FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and NFL:
1. Breakthrough hire: When longtime Princeton football coach Bob Surace received a call from Patriots director of player personnel Matt Groh about a week before the 2023 draft, he figured it was a last-minute check-in on receiver Andrei Iosivas (sixth round, Cincinnati Bengals).
To his surprise, that wasn’t Groh’s primary intention.
Instead, Groh was seeking information on one of Surace’s ace behind-the-scenes staff members: director of football operations Maya Ana Callender, who had emerged as a leading candidate for an entry-level scouting assistant job in New England.