SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- Here are five observations from the Patriots' training camp.

Camp Classic Moment

You could write a book, and someone probably has, about the often slapstick history of the Patriots and some of the escapades at training camps. There have been holdouts, breakouts and flushouts -- times in the past when the accommodations in the restrooms were less than optimum. There were times, especially in the early AFL days, when the players' uniforms could not be laundered overnight because the washing machines malfunctioned. And the Pats have been through their share of owners, men like lovable but erratic Billy Sullivan and former Norelco president Victor ("I liked the shaver so much, I bought the company") Kiam, who were unforgettable people with eminently forgettable teams. You talk to some of the scribes who covered this team for years -- Will McDonough or Ron Hobson or Kevin Mannix -- and you could fill a notebook full of misadventures. But the one screw-up that occurred around camp time in the 1980s, and which jeopardized the stability of a perennially shaky franchise, was the decision by team president Chuck Sullivan to sponsor the Michael Jackson "Victory Tour." The Gloved One's popularity notwithstanding, the Sullivan Family lost their shirts on the deal, and eventually lost the team as well. — Len Pasquarelli

1. The Patriots spent plenty of time this spring, but not a lot of money, looking for a No. 2 wide receiver to complement deep threat Terry Glenn and permit Troy Brown to move back into the role at which he is best, slot receiver. New England imported free-agent veterans Charles Johnson, Torrance Small, Bert Emanuel and David Patten, all of them starters at various junctures of their respective careers, and paid out just $2.24 million in 2001 compensation to acquire the quartet. On paper, it looked like a sound strategy, and it still might prove to be just that. But the continuing camp absence of Glenn -- his suspension for the first four games of the season and the likelihood New England might simply cut ties to the talented but troubled pass-catcher -- will force at least one of the newcomers into the lineup. That isn't a terrible thing except that the Patriots can't really stretch the field now without Glenn around. Patten can run deep but has never caught more than 38 balls in a season, and that was last year, a campaign he entered with but 33 receptions. He's pretty much a one-trick pony, so corners play off a step. One of the guys brought in as a complementary player now might have to be a lead receiver, and that's a much tougher role to fill. One positive (and we're admittedly grasping here) is that all four new wideouts are smart, high-character players -- veterans who know the ropes. That won't make any of them faster, of course, but it should eliminate loosely-run routes and help bail out quarterback Drew Bledsoe once in a while.

2. Bledsoe ought to take some of that new $103 million contract extension he signed in the offseason, find himself a sage attorney and file for non-support. I have never been much of a Bledsoe fan -- I felt he rarely won the big game or pulled out contests in the last two minutes and that he was a guy with immense physical talent but a quarterback who just lacked that special magic you need at the position -- but I've got to admit I've revisited a lot of my opinions on Bledsoe the last few seasons and undergone, if not quite a 180, a pretty significant change of heart on the eight-year veteran. Forget the numbers -- that he has thrown for 3,000 or more yards in seven straight seasons -- or the fact he still puts plenty of RPMs on the ball and throws a tight spiral. Talk to some teammates and they will tell you that Bledsoe is a lot tougher mentally at this point in his career. He desperately wants to win. He has absorbed a fierce beating of late but rarely points fingers. His sack total for the last three seasons is 136, but no quarterback in the league has been hit more times than Bledsoe in that period.

3. New England stepped up and paid big money over the past two seasons for defenders like end Willie McGinest, strong safety Lawyer Milloy, cornerback Ty Law and middle linebacker Ted Johnson. Uh, hey, guys: Time to start offering a little return on owner Bob Kraft's investment, OK? For the money they are spending, the Patriots don't get nearly enough big plays out of that quartet. Johnson might be able to slide a bit because there aren't many middle 'backers making big plays anymore. He's strictly a two-down player, and he's been hurt a lot. But the other three didn't play in 2000 at the level they had in some previous seasons. McGinest had back surgery in the offseason, won't play much -- if at all -- in the exhibition games and, since getting 25 sacks his first three seasons, has just 20½ the past four years. Coach Bill Belichick is always confident he can out-scheme most opponents, and he's right. But this has become a league where you need to get big plays from the guys with the big paychecks, and the Patriots aren't right now.

4. Right now Dante Scarnecchia, the Patriots' excellent offensive line coach, appears to have his work cut out for him with an unsettled blocking unit that might feature center Damien Woody as the only returning player to start in the same spot as a season ago. But check back in a couple years, assuming the current coaching staff is still around, and let's judge then how well some of New England's recent draft choices have progressed. The Patriots selected four pretty good prospects over the last two drafts, and there is a good shot that at least two of them could be starters this season. The kids were getting worked over pretty good by the New York Giants defensive front during two days of combined practices, and they learned some tough lessons. That should benefit them in time, though. The organization likes all four youngsters -- second-year pros Adrian Klemm and Greg Robinson-Randall and rookies Matt Light and Kenyatta Jones -- when they are healthy. It's hardly a stretch to suggest that all four will be starters within the next two years, flanking Woody, who is just 23 years old and already has 32 starts on his NFL resume. A first-round choice in 1999, Woody isn't quite as good as advertised, but is still young, athletic and a player with a bright future. Klemm flashes decent feet at times but needs to stay out of the trainer's room. The sleeper could be Jones, who started all four seasons at left tackle in the fledgling program at South Florida, but looks more like a guard to me. So here's our guess on what the New England starting line will look like in, say, 2003 (left to right): Klemm, Light, Woody, Jones, Robinson-Randall.

5. All those Michael Bishop fans who still feel the Patriots got a steal when they took the former Kansas State quarterback in the seventh round of the '99 draft might want to re-examine their thinking. Yes, Bishop can fling it a long way and, yeah, he's athletic. But he ranks No. 4 on the unofficial depth chart at this point, behind Bledsoe, Damon Huard and Tom Brady, and New England isn't going to keep four quarterbacks around. Which is our diplomatic way of saying that Bishop will be whacked this summer, perhaps even in the first major roster purge. The guy is intriguing, but so are a lot of players who get cut.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.