Bill Belichick ‘Doubts’ LJ Will Land With Pats, But Will Take A Look Anyway

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick and his front office staff have had internal discussions regarding signing Larry Johnson, but nothing more than that:

On a conference call with area reporters, coach Bill Belichick and director of player personnel Nick Caserio both addressed Johnson, who was released by the Chiefs earlier this week, by saying that they will talk as an organization, and then come to a decision.

“We’ll discuss that organizationally this afternoon,” Belichick said. “We’ll decide then if there’s anything we want to do. To be honest with you, we’ve just been focused on Indianapolis, and our pro people are figuring that out.

Belichick said earlier in the week he “doubts” the Patriots will sign Johnson:

“Well, I haven’t seen the wire but I assume he’ll be on there — I would doubt it,” Belichick said of Johnson. “First of all, I think a player like that that’s on the wire, similar to [wide receiver] Chris Chambers who came on last week, somebody will get ahead of us. Even if we claim him, I doubt that we would get him. We have to decide whether we would want him or not. Maybe that’s something we’ll talk about, but I would think he’d be claimed before he would get to us.”

Perhaps this means Belichick and the Pats will grab LJ and try to turn him around. The Patriots have gone that route before, most notably with Randy Moss. The Patriots acquired Moss for a 4th-round draft pick from the Raiders after Moss was seen as a distraction and past his prime. That trade has turned out to be one of the best the Patriots have ever made.