Breer: Vrabel says the Pats will approach the offseason getting younger, cheaper, & better options

[WhatJustHappened]

He's decent from what I see, He and Pitts will be the get.. neither are great imo.

 

[Gumby]

I'm seeing multiple posts on Twitter and Reddit about Isaiah Likely, a TE from Baltimore. I don't follow the NFL as closely as I used to, really just watch Pats games when I can.

I looked at his stats and some highlight reels from Youtube. He looks kinda pedestrian, and his career high is 42 catches. However, almost all the posts I've seen are excited that he might be interested in coming back to MA (apparently he liked some post talking about the Pats or something).

Anyone here know this TE?

He's decent from what I see, He and Pitts will be the get.. neither are great imo.

Here…… 11 pages of Likely discussion.
Isaiah Likely - Future Patriot?
There are a couple of fans. Lots of skeptics or I prefer….insert name here…..[posters]

TEs definitely need an upgrade. I tend toward the BB approach [in THIS case] : throw **** at Wall & See what sticks….

That means
A. spend a 3d or 4th rounder (at least) on one,
B. dip into FA market w SOMEBODY (availability dependent - no one obvious to me)
C. Retain what you got
—-> and let them fight it out in TC,
Then trade the scraps if you can before cutdowns and get some value back.

 

[Real fan 02]

Hawkins had his moments in coverage. Both good moments and bad ones.

I’m in on Devin Lloyd.

He did. Fair point. He wants to be here and the team wants him as well.. we draft a FS and develop him..but need continuity.. 3 year deal for Hawkins I say.. Hawkins and Future all pro Woodson are a good due.

 

[Real fan 02]

Jaylen Hawkins isn't anywhere near "one of the best safeties the league". He was by far the weakest link in the secondary, and Seattle exploited the hell out of him. Hell, Denver did too on Stidham's long pass. That wasn't on Gonzalez. Hawkins bit on nothing and got absolutely tourched. He was supposed to be the deep help on that play. It happened dozens of times this season. It just wasn't terminal because the corners were absolutely elite, and Woodson turned out to *actually* be one of the best safeties in the league by year's end.

@TommyD4207 @ViperGTS

2026 NFL Free Agent Rankings: Safeties

As the 2025–26 NFL season comes to a close, free agency is coming into focus, and teams are beginning to evaluate potential targets to address roster deficiencies. Here are the top safeties slated to hit free agency in 2026.

www.pff.com

 

[Huckleberry1]

I'm seeing multiple posts on Twitter and Reddit about Isaiah Likely, a TE from Baltimore. I don't follow the NFL as closely as I used to, really just watch Pats games when I can.

I looked at his stats and some highlight reels from Youtube. He looks kinda pedestrian, and his career high is 42 catches. However, almost all the posts I've seen are excited that he might be interested in coming back to MA (apparently he liked some post talking about the Pats or something).

Anyone here know this TE?

Yes, he's incredibly overrated, and wouldn't be worth free agent money. They can get a better TE on day 3 of the draft.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Henry ran into some drop problems in December and all the way through the playoffs. He already was a pretty poor blocker, so I can see why there might be some people wanting him gone.

I'm certainly concerned by the drop issues. If you can't catch and you can't block...

I agree he doesn't block, but the drops were an ansmoly, he's been really clutch for Maye and doesn't cost that much. Any savings would be less than the hole they would create.

 

[Gumby]

@TommyD4207 @ViperGTS

2026 NFL Free Agent Rankings: Safeties

As the 2025–26 NFL season comes to a close, free agency is coming into focus, and teams are beginning to evaluate potential targets to address roster deficiencies. Here are the top safeties slated to hit free agency in 2026.

www.pff.com

I don’t understand their rankings & ratings.
Ex: Peppers w a 90 and then nr 5.
not sure I agree w their ratings, but PFF -who does
nor do I understand the inconsistency of their rankings vis-a-vis ratings

Anyway seems like a lot more FA S then I realized.
Hawkins at 8 ….AMONG FAs… doesn’t even necessarily put him in top 30 of ALL (under contract/ FA/draft prospects) S.

