Report: Patriots inquire about Chris Gamble and Derek Cox

Over the next couple of days, expect a lot of reports that the Patriots are "interested" or "in talks" about several free-agents. Of course, that doesn't mean they are necessarily close to signing any of them. Legal tampering begins at midnight, which essentially means free-agency starts as teams can start talking to agents.

The latest rumor involving the Patriots has to do with two cornerbacks that were some cap casualty.

The Patriots are hot on cornerbacks. Been told they've inquired about Derek Cox and Chris Gamble.
— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) March 9, 2013

Derek Cox of the Jaguars and Chris Gamble of the Panthers that is. Either would be a huge upgrade for the Patriots' secondary, whose best player under contract right now is maybe Devin McCourty. Alfonzo Dennard is facing serious jail time (though I highly doubt he'll be jailed) and he could miss time.

We wrote about Chris Gamble here but Derek Cox is another intriguing and realistic name. Cox has been in the league for four years and has 12 interceptions and 32 passes defensed. Those numbers aren't as good as Devin McCourty's in three years per se, but Cox is definitely someone that could help the Pats back there.

It seems like the Pats may have lucked out because there are just so many quality corner backs out on the market now. Undoubtedly, they will inquire about all of them.