According to the National Football Post, the Patriots have recently worked out former Jacksonville defensive end Paul Spicer and ex-Denver defensive tackle Matthias Askew.

Spicer enjoyed his greatest success with the Jaguars in 2005. (AP)

The 34-year-old Spicer is 6-foot-4 and 295 pounds, and has bounced around professional football for the better part of the decade, playing in the NFL, CFL and NFL Europe. An undrafted free agent who started his professional career with the Seahawks in 1998, his best season came in 2005 with the Jaguars when he accumulated 37 tackles (30 solo), 7.5 sacks, and two pass deflections. In his 10-year career in the NFL, he has 252 tackles, 28 1/2 sacks and one interception. Spicer was cut by New Orleans on Sept. 5 during the final major roster cutdown.

Askew is a 27-year-old defensive tackle who was taken in the fourth round of the 2004 draft out of Michigan State. At 6-foot-5 and 302 pounds, he too has bounced around the league, going from Cincinnati to Washington to Denver, where the Broncos waived him as part of their final cuts before the start of the 2009 season.

It’s clear that the Patriots are interested in adding some depth to their defensive line — these decisions come in the wake of New England having free agent defensive tackle Antwan Lake in for a workout earlier this week.

Spicer does have an interesting history with Bill Belichick and the Patriots. In the wake of the “Spygate” scandal in 2007, Spicer was one of New England’s more vocal critics, telling The Associated Press that the Patriots shouldn’t have been allowed to qualify for the playoffs because of what happened.

“Do like the NCAA and kick them out of the playoffs or something,” Spicer said after news of the scandal broke. “Put them on probation; they can’t go to no playoff games. Roger Goodell has definitely enforced some new rules. He’s been hard on players. Now let’s see how hard he’s going to be with a team.

“This ain’t news. I’ve heard it in the past. They finally got caught. The Patriots got caught. They’re busted,” he added.