FOXBORO — Patriots personnel director Nick Caserio stopped short of confirming the workouts for free agents T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Darren Sharper and Renaldo Hill but he did acknowledge the team has not changed the pace at which the team is looking at players and will continue to look for matches to needs the team has.

“I think you’re talking about apples and oranges,” Caserio said on Monday when asked if the team is more agressively pursuing free agents. “I actually went back and checked our notes from last year, we worked out the same amount of players at this time in training camp this year as we have in years past. So, we’re just doing our due diligence, we’re doing our homework, we’re trying to stay prepared, we’re trying to gather as much information as we can on the players and if there’s an opportunity that makes sense for us, then we’ll pursue it.”

Various reports have the Patriots looking at Houshmandzadeh, a veteran wideout who had success teaming with Chad Ochocinco in Cincinnati before leaving for Seattle and Baltimore after the 2008 season. Darren Sharper is a 35-year-old safety who most recently had success playing in the Saints defensive system while the 32-year-old Hill played last year for the Broncos.

“I’d say it’s standard operating prodedure,” Caserio said. “The guys that are here are working and they’re improving and they’re trying to get better on a day-to-day basis so we’re just trying to evaluate the market to the best of our ability and have as much information at our disposal as possible.”