1. I would love to see the Patriots surprise me over the next couple of weeks and go big. Of course, there are plenty of reasons to expect they won’t (the economy, the looming changes in the Collective Bargaining Agreement and Matt Cassel’s onerous franchise charge, to name three), but you never know with this team. All I do know is that whenever they’ve been bold, they’ve killed it, setting themselves up for championships (2003 with Rosevelt Colvin, Rodney Harrison, Ted Washington and Tyrone Poole) and perfect seasons (2007 with Adalius Thomas, Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Donte Stallworth and Sammy Morris) whenever they’ve paid for high-end talent.

According to NFL.com, the Pats have just $3.2 million in spending room right now, the second-lowest figure in the league. So the Cassel domino would have to fall and his $14.6 million cap charge shipped out before anything big took place. Or maybe it would be part of the deal. For example, there have been some fun rumors regarding a swap involving Cassel and Carolina’s franchised, four-time Pro Bowl defensive end Julius Peppers, which would be a move of maximum sex appeal, not to mention functionality. The Pats desperately need to upgrade their defense in general and their third-down play in particular, and Peppers does both overnight. The Panthers need a quarterback after Jake Delhomme’s playoff debacle and Cassel would actually come cheaper than Peppers ($16.7 million tag). The Panthers, at $1.9 under the cap, have the least amount of spending room in the league.

You following me? Peppers wants to stand up in the 3-4. The Pats need playmakers. Give the Panthers the tagged Cassel, take the tagged Peppers and reassess after the season as the league heads into an uncapped landscape in 2010. Maybe Peppers is an expensive rental. (would the Pats do that?) Maybe he’s a longer term consideration. I’d do it either way.

I know, I know. Dream on.

But hey, that’s what this time of year is for.

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2. I have only one request of the Pats this free agency season: Don’t suck.

They don’t have to land Peppers or Albert Haynesworth or Ray Lewis or Bart Scott (he’d be nice, actually) or T.J. Houshmandzadeh (he’d be devastating in this offense, actually). But can they please just not do what they did last year? Every one of the Pats’ 2008 free agents came at or near the veteran minimum, and the result was a hodgepodge of players that defined the term “you get what you pay for.” The carnage: Deltha O’Neal, Fernando Bryant, Sam Aiken, Jason Webster, Lewis Sanders, Tank Williams, Victor Hobson, Marcus Pollard, Oliver Ross, Anthony Clement, John Lynch and LaMont Jordan.

No one is saying the Pats shouldn’t take some flyers and bring in some minimum-level fodder. Every team does that. There’s nothing to lose and you might get lucky. The problem comes when that’s the ONLY thing you do. The Pats did virtually the same thing in 2006 (a class “headlined” by Reche Caldwell), and it may have cost them the Super Bowl. You’d hate to see them go back to that approach with Brady presumably coming back and the defense having played as badly as it ever has under Belichick in 2008.

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3. Can Belichick regain some personnel magic at the Pats’ greatest place of need, the secondary? We’ll see.

Since the Pats’ last championship season in 2004, they’ve thrown a lot of cheap bodies at a lot of holes, and nothing has stuck. A partial list of the failures includes Michael Stone, Chad Scott, Antuan Edwards, Eric Warfield, Tebucky Jones (for a second tour), Tory James, Tank Williams, Bryant, O’Neal, Webster, Sanders and Duane Starks (who actually cost them some coin, over $3 million guaranteed, plus a third-round pick). The draft has been similarly barren, although there is great hope for safety Brandon Meriweather, and Terrence Wheatley and Jonathan Wilhite showed some signs last year.

Let’s see if the Pats try and improve matters this month of if they simply wait for the draft and rely on the development of the young guys.

Veteran DeAngelo Hall is someone the Pats had interest in after his release from Oakland midway through last season and Washington may not be able to get him back. Perhaps there’s another opportunity there. Veteran safety Brian Dawkins of Philadelphia would sure seem like a good veteran fit if Rodney Harrison didn’t come back.

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4. Can’t say that I sense any great worry out there over losing any of the Pats’ pending free agents, a list including safety James Sanders, defensive lineman Mike Wright, fullback Heath Evans receiver Jabar Gaffney and long snapper Lonie Paxton.

Harrison is also a free agent, but since he hasn’t specified whether he’s even returning to the NFL or not, his status is very much up in the air. If he comes back to the Pats as anything more than a role player, that’s probably bad news.

Felger can be seen nightly on Comcast Sportsnet and reached at mfelger@weei.com.