Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio just addressed the availability of exiled Chiefs tailback Larry Johnson on a conference call, remaining vague on the subject.

He emphasized that the club is "happy with our running backs", but added that the Patriots will "talk organizationally" about the possibility of adding Johnson. He seemed to come close to saying that they wouldn't put in a waiver claim, but stopped short, which would seem to be an effort not to set a precedent of talking about specific players.

All claims on Johnson have to be in by 4 p.m. today. A team claiming would assume his Kansas City contract, which includes a $2.1 million base salary for the rest of this year.

UPDATE (12:47 p.m.): Bill Belichick just addressed this on his conference call: "We’ll discuss that organizationally here this afternoon, and decide." He said he and his coaches are working on the Colts now, while the pro scouts are the ones working on players on the waiver wire at this point.