Nate Washington has signed with the New England Patriots.

The Patriots hosted Washington on a free-agent visit March 14, as they looked to add another pass-catching target after signing Chris Hogan to a three-year, $12 million contract three days earlier.

A 12-year veteran, Washington also spent six seasons with the Tennessee Titans and four seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Washington caught 47 passes on 95 targets last season for 658 yards after signing a one-year deal with Houston.

Roger Goodell confirmed he received a letter from New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft asking for the return of the team's draft picks as part of Deflategate penalties, yet he isn't changing the discipline.

"I responded to him two weeks ago and told him that I had considered his views and I didn't think there was any new information in there that would cause us to alter the discipline," Goodell said Wednesday at the NFL's annual meeting at the Boca Raton Resort & Club. "So there will be no change to the discipline."

On Monday, Kraft told reporters that he sent the letter about a month ago.

"I personally believe that when the league made their decision, they did not factor in the Ideal Gas Law. They admitted that publicly. They had a full year of being able to observe Tom Brady play with all the rules of whatever the NFL was, and make any judgments there," Kraft said. "We have laid it out pretty straightforward. And now it's up for them to decide. ...

"They did their own testing, they have results, and for whatever reason, they haven't shared them with any of us. We actually requested at the beginning of the season that they test every game throughout the league and do that, but they chose to do it their way."

The NFL stripped the Patriots of a 2016 first-round draft choice and 2017 fourth-round draft choice.

Robert Kraft wrote a letter to Roger Goodell over a month ago requesting the NFL reinstate draft picks tripped as part of the Deflategate penalties.

Kraft is not optimistic it will spark a change.

Kraft said his letter was in response to Goodell's remarks that if any new facts were learned, Goodell would reconsider the punishment of a 2016 first-round pick, 2017 fourth-round pick, the four-game suspension of Brady and a $1 million fine.

"I personally believe that when the league made their decision, they did not factor in the Ideal Gas Law. They admitted that publicly. They had a full year of being able to observe Tom Brady play with all the rules of whatever the NFL was, and make any judgments there," Kraft told reporters at the Boca Raton Resort. "We have laid it out pretty straightforward. And now it's up for them to decide."

The New England Patriots have agreed to trade for Martellus Bennett of the Chicago Bears.

The Patriots will likely swap mid to late round picks in exchange for Bennett.

New England will now again have the luxury of double tight end sets as they did during the tenure of Aaron Hernandez when he was paired with Rob Gronkowski.

The New England Patriots have agreed upon a one-year deal with Chris Long.

Long will help the Patriots replace Chandler Jones, who was traded to the Arizona Cardinals.

Long, the second overall pick in the 2008 draft, started 95 of his 114 games with the Rams and compiled 54½ sacks, 41½ of which came between the 2010 and 2013 seasons, which ranked fifth in the NFL over that period.

Long has battled injuries over the past two seasons and turns 31 this month.

The Arizona Cardinals are sending Jonathan Cooper and a second round pick to the New England Patriots for Chandler Jones.

Cooper began the 2015 season as the Cardinals' start at right guard and lost his job due to injury.

The New England Patriots are bracing to lose the NFL's appeal of Tom Brady's suspension.

The Patriots dropped the base salary of Brady to $1 million over the next two seasons and released an 8,000 word piece debunking the top 15 myths about Deflategate.

Brady's suspension for four games to begin the 2015 season was overturned.

C.J. Anderson is receiving interest from the Miami Dolphins, Chicago Bears, New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers.

The Denver Broncos underestimated Anderson's value by assigning the low tender of $1.671 million. The Broncos can match an offer but rival teams won't have to worry about giving up a draft pick in a deal for Anderson.

A $2.553 million tender from the Broncos would have come with a second round tag.

Anderson was outplayed by Ronnie Hillman while battling injuries early last season but re-emerged in the second half.

The New England Patriots picked up their $10 million option on Rob Gronkowski.

The team already paid $4 million of Gronkowski's option around this time last year.

The $10 million option was part of a six-year, $54 million extension he signed back in 2012.

Gronkowski is currently 14th in base salary for the 2016 season at his position. 

Gronkowski wasn't happy about the option being picked up.

"If ya think about it that Option pick up basically equals pay cut the next 4 seasons...🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔 I don't work hard for those reasons. Haha 🏋🏼🏈," wrote Gronkowski on Twitter.

Logan Mankins has retired from the NFL after 11 seasons.

Mankins spent the majority of his career (2005-13) with the New England Patriots but finished it with an impressive two-year coda with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers following a surprise trade just before the start of the 2014 campaign.

“It is always difficult losing a player of Logan’s caliber both on the field and in the locker room,” said Buccaneers General Manager Jason Licht, who swung the unexpected trade for the former first-team Associated Press All-Pro on August 26, 2014. “He is one of the toughest, most intelligent and skilled players at his position that I have seen in my years around this game. Logan distinguished himself as the ultimate professional over his 11-year career and he was an unquestioned leader for us over the past two seasons. His leadership, work ethic and selflessness played a key role in the development of our younger players and he set the standard which we use to evaluate all of our offensive linemen.”