New England Patriots fans everywhere are stunned and confused after the team released DT Kyle Love on Wednesday afternoon.  Just days ago Love was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and it appears that the team has used that as an out in his contract.

Love recently signed a two-year contract that gave him some nice money after playing so well as an undrafted free agent out of Mississippi State.

Last season Love started 11 games and became a formidible team with veteran All-Pro Vince Wilfork.

In three seasons he has played in 41 games, with 25 starts and has 36 tackles and 5.5 sacks.

Here is the statement released by Love’s agent, Richard Kopelman of KLASS Sports:

"We have been informed by the New England Patriots that Kyle Love will be released NFI (non-football injury/illness)," Kopelman told ESPNBoston.com. "This comes on the heels of Kyle having been diagnosed within the past two weeks with Type 2 diabetes. Naturally, we are disappointed that the Patriots decided to part ways with Kyle, especially in light of the fact that a number of elite, professional athletes with diabetes -- both Type 1, which is known to be far more difficult to manage than Type 2 diabetes -- have had very successful careers in professional football, hockey, baseball, and basketball.

"Prior to the diagnosis, Kyle recently experienced unexplained weight loss, but since being diagnosed and having altered his diet, Kyle has regained most of the weight he lost, is in good health and was not limited in any way during offseason workouts in which he was engaged up until being told he would be released.

"Having consulted with leading authorities on the effects of Type 2 diabetes, we have every reason to believe that Kyle will, in the immediate future, be at 100 percent, and will be prepared to participate in training camp in a couple of months. As Kyle said, 'There is no way something like this is going to stand between me and a long and successful NFL career.'"

Love will get that chance to prove Bill Belichick and the Patriots wrong as he was claimed on Thursday by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

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Earlier this week the New England Patriots released a half dozen players.  Among those getting cut were WR Jeremy Ebert who was a late round draft pick in 2012. 

The Patriots also released RB Tony Fiametta who signed before 2012 as a free agent out of Dallas and never saw the field due to family issues and G Brian Waters who sat out last season debating retirement after having played with the team in 2011 when they went to the Super Bowl.

Among the others cut were TE Brad Herman, DL Tracy Robinson and DB Malcolm Williams.

Only Williams contributed in 2011 playing in two games and making two special teams tackles.

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Former UConn Huskies fullback Anthony Sherman will no longer be living in the warm weather of Phoenix, AZ. At least, not during the regular season.

The Arizona Cardinals traded Sherman, their special teams captain, to the Kansas City Chiefs for cornerback Javier Arenas on Wednesday. Sherman was a 5th round pick of the Cardinals in the 2011 NFL Draft.

Arenas claim to fame is that he was the player picked in 2010 with the draft pick from the Anthony Gonzalez trade to the Atlanta Falcons.

In two seasons with the Cardinals, Sherman had one rush for three yards and 13 catches for 111 yards. He had 16 tackles in two years on special teams.

Sherman will have some competition for the starting fullback job. He'll compete with Patrick DeMarco and 2013 draft pick Braden Wilson.

Something tells me though that Sherman will make the Chiefs and be the same standout on special teams that he was with the Huskies and the Cardinals. Plus he still has two years left on his contract.

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On Saturday the final day of the 2013 NFL Draft the New England Patriots made a few selections to bolster their roster.

With their fourth round pick at #102 they selected TCU WR Josh Boyce a 5’11” speedy wideout.  He ran a 4.38 in the 40-yard dash during a workout for the team.

In 2012 he had 66 catches for 891 yards and 7 TD’s and is considered an intelligent player who can grasp concepts and complex schemes which is important in the New England offense.

New England next picked at #226 in the 7th round and took Illinois DE/OLB Michael Buchanan who is 6’5”, 255 lbs. 

In the last two seasons Buchanan has totaled 12 sacks for the Fighting Illini. 

He was selected with the pick New England gained from Tampa Bay in the Aqib Talib trade.

The Patriots then paired up again with Tampa Bay trading the 229th pick and RB/KR Jeff Demps to the Bucs for RB LeGarrette Blount.  Tampa Bay then flipped the pick in a deal with Minnesota.

New England’s final pick was at #235 and for the third time in the 2013 Draft they took a Rutgers product when the selected LB Steve Beauharnais.

In 2012 he started all 13 games and had 83 tackles, 6 tackles for loss.  He also had 1 INT and 6 QB hurries and was named a semifinalist for the Butkus Award.

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The New England Patriots have traded RB/KR Jeff Demps to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers along with a 7th round pick in the current NFL Draft for RB LeGarrette Blount.

Demps, who played college football at Florida and went undrafted, signed with New England last summer at the conclusion of the Summer Olympics where he was a member of the U.S. Track team.

He was hurt ironically in a preseason game last August against Tampa Bay and was spent the season on the injured reserve list.  At the end of the season his agent notified the Patriots that Demps still wanted to partake in track and would be missing time with the team due to track responsibilities.

Apparently this did not thrill Bill Belichick, who is as you know, an all in kind of guy and the Patriots were aggressively shopping the running back over the weekend.

Tampa Bay reportedly asked for Demps as part of a trade with the 229th pick for Blount and New England jumped at it.

Blount has had problems of his own.  While in college at Oregon he was suspended for most of his senior season after he got involved in fighting with fans at Boise State in the season opener.  For this act, he is a member of Carl Everett’s Crazy Hall of Fame on Sox & Dawgs.