 

[Real fan 02]

I don’t understand their rankings & ratings.
Ex: Peppers w a 90 and then nr 5.
not sure I agree w their ratings, but PFF -who does
nor do I understand the inconsistency of their rankings vis-a-vis ratings

Anyway seems like a lot more FA S then I realized.
Hawkins at 8 ….AMONG FAs… doesn’t even necessarily put him in top 30 of ALL (under contract/ FA/draft prospects) S.

Yes... same here.. that's why I put up who they ranked as available FA at safety don't under thier rankings and how they rank players.. TommyD4207 has touched on this as well...

 

[PatsFanInVa]

I'm seeing multiple posts on Twitter and Reddit about Isaiah Likely, a TE from Baltimore. I don't follow the NFL as closely as I used to, really just watch Pats games when I can.

I looked at his stats and some highlight reels from Youtube. He looks kinda pedestrian, and his career high is 42 catches. However, almost all the posts I've seen are excited that he might be interested in coming back to MA (apparently he liked some post talking about the Pats or something).

Anyone here know this TE?

So, I think it goes back to the cap, and the fact both are in contract years. HH is responsible for the second most production among our pass catchers.

Here are HH's contract numbers since 2022

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/player/_/id/18983/hunter-henry

He cost $27 million for 3 years ($15.8 million fully guaranteed money) including 2026.

In 2026, he costs just under $12 million including LTBE incentives.

The cap is projected to be $301m to $305m per team.

That puts HH at 1/25th of the team cap money. I think he's worth that, as the team's no. 2 receiver. Perhaps the real trouble is that in 27 he might want more.

Looking at Likely, he's had very low paychecks to date...

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/player/_/id/77016/isaiah-likely

He's on the last year of a 4-year, $4m contract.

Here are his '24-'25 stats:

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/player/statistics/_/id/77016/isaiah-likely

cutting to the chase, in '24 he caught 6 TD passes, 42 rec. for 477 yards
in '25, he caught 27 for 307 yards and 1 TD

I'll let the Likely partisans advocate... I think the idea is he'll want a big payday for him, in the range of what HH has been getting for 3 years...and HH will, we assume, want more money in 2027.

I don't know whether they like the idea of the slightly inferior production at a lower price tag, or whether they believe Likely's potential will have a higher upside with Drake than with Lamar. Another chapter in the famous Drake/Lamar beef.

HH's production in '25:

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/player/statistics/_/id/18983/hunter-henry

60 catches, 768 yards, 7 TDs, and by the way played 79.8% of snaps.

Both Henry and Likely appear to snag about 2/3 of what's thrown them, just eyeballing the recent catches to targets.

The site I'm quoting for the rest of this info says Likely has a calculated market value of $8.8 million.

So, there are some numbers to chew on. I'd love to bring in Likely at $8.8M per year for a couple or three years and therefore have both for a year. Then if HH really wants to hit a jackpot, if LIkely is doing the job and HH is exorbitant, then we let HH go. Yes, it's cap spend for "just in case," but we've done that in spades with tight ends before.

Meanwhile... I don't claim to have factored in their relative blocking skills.

Here's old man Austin Hooper's stat page, which again is about the receiving, not blocking, dimension.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/player/statistics/_/id/19035/austin-hooper

Useable in a pinch, definitely, but another notch down from Likely, by the numbers.

 

[upstater1]

He did. Fair point. He wants to be here and the team wants him as well.. we draft a FS and develop him..but need continuity.. 3 year deal for Hawkins I say.. Hawkins and Future all pro Woodson are a good due.

Woodson is a rookie so he gets a lot of grace. The team needs a huge upgrade at Hawkins's spot since he is frequently the weakest link out there. He is lost and doesn't have the instincts for the position. If you're going to give this guy $8m (as some are suggesting) you are much much better off giving a better player $12-13m. Now that would be a force multiplier signing.

 

[upstater1]

Jaylen Hawkins isn't anywhere near "one of the best safeties the league". He was by far the weakest link in the secondary, and Seattle exploited the hell out of him. Hell, Denver did too on Stidham's long pass. That wasn't on Gonzalez. Hawkins bit on nothing and got absolutely tourched. He was supposed to be the deep help on that play. It happened dozens of times this season. It just wasn't terminal because the corners were absolutely elite, and Woodson turned out to *actually* be one of the best safeties in the league by year's end.

