Hall, totaling over 200 pounds,” Alex said in one of his more popular posts.

He’s picked up a total of 5,000 pounds of trash and other discarded materials in a year, Alex said.

The New York University graduate said he’s had a few encounters with police around City Hall. He’s never been arrested for dumping trash, but he did have to complete 16 hours of community service earlier this year after being arrested for spray painting statistics about fatal car crashes in Massachusetts outside of the State House.

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Alex says that once, as he brought liquor bottles to City Hall after a cleanup last summer, 10 police officers circled him and about five police cruisers pulled into the plaza.

“It’s always a question of ‘Is there going to be law enforcement waiting for me? What is going to be the response?’ Because I can never really tell. Sometimes [authorities] tell me that it’s going to be a fine, and then they don’t do anything about it for a few months,” Alex said.

Alex said he’s fine with pressing the boundaries of the law. 

“I’m OK with doing it, because I know how to walk a line. I know that eventually there will be consequences I have to face that I wasn’t ready for,” he said.

City Councilors say they’ve been willing to listen

The idea of lugging hundreds of pounds of broken traffic cones, traffic barricades, or bus signs around the city may seem extreme. According to Alex, he has already tried speaking to city officials about the litter problem, but they always seem to brush him off.

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“It’s kind of been an escalation after being ignored by an administration that says that they listen to residents and then work with them to deliver real results. So I was like, ‘Okay, you don’t want to work with me. You don’t want to talk about these issues that I brought up. You don’t want to review the data. Then I’ll bring it to your front steps,’” Alex said.

Boston.com reached out to the City Councilors whom Alex said he’s tried to contact, along with Mayor Michelle Wu.

Councilor John FitzGerald, who represents Dorchester and parts of the South End, Councilor Benjamin Weber, who represents West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, and At-Large Councilor Julia Mejia all pushed back on Alex’s claims that they haven’t engaged with his concerns.

“This is not true. I met Alex once in my life at a South End event, we talked for about 10 minutes and I actually gave him advice and was very complimentary of him, though I did push back on some of his comments and educated him on things he was unaware of that make his demands more difficult to accomplish than he realizes. So not sure where he’s coming from with that statement,” FitzGerald said in an email to Boston.com. 

“I am sorry he feels that way, but I don’t think it is accurate. I have spoken to him at public meetings on a couple occasions and heard him out. If he has anything further to discuss, he is welcome to reach out to my office anytime,” Weber told Boston.com.

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“We have connected and met with Alex Alex since that comment has been made (that her office is unresponsive), and look forward to partnering with him through our co-governance model, as we do with all Bostonians. We appreciate Alex’s advocacy and want to continue to amplify community’s voice,” a spokesperson for Mejia said in a statement to Boston.com.

Wu and City Councilors Liz Breadon, Sharon Durkan, and Enrique Pepén did not respond to requests for comment.

When Alex goes through neighborhoods picking up trash, some residents express their appreciation, he said. However, he stresses that he can’t be the only person cleaning up the city. He wants people to understand that “at some point you’re going to have to do this too,” Alex said. 

On Earth Day, April 22, Alex plans to host a protest at the State House. He’s asking participants to pick up trash from spaces that matter to them and bring their findings to the State House “to show the legislature what our state looks like and how dirty it is,” he said.

Alex is also working to launch his own consulting firm called 100ForDemocracy. 

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“Part of this consulting agency would be to hire people like me and young people who don’t really have these opportunities to break into the professional world, but who have skills, who have the background knowledge, and who have expertise that is being underutilized,” he said.

In the meantime, Alex will carry on with his cleanups and continue to work at his restaurant job where, he said, his boss will continue to jokingly ask him if he’s gotten arrested lately.

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