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Someone could jump on Talib and there’s a strong belief he’ll take the highest offer, even if it’s not much more than the Patriots’. One more area of caution with Talib: he possesses a pied-piper charisma that endears himself to younger players on the team, similar to Moss. Do the Patriots really want that long-term? The team has no idea what’s going to happen with Alfonzo Dennard’s sentencing, but most believe he’ll be with the team for most, if not all of training camp. Kyle Arrington likely will go to the market because he wants to be paid as a starting cornerback. Although the Patriots think he’s a solid player, it’s a stretch to think they’re going to want to pay him as a starter when they view him as a No. 3 with good special teams ability. Expect the Patriots to take one or two cornerbacks in the draft, including a possible first-round selection.
Special teams
Kicker Stephen Gostkowski is safe, despite his high cap number ($3.4 million) and average performance in clutch situations. It will be interesting, however, to see if the team brings in legitimate competition for him this year to set off a camp battle. Zoltan Mesko needs to take the next step in a contract year and be one of the better punters in the league. He underachieved last season.
Greg A. Bedard can be reached at gbedard@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @gregabedard.![]()




