Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker is entering the final year of his contract, in which he'll receive $4.225 million in base and prorated salary. However, he said money isn't on his mind as he prepares for his fifth season in Foxborough. "I'm not really worried about it (a new contract) at all. Either way, before, after, during, it really doesn't matter," Welker told The Boston Globe. "I enjoy playing ball, so whenever it comes, it comes. Really, it's probably the last thing on my mind. I just want to go out play some winning football for my team and get out there and play."

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and wide receiver Wes Welker are trying to schedule workouts as the NFL's lockout lingers on. Brady has been working out in California, while Welker has been in Florida. "We actually just talked [Friday]. We talk quite a bit and stay in touch and kind of see how each other is doing and what we're working on and new things we like or don't like or whatever," Welker said Saturday. "We're always trying to coordinate a schedule. He's really busy, I'm really busy. It's kind of tough just not being able to go up to the Patriots' facility and really get together and do something, but we're working on our schedules to get together and make sure we do something."

Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker says he and his teammates are discussing the possibility of holding private workouts. "I think we kind of talked about it. But we have nothing set in stone or anything," Welker said. "So we're just playing it by ear, and hopefully we get something done where we all come together and we don't have to plan out a place to go or anything like that. We can just go to the stadium and get our work in. "But I think we're trying to figure everything out and get everybody's schedules together and try to make something happen. But nothing has been set yet."

Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker is disappointed NFL owners used comments he made about the lockout in court, because he was joking when he said them. Welker hosted a free football camp for kids in Oklahoma City in April and in an article from that day, he joked, "Let's do a lockout every year." "I said that as a joke and yet they use it in the court of law," Welker said on Boston radio station WAAF. "It was a little bit disappointing. It's kind of discouraging they would actually use that in the court of law, and you have to see it everywhere and things like that." "Shoot, I guess the gloves are off, and they're going after everything," Welker said, laughing. "You have to really watch what you say, whether you're joking or not."

Patriots fifth-round draft choice Marcus Cannon, who is undergoing chemotherapy treatments for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, said his recovery is on a positive course, according to an ESPN.com report. "It's looking better and better every time I go in," Cannon said Thursday on ESPN's "First Take." "The actual lump that was seen at the [NFL] combine has totally disappeared."

Patriots coach Bill Belichick has had to scale back his offseason plans because of the NFL lockout. "At one point, we had to prepare for the offseason program, and that's not really a part of it now," Belichick told The Boston Herald. "We talked about some kind of minicamp or [organized team activities], but now we just turn our attention to training camp and get our teaching and organization straight there." Every day that the lockout continues, the coaching staff can install less of the playbook. "Something's going to have to go, I would think," Belichick said. "The progression's got to stay the same, but the breadth of that amount of installation could be subject to being trimmed back, maybe drastically."

Quarterback Drew Bledsoe has been chosen for the New England Patriots Hall of Fame. He won the fan voting over the other finalists who had been picked by a media pane -— Bill Parcells, who coached the Patriots from 1993 through 1996, and Houston Antwine, who played defensive tackle for them from 1961-71. Bledsoe spent nine seasons with the Patriots after they made him the first overall draft pick in 1993.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft expressed concern Sunday that the NFL's ongoing labor dispute is reaching a breaking point with fans. "One of my concerns is that we not aggravate our fan base, and we have to be very careful. I think we're coming to that point now where we start to hurt ourselves collectively in the eyes of our fans," Kraft said. "In the end, the fans just want football. They don't want to hear about all this meaningless squabbling." Kraft was speaking at the third annual Raytheon "Science of Sports" Science Fair at Gillette Stadium. "We can't wait to get him back in this building and get our whole team here," Kraft said. "That's what really should happen and we should focus on business." To do that, Kraft believes the first step is for owners and players to stop litigating. "I don't think there is another industry in America that's in the court system," Kraft said. "I always believe that you don't solve things through litigation, you solve things by people who have a long-term vested interest in the game sitting down and finding ways to build it. "Right now, unfortunately what's going on is that we have union attorneys who are controlling a litigation process, and three-to-five years from now they'll be working on other cases and we'll be sitting with the players and agents and people who care about the game, and trying to figure out how to grow it and make it better. So I think people with a vested interest in the game, and growing the game, should be the people dealing with how to solve the problem of our current dispute."

Steve Smith is unhappy in Carolina and wants to be in a competitive situation, but is New England a fit? Mike Reiss of ESPN.com writes that he thinks "the Patriots are stocked at receiver, but if there is an injury and they are looking for a veteran in a trade scenario, Smith could represent a Randy Moss-type 2007 option if he's willing to reduce his salary to land in that competitive situation."

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady told a crowd on Wednesday that he sometimes has trouble controlling his emotions. Brady was knocked for breaking down during an April interview with ESPN about his long wait during the 2000 NFL Draft. "I'm an emotional person. Sometimes I can't help it," he said. "The (2000) draft was tough, and it's tough for a lot of guys. You have these high expectations that you're going to be picked at a certain place and then it doesn't happen. But I was thinking -- you know, my parents were there with me. And I have such a great relationship with them. They've been to so many of my games and practices and supported me over the years, and just thinking about sharing that moment with them, and then seeing the excitement that we've had for an 11-year career, I think that's the emotional part of it."