Earlier tonight, Tom Curran of CSN New England reported that the New England Patriots and San Diego Chargers were in preliminary talks involving Vincent Jackson and Logan Mankins, two unsigned restricted free agents.

"Talks are preliminary at this point but the idea of the Patriots acquiring Jackson in exchange for Logan Mankins is in play", Curran wrote.

I was skeptical of San Diego's interest in Mankins, and Curran has updated his post to state that the Chargers are not, in fact, interested in acquiring Mankins from New England. (A second and third in 2011 would likely suit A.J. Smith just fine, I'm sure.)

Via Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald, Mankins' agent got a kick out of the report.

"I think that’s totally insane," Frank Bauer tells Rapport. "I don’t pay attention to rumors, so I didn’t hear it. But who knows? The Patriots do strange things...Whatever, there is so much crap out there. Until it all (shakes out), you don’t know. But to answer your question, that’s totally ludicrous."