Adalius Thomas has several scars on his face, and one gigantic chip on his shoulder.
The scars came in an instant from a severe car accident. The chip...well, that's a product of many years of football scouts, coaches, and fans overlooking his abundant talents.
Thomas talked at length with The Boston Globe about his desire to prove all his doubters wrong when he suits up for New England this fall.
"I think you have to," Thomas said in a very interesting feature. "You carry (the chip on your shoulder) not from a standpoint that you're bitter, but you carry it from a standpoint that you know that everything that everybody says about you isn't true. That's even from the standpoint of when I came here (to New England) and people said, 'Baltimore is not losing much.' That's fine. That's your opinion."
The article goes into great detail about the horrific car accident he suffered as a teen, the sport he loved more than football, and his abiding sense of charity that leads him to help others.
"See you in training camp."
That's what punter Todd Sauerbrun told the Rocky Mountain News after apparently winning his contract dispute with the Patriots.
"It's just absolute craziness," Sauerbrun continued. "There's no hard feelings with the Pats. I thank them for the opportunity having me there. But it's a business, and I have to do what's best for me. The whole situation in Denver is better for me."
Meantime, the NFL Draft is nearly a week away, and one player who came to visit New England this week (according to several Boston-area media outlets) was Louisville RB Michael Bush. NBCSports.com has a detailed story about Bush's comeback from a broken leg that may or may not make him available to the Pats when their two picks in the first round come on the clock.
Another player who visited Gillette recently was Miami Hurricane linebacker Jon Beason. CBSSportsline.com thinks he'll be one of those two picks, as they state in an on-line article.
And if you were Scott Pioli or Bill Belichick, who would you pick in next weekend's Draft? NBCSports.com allows you to do just that in their interactive feature today. (Note: The Patriots pick at 24 is from Seattle, so to vote for that selection, go to the NFC West section of the article.)
