Bill Belichick has just wrapped his annual pre-draft press conference, and was in a pretty chipper mood -- possibly because he is celebrating a birthday today.

He touched on a variety of topics during the session, including the new 10-minute limit for teams to make their first-round selections (down from 15), the so-called trade value chart, player visits and the advantages of having the seventh overall pick.

"We're plugging along," Belichick began. "We have a lot of loose ends, which is usually the way it is this time of year. We have a few last visits this week and then next week we'll talk draft strategy, scenarios that might come up."

Belichick said it will be interesting to see how the change from 15 minutes to 10 affects things, particularly when it comes to trades. He noted that teams are used to 10 minutes in the second round, but first-round trades often have more variables and must be submitted to the league to become official.

"We'll see how that goes. Having five minutes in rounds three through seven isn't too much of a problem. Most of those trades are pretty straightforward. (In the higher rounds) there are more complex trades, like we've been involved with. Last year with San Francisco, there was more negotiating. With first-round trades, there's more moving parts."

Friday is the deadline for teams to offer deals to restricted free agents, and Belichick said it is "still a possibility" that they'll make an offer. Though his name wasn't mentioned, Carolina linebacker Adam Seward would likely be the player who gets an offer from New England; the Panthers would then have a week to match the deal to keep Seward or would receive a fifth-round pick from the Pats in return.

Ever the historian, Belichick mentioned that this year's draft, where no fewer than five players have been mentioned as the potential number-one pick at some time or another, reminds him of the 1991 draft, when there was also no clear number-one pick.

When asked about New England's schedule and the possibility of the team remaining on the West Coast in between its Week 5 and 6 games and Weeks 14 and 15, he said that has been discussed and that the team is looking into the options for doing so.