Yes, and it's almost worse than what you write here.

He doesn't know the plays and his instincts are terrible. He's been here 3 years and although the coaching never helped him in his 2nd year, he's had miscue after big miscue.

I would want to cut him a break sometimes by saying perhaps he relies too much on Gonzalez by cheating away from him or he's really worried about Woodson because Woodson is a rookie, but one of our old coaches used to say, "Do your job!" That's it. If Woodson can't hack it, that's on the coaches. Not your concern. Your job is to know the defense your playing and your assignment, not to do the crazy things you do regularly. He so frequently makes the wrong read and gets caught out of position, it's super frustrating.

 

[Real fan 02]

Woodson is a rookie so he gets a lot of grace. The team needs a huge upgrade at Hawkins's spot since he is frequently the weakest link out there. He is lost and doesn't have the instincts for the position. If you're going to give this guy $8m (as some are suggesting) you are much much better off giving a better player $12-13m. Now that would be a force multiplier signing.

Good points. Just for clarification.. Hawkins isn't the end all be at all.. if we could upgrade at that spot sure go for it.. don't believe that guys in FA..this FA period.. sure we can draft a guy.. but he will need to develop.. thst draft pick likely won't be better than Hawkins a veteran who fits perfectly in the system for now..

So it may not be the best option but Hawkins had stretches he played well and stretches he gave up plays.. so I see he remaining maybe a 2 year deal perhaps..

 

[upstater1]

Good points. Just for clarification.. Hawkins isn't the end all be at all.. if we could upgrade at that spot sure go for it.. don't believe that guys in FA..this FA period.. sure we can draft a guy.. but he will need to develop.. thst draft pick likely won't be better than Hawkins a veteran who fits perfectly in the system for now..

So it may not be the best option but Hawkins had stretches he played well and stretches he gave up plays.. so I see he remaining maybe a 2 year deal perhaps..

I see him as a very weak link. The whole defense improves massively with even a minor upgrade. He's giving you minimum production out there. If Kevin Byard is available, I might suggest him instead for the min.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

Draft. Hawkins is fine for depth, but he's a dime a dozen. I trust Cowden and Highsmith to identify a safety in the draft like they did with Woodson.

Even if they identify him, no guarantee they get him. You might be left empty handed if someone scoops him up before you take him. There's no crystal ball to where every other team values a guy. Teams get some level of intel but it's not perfect.

And even after they took Woodson, they still kept guys to compete with him in camp. Job wasn't handed to him. It's very likely that they sign some type of veteran safety even if they still draft someone they hope beats him out. Hawkins is a great candidate for that because of familiar and not wanting to pay more for someone outside.

The 3 years, $20M deal you balked at is $6.67M/year. Spotrac (https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/contracts/_/position/s) would have that as the 27th highest AAV for a safety on current contracts. There are 32 starting safeties in the NFL so that's near the bottom. And it's also tough to really judge a contract without knowing guarantees and structure. But on the surface, Hawkins for 3 years, $20M seems like exactly the tpye of deal they'd sign if they wanted to draft his replacement because you need a stop gap if the rookie isn't ready or insurance if you're guy gets taken and that's a very cheap contract for a starting safety in today's market.

 

[Real fan 02]

I see him as a very weak link. The whole defense improves massively with even a minor upgrade. He's giving you minimum production out there. If Kevin Byard is available, I might suggest him instead for the min.

Byard is what 32? Or somewhere in the vicinity? Need youth there.. Need an established player next to Woodson.. additionally he would be a good veteran depth option as he became on all pro under Vrabel in 2019 at S.. there just isn't many " viable "options in FA.. the teams better off protecting themselves with signing Hawkins and adding depth at S and drafting one...

Also the edge rush will likely be significantly better that in turn will help the secondary.. there's not a secondary in the NFL who doesn't have a weak link.. look a Denver.. thier safeties aren't world beaters.. but they are aided heavily by their ferocious pass rush..

 

[Hugepatsfan]

I'm seeing multiple posts on Twitter and Reddit about Isaiah Likely, a TE from Baltimore. I don't follow the NFL as closely as I used to, really just watch Pats games when I can.

