It appears as if the Patriots have brought back a key special teams contributer in Larry Izzo for 2008. Drew Rosenhaus, Izzo’s agent, has said that the linebacker/special teams guru has verbal agreement with New England to return next year.

Additionally, it sounds like Jabar Gaffney is continuing negotiations with the team, and that the other wide receiver Rosenhaus represents, Donte Stallworth, will most likely be a free agent when all is said and done.

As for as Larry Izzo goes, he is one of those underrated guys that does more for the team than any stat sheet would indicate. Special teams is one third of the game, and it can be critical to the outcome. His leadership and great play on most of these special teams units is critical to how the special teams perform throughout the season.

As far as the wide receivers go, it is not surprising that this is how it is shaking out. When Belichick signed Stallworth last off-season, Stallworth was in a bad position where people were beginning to think that he was washed up because of injures, lack of production, etc. To prove himself, Stallworth negotiated a back heavy contract (pretty unusual in the NFL) where most of the money would come after his first year with the team. The Patriots would owe him something like $6 million to retain his services in 2008, unless they re-sign him to a new deal. My hunch is that the Patriots do not feel as if he is worth that sum and will release him.

The other wideout, Jabar Gaffney, has a much better chance of donning Patriot blue in 2008 than Stallworth does. He was productive in his role as the fourth wideout for the Patriots, and he made good use of his time on the field, snagging 36 balls for 449 yards (12.5 yards per catch) and five touchdowns.

The key here is that Gaffney will be much more affordable than Stallworth. Last season, Gaffney had a two year deal in place with the team when he signed with them last season. He was pretty affordable then, and he will be affordable now. I think that it is important for the Patriots to keep Gaffney around in 2008 if they want to come even close to having the same kind of offensive success that they had this year.

He will never have the numbers that Randy Moss or Wes Welker have. That’s because he doesn’t have the same kind of natural athletic ability that they have. But he is a receiver that has good size and hands with pretty good speed, and can really hurt the opposing defense if they don’t cover him well (with the Patriots offense, that is hard to do). He is important to keep, and I see him staying in New England in 2008.