With the Patriots’ sudden departure from the playoffs Sunday, the offseason now is in full swing in New England. Adam Schefter of ESPN checked in with Dennis & Callahan on Friday to discuss potential personnel changes in Foxboro in the wake of Dean Pees’ departure and the potential of Floyd Reese heading west.

Schefter also discussed the future, or lack thereof, for Adalius Thomas in New England and said the Patriots face a difficult decision with Matt Light.

“It’s not easy because you got a guy that’s been so important to the franchise for so long who is so instrumental,” Schefter said. “But Sebastian Vollmer showed that he’s got a future there, and at some point you make a decision.”

The NFL insider also looked ahead to this weekend’s divisional playoff games and said that Baltimore is the team that could make some noise playing the well-rested Colts.

Following is a transcript. To listen to the interview, click on the Dennis & Callahan audio on demand page.

Will there be a new front office guy and a new coordinator in New England next year?

I honestly don’t have the answers to that this morning, I could certainly make a couple calls on that. When I have answers I like to give you guys answers and that particular one I don’t have any specifics for. I think there are going to see some changes in Foxboro this offseason. I think there is no secret about that, but I don’t know what direction they are going to go right now. Whether they go hire a college coordinator that trains in that organization and learns NFL defenses or if they turn some trusted NFL defensive guy. I don’t know if there are very many of them out there. Al Groh is going to take the defensive coordinator job at Georgia Tech today, so he’s not out there for Bill Parcells or Bill Belichick or anyone else that would want to hire him. He’s going to be in the college game. Keith Butler interviewed with the Miami Dolphins this weekend and I don’t think Miami is going to hire him. Romeo [Crennel] is in Kansas City and Perry Fewell is in New York with the Giants. What other big guys are out there right now, I don’t know.

How much has the loss of personnel in the front office and on the sidelines affected the Patriots?

There are a lot of talented people that have impacted that organization in a positive way and have left there for various reasons for good chances elsewhere. I think that there is no way that it can’t impact you. The question is: How much? If New England goes in and wins last week, we aren’t even discussing this. With one loss in a playoff game these questions are raised validly, I get it, and you begin to wonder how much their departures have had [an effect]. All I can tell you really is that its time to groom young people like the Matt Patricias of the world, who wouldn’t surprise me if he became the defensive coordinator and they added some more young people to being grooming to take the place of Matt Patricia when he grows up or becomes a head coach at some point and time. That type of thing. That is always a logical route to follow in these kinds of situations. They’ve done a great job of hiring people and it’s harder to keep those people when you’ve had the success that they’ve had.

Will there be a number of veterans cut after the Super Bowl?

I don’t see that. We are heading towards an uncapped year and teams are being very careful in the way they spend money, there is no question about that. If you have productive young players, why are you going to let them go? In an uncapped year that we are heading into you have a situation where players who would be free agents after four years in the league now have to wait until six years. The pool of free agents will be tremendously diluted.

What about players like Adalius Thomas and Matt Light?

I don’t care what the situation is in 2011. I think Adalius Thomas would have had a hard time being their next year anyway period. That is unrelated to any of the financial situations period. In this league you produce, you get paid. You don’t produce, you don’t get to keep your job. If you watch what happened there this year, as you guys did, I don’t think anyone can look at that and say, “Oh, yeah, Adalius Thomas is coming back next year for the money they pay him.” That wasn’t going to happen, I don’t think, so it doesn’t surprise me.

With Matt Light it’s a situation where the Patriots have done a pretty good job of pulling the plug on veteran players at the right time. It’s not easy because you’ve got a guy that’s been so important to the franchise for so long who’s so instrumental, but Sebastian Vollmer showed that he’s got a future there and some point you make a decision. Left tackles are hard to come by so it’s hard for me to see him just leaving or just letting him go, but it’s something they are going to sit down and assess, but they will make whatever they believe is the best decision.

Which team faces the most pressure this week?

I think Wade [Phillips] is back next year. That question has kind of gone out the window, at least that’s my sense of that situation. It’s hard to imagine, with the financial uncertainty, that they are going to go out and spend on a new big-name head coach. I just don’t see that happening, I think he’s back. We will find out whether the Colts made the right decision. The Chargers played their guys for a little while there in the regular-season finale, to me it’s the dangerous part of facing these wild card teams, they are rolling. They are a little sore and beaten up, but they’ve got momentum, they’ve got the rhythm. Indianapolis shut everything down so we haven’t seen them in three or four weeks now. They’ve lost five straight divisional home playoff games, and that’s been their operating procedure. The one year they won the Super Bowl they played their players. It’s pretty simple to me. I know I’m not out there and I know I’m not nursing aches and pains, but if I were a coach and my philosophy has never changed on this, early on I thought it was important to rest your people, but I’ve seen way too many teams lose their rhythm, their mojo, their confidence, their swagger. To me, you keep playing, you keep playing, that’s how it goes. Indy didn’t do it and I guess we are going to find out tomorrow night whether they were right or wrong. I think Indy will win the game, I don’t feel certain about it. I like their chances to win and I guess if they do they will be validated at that point. I just don’t like resting players.

