One week after trading Randy Moss back to Minnesota, the New England Patriots re-acquired wide receiver Deion Branch from the Seattle Seahawks, league sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

The Patriots sent the Seahawks a 2011 fourth-round draft pick for Branch, who is expected to be in Foxboro, Mass., on Tuesday to begin preparations for Sunday's game against the Baltimore Ravens, the sources said.

Branch grew close to quarterback Tom Brady during their time together in New England and the two remained friends after the Patriots traded Branch to Seattle for a first-round draft pick before the 2006 season after a contract dispute.

This has been rumored for at least a week, but a fourth is a bit of a surprise compared to the third they got for Randy Moss. It remains to be seen what kind of role Branch will have and how it will affect popular pickup Brandon Tate. Branch is worth a flier in 12+ team leagues, but isn't someone you will be able to count on for at least a couple of weeks, and even then is probably a WR3 at best.

For the Seahawks, this opens the door for more snaps for Golden Tate and Deon Butler.

A few days ago, we told you about the Patriots interest in former star receiver Deion Branch, with the end result being that nothing much was doing. It all kinda died down.

Guess what?

It’s time to start paying attention again with relation to Branch and the Patriots. It is not clear if anything is imminent or even likely… but I have been told to keep a close eye on it starting now… again. So, you should, too.

Branch was not at Seahawks practice today, excused for apparent personal reasons. We’ll see if that was the case, but if a trade was in the works, it wouldn’t make sense for him to risk injury and practice.

The former Super Bowl MVP, who has dealt with several surgeries over the years, has 13 catches for 112 yards and one score. Stay tuned…

One receiver is gone, but another may be interested in a return to the Patriots.

Deion Branch, who played in New England from 2002-05, and was named MVP of Super Bowl XXXIX, was to meet with Seahawks general manager John Schneider about his future with the team, according to a league source. The Patriots traded Branch to Seattle in 2006 for a first-round draft pick, but Branch has struggled to fit in and has been hampered by knee injuries.

This season, he has 13 catches for 112 yards and one touchdown, but is part of a deep receiving corps, including the recently signed Brandon Stokley. Last season, Branch had 45 receptions for 437 yards and two touchdowns in 14 games, the most he has played since his first season in Seattle.

The source added that Tom Brady, knowing that the trade of Randy Moss was in the works, has been in touch with Branch frequently over the last week or so, talking to him about coming back to the Patriots.

As recently as this year, Branch has said he would return to New England if the opportunity presented itself.

The Patriots have looked into the possibility of dealing for Chargers wide receiver Vincent Jackson, a source confirmed Thursday night.

Talks are preliminary at this point but the idea of the Patriots acquiring Jackson in exchange for Logan Mankins is in play.

Mankins and Jackson are in identical contractual situations. They are restricted free agents in their fifth seasons in the league. Had the expiring CBA not intervened, both would have been free agents last offseason. Both men have opted to sit out rather than play for their tender offers.

Jackson, a 2009 Pro Bowl alternate, was placed on the roster exempt list by San Diego in the offseason. He will have to sit out three games if and when he's traded.

According to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune, the asking price for Jackson is a second and third-round pick to an NFC; a first and a second to an AFC team.

Again, it's early in the process and the Patriots are exploring several possibilities for shoring up their receiver corps in the wake of the Randy Moss deal. How serious their conversations are, we'll soon find out.

It's a steep price to pay for an AFC team, but is more in line with a move the Patriots would make - compared to rumors of them going after Deion Branch of Seattle.

Update on Deion Branch: Seattle is certainly trying to ship him out by the deadline, the Herald learned. But nothing doing with Pats now.

I've been told of possibility Deion Branch could be traded from Seahawks to the Patriots.

Seahawks Inactives
Kennard Cox DB
Evan Dietrich-Smith OG
Anthony McCoy TE
Nate Ness DB
Russell Okung T
Chester Pitts T
Golden Tate WR
E.J. Wilson DE

Rookie WR Golden Tate is a bit of a surprising inactive. Look for Deion Branch and Mike X Williams to start at wide out.

Deon Butler caught 15 passes last season, not quite the return Seattle was hoping for when it traded up in the draft order to acquire him -- giving up a 2010 third-round pick.

And with the regime change in Seattle, there was some question where he fit in the future. After all, he's a 5-foot-10 receiver with straightaway speed. It didn't help that when coach Pete Carroll was asked about Butler over the course of the three-day draft, his answer indicated he thought the question was about Deion Branch.

Well, Carroll cleared that up. Toward the end of the offseason workouts, Carroll said Butler made more progress than any receiver, and on Monday he showed that. Butler beat the defense over the top twice during the 11-on-11 team portion of the evening practice, catching what would have been touchdown passes from Matt Hasselbeck on both occasions.

If Branch cam remain healthy, he could be a great #3 WR in larger fantasy leagues.

There was a time when the interest between Terrell Owens and the Bengals was mutual, but that ship has sailed. Right now the courtship is one-sided.

For the last month people close to Owens have been talking about how much he wants to play for the Bengals. Owens even mentioned the Bengals during an Associated Press interview on Tuesday. His agent Drew Rosenhaus also mentioned Cincinnati during an interview on ESPN's NFL Live on Friday.

The Bengals keep being brought up for a variety of reasons - it's the only team he has visited so far during free agency, the friendship with Chad Ochocinco and Owens' desire to come to a team on the cusp of making a playoff run this year.

However, there are just as many reasons why the Bengals are unlikely to take a second look at Owens - the drafting of Jordan Shipley and Dez Briscoe, the signing of Antonio Bryant to a four-year, $28 million contract and the fact that Owens struggled in Buffalo last year with just 55 receptions.

While some fans are still dreaming of Ochocinco and Owens on the same team, those odds are even more remote after the drafting of two receivers. Shipley has the potential to become that clutch third-down inside receiver that was missing last year and Briscoe's knack for making the tough catches look routine at Kansas could give him the edge for one of the final two spots among the six receivers the team is expected to keep.

To Owens' credit, he did keep his mouth shut and said the right things during a frustrating year in Buffalo, but many still see him as a problem player throughout the league - a 37-year old problem player.

Rosenhaus also said on Friday that five teams have expressed an interest in Owens, including a new one that has "aggressively entered the picture." During the owners meetings in March, Rosenhaus said there were three teams. In either case, he's still unsigned.

By the time the season kicks off, Owens will be back in the league and don't be surprised to see him end up in Seattle. T.J. Houshmandzadeh (sports hernia) and Deion Branch (knee) are coming off surgeries with Golden Tate, Deon Butler and Mike Williams being the backups.

Another offseason, another left knee operation for Seattle Seahawks receiver Deion Branch.

Branch was back on the field this week for Seattle's final minicamp, doing individual drills. He didn't participate in any 11-on-11 activities. That will wait for another month when training camp begins, when Branch says he will be a full go with his left knee.

"I feel good. Last year [I] did the same thing and had it cleaned out," Branch said Wednesday after Seattle wrapped up its minicamp. "This year was probably a little lighter, not as intense as last year's surgery. It's just a normal clean out, nothing major. It's nothing that nobody is worried about."