INDIANAPOLIS -- Sights, sounds and picked-up pieces through a Patriots-like lens at the NFL combine:
1. While Patriots coach Bill Belichick is here at the combine, and he ultimately will be the trigger-man on which players the team drafts, this is really the Nick Caserio/Jon Robinson show. Most know Caserio, the director of player personnel, but Robinson’s role as director of college scouting shouldn’t be overlooked. Caserio and Robinson are leading the Patriots’ preparations.
2. First-year Redskins coach Mike Shanahan believes he will benefit from his visit to Patriots training camp last summer. He had also visited with the Steelers. One of the things that Shanahan felt was valuable from the visit was to learn how Bill Belichick structured practices and how much contact was involved.
3. Notre Dame receiver Golden Tate, whose background in Charlie Weis’s offense would seemingly be something that would interest the Patriots, has a meeting scheduled with New England coaches tonight, according to Erik Scalavino of Patriots.com. Teams meet with a lot of players here at the combine, so it's dangerous to read too much into a sit-down, but Tate seems like an impressive player who possesses many of the qualities the Patriots look for in players.