As a rookie with Tampa Bay Blount gained 1,000 yards and followed it with nearly 800 rushing yards in his second season.  Last year though the Buccaneers saw the emergence of the man they call the muscle hamster, Doug Martin, and Blount's carries dropped off significantly.

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On Friday, the second day of the NFL draft, the New England Patriots made four selections two in each the 2nd and 3rd rounds.

Selecting at #52 they took Southern Mississippi DE/LB Jamie Collins who is 6'3", 250lbs.

In 2012 he had 10 sacks, 5 pass break ups and 4 forced fumbles.  In his career he played in 52 games making 34 starts and had 314 career tackles.

With the 59th pick from Minnesota New England selected Marshall WR Aaron Dobson (6'2", 210lbs.).

Considered an outside threat he had 57 catches for 679 yards and 3 TD's in 10 games.  He had no drops in 91 targets last season.

The third round belonged to Rutgers, where Bill Belichick has found talent before.

With the 83rd selection from Minnesota, the Patriots grabbed CB Logan Ryan who at 5'11", 191lbs is a strong tackler and a good defender.

In 37 career games he had 7 INT's and 39 passes defensed.

Then came Belichick's shocker at #91 when they went off the radar and took S Duron Harmon who is 6', 198lbs.

He was projected as a late round or undrafted free agent but like Tavon Wilson last year that doesn't matter to New England when it comes to taking players.

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The New England Patriots traded their first round pick in the 2013 NFL Draft to the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday night.

The Patriots surrendered the 29th pick overall and in return get four picks from the Vikings.

After only having a five picks in the draft the Patriots gained picks in the 2nd (#57), 3rd (#83), 4th (102) and 7th (229).

Bill Belichick is a genius.

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For the third consecutive season the New England Patriots will start the season on the road.  After opening in Miami and Tennessee the last two seasons the Patriots will find themselves shuffling off to Buffalo for a Week 1 encounter with the yet again new look Buffalo Bills.

Other things that stand out in the schedule is that they will open and close the season with Buffalo while the games against the New York Jets will be finished by Week 7 (October 20).

They don’t have their bye week until Week 10, which is ideally placed.  It’s not too early in the schedule and comes after the play Pittsburgh.

The team will also not face an opponent coming off of a bye week.  To me, that’s kind of unusual though I’ve never really paid attention to that in previous years. 

The Patriots will also have 5 prime time games, two are at home against the New York Jets and Denver.  The three road prime time starts are against Atlanta, Carolina and Baltimore.  In addition there are 8 games that start at 1 p.m.

2013 New England Patriots Schedule

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With the tragic events of the Patriots Day Bombings at the Boston Marathon, New England Patriots players, alumni and the team itself have stepped up.

Just moments after the explosions changed lives on Bolyston Street former Patriots lineman Joe Andruzzi was in amongst the injured helping out.  Andruzzi’s foundation sponsored several runners in the marathon on Monday and he and his wife were at the finish line greeting runners when the blasts occurred.

Andruzzi, who had once said if he weren’t a football player he’d have joined the FDNY like his brothers, got involved and was seen carrying an injured woman from the scene.

Andruzzi deflected his heroism and refused to comment about it but took time to praise all the first responders and other emergency personnel.

Andruzzi will forever be remembered for running on the field in Foxboro carrying two American flags in the first Patriots game post September 11.  He, like his brothers who survived the events of September 2001, is now a hero for his actions taken on Patriots Day 2013.

In other post Boston Marathon news the Kraft family has announced they will match $100,000 in donations made through the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation.

Current Patriots players are getting in the act as well.  Defensive lineman Vince Wilfork’s foundation will donate $10,000 to the cause as well.  And you can help out through the end of April by donating on your cell phone by texting VINCE to 50555.  You will then be prompted on how you can donate $10 to the Vince Wilfork Foundation.  As of this writing the foundations has received $22,000 in donations.

Newly acquired wide receiver Danny Amendola is going to donate some money as well.  Amendola announced he will donate $100 for each catch and $200 for each dropped pass this season.

It doesn’t matter how you donate.  Money, time volunteering or donate blood.  Donating blood is simple, easy and painless and takes about 30 minutes.  I was over due on my donation and went today and gave a pint.

And the team also announced there has been one player move as TE Mike Hoomanawanui has signed a new contract for next year.  Hoomanawanui was a restricted free agent and after receiving no offers elsewhere, he has signed his RFA tender.  He will make $1.323 million in 2013.

One final piece of news as their are multiple reports out there that TE Aaron Hernandez underwent shoulder surgery. The good news is that he should be ready for the start of training camp in July.

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photo credit: bill greene - boston globe

On Sunday evening the Pittsburgh Steelers announced that they have decided to match the New England Patriots offer sheet to restricted free agent WR Emmanuel Sanders.

Last week the Patriots announced they signed Sanders to an offer sheet for 1-year for $2.5 million.  The Steelers had until Monday to match, reject or work out a trade with New England for Sanders. And after looking at what was possibly available with the pick they would have gotten for him, they decided the one-year contract was the way to go.

Sanders was taken in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft out of SMU by the Steelers and would have cost the Patriots a 3rd round pick in this years draft if Pittsburgh rejects the offer the sheet.

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