The Patriots were among the teams sniffing around running back Ahmad Bradshaw, before he signed with the Colts last week.
Sights thus lowered, they added undrafted rookie running back George Winn Monday, according to Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald.
Winn had been in camp with the Texans, but was released after a rookie minicamp.
A one-year starter at Cincinnati, he was recruited by now-Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly — one of Bill Belichick’s friends in the business who was on hand for the Patriots minicamp last week.