NFL.com has just posted a story, citing unnamed NFL sources, that claims the Patriots are poised to make a trade for Carolina defensive end Julius Peppers.

According to the report, New England would send a 2nd-round pick (apparently, the 34th overall, acquired from Kansas City in the Matt Cassel/Mike Vrabel trade) to the Panthers in exchange for Peppers. That would still leave the Pats with two 2nd-round picks (#s 47 and 58 overall).

The report goes on to predict that the trade will be consumated sometime before next month’s NFL Draft. It seems the Panthers are willing to take the 2nd-round choice because it would be less costly than a 1st-rounder, which the market would appear to dictate for a player of Peppers’ ability.

New Patriots wide receiver Greg Lewis just held a conference call with the New England media and one of the interesting things he revealed in the chat was that he met Tom Brady for the first time today at Gillette Stadium. It’s a good sign for Patriots fans that Brady is in attendance and working out as the Patriots kickoff offseason workouts.

Lewis joked that he didn’t have an M.D. or P.H.D  or anything, so he wasn’t looking to make an evaluation on Brady’s health or ability to take part in workouts.

Last season Brady’s attendance in workouts was a bit more spotty than in the past and as such he didn’t earn a special parking spot given annually to the offseason program’s top performers. Maybe he’s back in line to compete for a parking spot again this spring?

Regardless of the exact workout schedule Brady keeps moving forward  it’s clearly good to hear that Brady is in Foxborough working out to kick off the offseason program. Plus he’s clearly building up some pretty good frequent flyer miles considering I thought I saw that he was photographed in South America over the weekend.

The Patriots continue to add depth to their wide receiver corps. Multiple reports over the weekend indicated that veteran WR Joey Galloway has signed with New England. He apparently chose the Pats over the Bills and Steelers after having visited New England earlier this month.

Galloway’s presence on the Patriots roster would infuse the wide receiver position with much-needed depth and significant talent. Though oft-injured, the 37-year-old still might have some tread left on his tires. He played just nine games last season for the Tampa Bay Bucs because of an ankle injury. However, in each of the three previous seasons, he registered more than 1,000 yards (16.6-yard average) and caught 23 touchdowns during that span.

 So, when healthy, Galloway has shown he can still get the job done. Being in a passing offense led by Tom Brady and including Randy Moss and Wes Welker should be a tremendous benefit to Galloway’s production. As we saw in 2007, having legitimate threats line up at all three spots in New England’s 3-receiver sets is virtually unstoppable … and all three get their share of passes thrown their way because someone, inevitably, is always open.  

Factor in that the Pats also have made a notable upgrade at running back with the addition of Fred Taylor and this 2009 New England offense is beginning to look like it could rival the record-setting ‘07 squad.

Galloway would become the second former 1st-round pick from Seattle to join the Pats this offseason, joining cornerback Shawn Springs (3rd overall pick in 1997). Galloway was the Seahawks’ eighth overall pick in the 1995 NFL Draft. He played five seasons there before jumping to Dallas, where he spent four seasons. The past five years, Galloway has been in Tampa.

Add Larry Izzo’s name to the list of core New England players departing the team this offseason. The 13-year veteran special teams ace signed with — of all teams — the Jets.  Eric Mangini is no longer in New York, but I guess that’s not stopping players from crossing lines in the long standing N.Y./New England border war. Izzo also gets to cross of his third of the four AFC East teams in his career spent entirely in the division as a former undrafted free agent turned Pro Bowl special teamer.

In my mind this feels very much the same as seeing Mike Vrabel depart. Sure, both guys are probably getting very near to the end of the NFL road. But I think they both have a year or two of production left. (Izzo did after all lead New England with 14 special teams tackles in 2008, the eighth time in his last 10 seasons that he led or tied for his team’s lead in special teams stops.)

And the hole Izzo and Vrabel leave in terms of leadership, experience and “coach on the field” attitudes is even bigger than the empty spot they leave in regards to actual numbers. Izzo was the defacto special teams coach in his eight seasons in New England. He organized extra special teams meetings and film sessions and took young special teams contributors under his wing.  He will be very much missed in the key third phase of the game.

The departure leaves me with a few questions to pose. Is it in any way related to his on-going connection to the Barry Bonds/BALCO stuff? (I doubt it.)  Does it have to do with the change at special teams coordinator from Brad Seely to Scott O’Brien? (More likely.) Would the former have fought to bring “his guy” back while the latter might be looking to find his own guys? And which young or mid-tier player will fill the void left in the kicking game? Tully Banta-Cain? Eric Alexander? Gary Guyton? (I’ll guess that Banta-Cain makes the roster in 2009 and ends up a key cog on special teams.)

Lonie Paxton is gone. Izzo is gone. Seely is gone. Clearly the New England special teams will look very different next season. Hopefully the very dramatic core changes to the third phase will bring positive production and not result in a step back for the group.

We were all sad to see Lonie Paxton go, but I think we all knew that at some point New England would sign some veteran long snapper that none of us have heard of. There are a bunch of those guys out there each year, most of them pretty good.

Today we found out who that guy is. His name is Nathan Hodel (pronounced HOE-dul). Formerly of the Cardinals, Hodel is a seven-year veteran. His Arizona media guide bio states that he is, “One of the NFL’s steadiest long snappers…” He was Neil, Rackers’ roomate in college at Illinois. The 31-year-old former undrafted free agent (2001) has played in 112 straight games, handling Arizona’s long snapping duties from 2002-08.

So who is Hodel? My guess is he’s the guy who will make Patriots fans, as sad as it is to say, forget all about Lonie Paxton. He even has a bunch of tatoos on his arms, just like Paxton. He, like Paxton, is considered one of the most talented long snappers in the NFL. And now he’s a Patriot.

Interestingly, things didn’t end well for Hodel in Arizona. He was cut this offseason before being due a $200,000 roster bonus. Then reports in the Arizona Republic indicated that Hodel was a negative influence in the locker room and that some coaches had grown unhappy with his accuracy on snaps and his coverage skills. Funny those issues didn’t come out until the team was sending him packing.  Interesting.

ESPN.com also reported that Hodel was released after failing a physical. Apparently he has had knee issues and may have had offseason knee surgery, according to the Arizona Republic’s blog.