I looked at his stats and some highlight reels from Youtube. He looks kinda pedestrian, and his career high is 42 catches. However, almost all the posts I've seen are excited that he might be interested in coming back to MA (apparently he liked some post talking about the Pats or something).

Anyone here know this TE?

Likely is the quintessential "move TE" skill set wise. The production hasn't been top tier, as you mentioned, but that's the style of game he plays. Weaker blocker but positional alignment versatility, YAC ability and matchup problems for the defense. That's what his play style/skill set is.

He's going to be 26 next year. A big part of any team signing him would probably be the belief that his next 4 years will be better than his last 4 production wise. That happens for a lot of players as they get into those prime years and their role is expanded on a new team. BAL runs a lot of 2 TE sets but he's the #2 behind Mark Andrews who has been an elite player for a long time. The Ravens are a run first team (even when Lamar through 41 TDs he barely cracked 4K yards which isn't a ton in today's game and he's only even thrown for over 3K yards that time and one other.

if you project Likely to a role here, we played a lot of 2 TE sets too. But we project to be a higher volume passing team than BAL does. If you sign him it would be because you're banking on his role here being bigger than it was in BAL and him havign the ability to grow into that as he hits his prime.

The example you're probably looking for would be Martellus Bennet. He was a TE2 behind Witten in DAL and had limited production his first 4 years. Then in NYG, CHI and eventually here he had his role expanded and he stepped up. With Likely you'd sort of be trying to catch some of that where the role you have for the player allows him to "break out".

 

[Real fan 02]

Even if they identify him, no guarantee they get him. You might be left empty handed if someone scoops him up before you take him. There's no crystal ball to where every other team values a guy. Teams get some level of intel but it's not perfect.

And even after they took Woodson, they still kept guys to compete with him in camp. Job wasn't handed to him. It's very likely that they sign some type of veteran safety even if they still draft someone they hope beats him out. Hawkins is a great candidate for that because of familiar and not wanting to pay more for someone outside.

The 3 years, $20M deal you balked at is $6.67M/year. Spotrac (https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/contracts/_/position/s) would have that as the 27th highest AAV for a safety on current contracts. There are 32 starting safeties in the NFL so that's near the bottom. And it's also tough to really judge a contract without knowing guarantees and structure. But on the surface, Hawkins for 3 years, $20M seems like exactly the tpye of deal they'd sign if they wanted to draft his replacement because you need a stop gap if the rookie isn't ready or insurance if you're guy gets taken and that's a very cheap contract for a starting safety in today's market.

Excellent post. We have to keep the continuity with what we have built up. We don't need to disrupt this.. we can still retain guys and add talent and depth..both is possible. We are an advantageous position that many team would love to be in...

 

[upstater1]

Byard is what 32? Or somewhere in the vicinity? Need youth there.. Need an established player next to Woodson.. additionally he would be a good veteran depth option as he became on all pro under Vrabel in 2019 at S.. there just isn't many " viable "options in FA.. the teams better off protecting themselves with signing Hawkins and adding depth at S and drafting one...

Also the edge rush will likely be significantly better that in turn will help the secondary.. there's not a secondary in the NFL who doesn't have a weak link.. look a Denver.. thier safeties aren't world beaters.. but they are aided heavily by their ferocious pass rush..

I'm just talking about having someone for next year.

If you want to develop one, I'd suggest a 3rd or 4th rounder on one of K Ramsey, Bud Clark or Michael Taafe. You can develop them as they learn behind a vet.

 

[Real fan 02]

I'm just talking about having someone for next year.

If you want to develop one, I'd suggest a 3rd or 4th rounder on one of K Ramsey, Bud Clark or Michael Taafe. You can develop them as they learn behind a vet.

Understand.. I'm open to anything that makes the team better.. what we need is continuing the continuity from this season.. as we've seen over the years.. guys may not been world beaters but they fit the scheme, the culture and don't screw up the game plan..

 

[upstater1]

Understand.. I'm open to anything that makes the team better.. what we need is continuing the continuity from this season.. as we've seen over the years.. guys may not been world beaters but they fit the scheme, the culture and don't screw up the game plan..

I'm 100% in favor of continuity. But this is a player that screws up the game plan so I wouldn't want to spend $21m over 3 yrs for him