Who might pull off the shocker out of Arizona, Baltimore and the Jets?

You don’t consider Dallas in that category?

No.

I think the winner of that game will end up going to the Super Bowl in the NFC out of Dallas and Minnesota, that’s my feeling on that. Of the Jets, Ravens and Cardinals, I don’t like the Cardinals to go across the country on a short week and do that. The Jets intrigue me some, believe it or not, but it’s hard to see anyone staying up with San Diego there right now. So if you are going to pick one, you pick Baltimore. No team has won more road playoff games this decade then the Ravens. They won two of them last year. They’ve already won one of them this year. You are telling me they don’t think they can go into Indy and beat the Colts.

Peyton Manning has a losing record at 7-8.

No question about it.

What about San Diego?

I was actually open-minded that they were prime to be beat. I really think New England, and this is not going to make anyone feel better and it surely wouldn’t look this way with the way the Patriots played last week, but I really think New England could have gone in there and pulled the upset, I really do. You look at the Chargers and the way they played this year, they’ve been tremendous, but they also to me are vulnerable, like every team, that’s not anything new. You take a look at their rankings, they are 16th in the league in total defense, 11th in the league in points per game given up. Those are shaky numbers. Those are numbers that say to me that they are vulnerable. If a team plays a good, tough game against them I think they can be beat. This is a team that struggled to beat Cleveland. I just don’t look at them as invincible. They are a very good team, don’t get me wrong, but they are not invincible.

Does Pete Carroll have ultimate control of the Seattle Seahawks?

I think Pete Carroll has made it very clear that he would never leave unless he had complete control over everything. They are not going to say that. They are not going to say, “Oh yeah, he’s got control.” It’s not going to come down like that. I think we would all be naïve and ignorant to think that it would be anything different. He’s the face of the franchise. It’s his ship to steer and run. They’ll hire a GM and they will say certain things, but it’s his deal.

Who’s the pre-eminent free agent this offseason?

There are a few guys out there that to me are interesting types of players. There are restricted guys and unrestricted guys, and there is a huge difference between the two. You look at a guy like Marcus McNeill of San Diego, Tony Brown [of the Titans], but they are both not at the six-year mark. That changes the whole dynamic. There are not a ton of six year free agents. There is no Albert Haynseworth like figure that is going into their sixth year. There are a ton of guys in their fourth and the fifth year, but the guys in the sixth year don’t really exist. There’s Ryan Clark, the Steelers safety, a very good player, but not the headline grabber that we are talking about.

Vince Wilfork and Benjamin Watson [could be out there].

[Terrel Owens] is an unrestricted free agent, if that floats your boat.

Any pass-rushers or left corners?

It’s going to be a different market. You may see, Shawne Merriman is out there, you may see a team try and make a run at him and try and sign him to an offer sheet knowing that San Diego has got all these players out there and they can’t keep all of them. So with restricted free agency you can sign him, but are you willing to give up a one and a one for Shawne Merriman? You tell me.

If he’s clean, forget it.

If you’re willing to give up more than a [third-round pick] then you have a chance to get a guy like that. I think that’s where free agency is going to go this year. You’ll have restricted guys signed to some offer sheets and you might have to give up some picks for him maybe.

What’s [Raiders coach] Tom Cable’s future?

I don’t expect Tom Cable to be back next year. The question is when [Al Davis] gets rid of him. They met yesterday and they are scheduled to meet again today. The question is whether or not it all gets done. There are very few people I know that think Tom Cable will be back there next year.

Who wins more football games next season, [Mike] Shanahan in Washington or Carroll in Seattle?

Seattle is in a position to me where I think this will end up being Kurt Warner’s last year in Arizona, and if that’s the case you are looking at a division where St. Louis is not very good, Arizona is going to be without Kurt Warner and that changes the whole game for them, San Francisco is a good team but you don’t look at them as a great team. So the division is very, very weak. It’s a good question. That division is weak. I think Mike will wind up going 9-7 [or] 10-6.

Really, that’s more than Seattle then.

Do you think Seattle is getting there? I don’t know. I’ll still say the Redskins, but that division really gives Pete Carroll a chance.