Now that the Patriots picks have mercifully come to an end, New England will turn its attention to priority free agents and players to invite to town for tryouts at rookie mini camp. With the questionable depth of the draft itself, the level of the free agents available probably isn’t as impressive as it has been in other years. Randall Gay, Mike Wright, Corey Mays and Pierre Woods are all guys who contributed on the New England roster after joining the team as undrafted free agents in the recent past.

While undrafted free agents are long shots on any roster in any year, it’s worth watching what the Patriots might target in the next couple days. Positions like linebacker, tight end, defensive back and skill positions on offense are always possibilities to create depth and competion in mini camps and through the summer.

Local prospects are always worth watching for teams. With that in mind New Hampshire wideout David Ball, Northeastern tight end Kendrick Ballantyne and UMass running back Steve Baylark could all get a call from the Patriots or elsewhere across the league as teams target free agents.

Some of the best available talent in other players not drafted that might interest New England include Ole Miss linebacker Rory Johnson, Georgia Tech cornerback Kenny Scott, Baylor cornerback Anthony Arline, Hampton corner Travarous Baine and Louisville linebacker Nate Harris. Notre Dame third down back Darius Walker also went undrafted, but seeing as Charlie Weis wasn’t too happy with the back leaving school early I’m not sure Weis would call in a favor with Bill Belichick to land Walker in Patriots camp.

New England’s list of free agent invites and tryout players also often includes small school players, players with injuries or other unique situations and even guys from pipeline schools like Florida, Iowa, Notre Dame, Fresno State and others.

All teams will be working the phones hard to contact their priority free agents over the next few hours and days. New England doesn’t generally announce its list of free agents formally until the opening of rookie mini camp on the weekend of May 12-13. But the names should trickle out in the coming days.