Evaluating 25 FA signings at midseason mark:

[Ross12]

2 names stick out to me in next year's class on first glance:

1) BAL TE Isaiah Likely. Hooper is a FA and Henry getting up there in age. At 25 years old (26 next season), Likely gives you a good, solid option at the position to keep moving forward with. Plenty experienced in 2 TE sets too.

2) PHI LB Nakobe Dean. He broke out last year but he's just coming back now from a bad injury suffered in the playoffs. This is his "back up to speed year" so next year he should be back to top form. Another guy who will be 26 next year so you can sign him hoping he's a core starter moving forward.

I'd be surprised if they're overly active next year. They've done a good job of really stocking this roster with good baseline talent everywhere. They don't need to massively infuse the team with starters like they did last year. There aren't too many positions where they don't have an average starter so they can be selective and really pick out the young guys who actually improve the team now and are good guys to have moving forward.

Yeah, really they may benefit more from a couple big "splash" signings instead of a lot of smaller middle market signings. A big receiving threat, a premier guard, a top edge rusher, etc. Pair that with drafting in 2026 close to as well as they drafted in 2025 and they will have a pretty good roster.

 

[Joey007]

This is why I scoffed at the “you can’t fix a team in one year” commentator the hope to get close to .500 now and maybe make the playoffs in 2027 crowd.

54% of all snaps on offense this year are players who were not Patriots last year.
57% of all snaps on D are players who were not here last year.

We turned over and improved more than half of the roster in one off season.

Maye
Stevenson
Boutte
Henry
Onwenu

Gonzalez
Barmore
Jones

Kept their jobs.

We kept 8 very good players and replaced the rest. In one off season.
Others who were starters became backups.

This is a very quick turnaround league now.

Becoming a true Super Bowl contender takes a couple years. But becoming a playoff team? That can be flipped in an instant with the right QB.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

I keep trying not to have flashbacks to 2021, but then I see posts like yours...

How the New England Patriots spent $159.6 million over nine days to overhaul their roster

The Patriots shocked the NFL by throwing big money at big names in free agency. Here's an inside look at how it played out and why they did it.

www.espn.com

That was a nice offseason, still though almost instantly had buyers remorse on agholor and jonnu.

Judon was an incredible signing, our mvp for a couple seasons. Bourne and Henry were great additions, somewhat underrated to this day imo.

Im really suprised van noy’s second stint with bb didn’t go better though and he went on to do great with the ravens.

 

[Joey007]

I put Davis and Spillane in the “little pricey for what they are” category but Pats had to overpay last offseason until they proved to be a serious franchise again.

Bradbury and Diggs I actually feel we are getting a LOT more put of both than I expected.

Everyone else I largely agree.

My bigger issue is sunk cost contracts handed out to middling to subpar players who Wolfe paid like all-pros (Mondre, Onwenu, Duggar).

But…nothing you can do about that now other than ride it to conclusion.

Those contracts will heal soon enough. Onwenu is at least playing like a good starter despite the overpay. We’re getting something out of Rhamondre for now.

Dugger is the only major sunk cost.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

That looks familiar right?? That's how the past Dynasty did it: Vrabel was paying attention. Do you think we pull a Trade or stay Pat no pun??

I think we do some trades but not the splash type, stay the course and we hopefully complete this team next year. Im usually fine being liberal on 3rd and 4th rounders given the historic rates of actually hitting on those picks, but after this years draft id stay conservative and let most things play out.

Something modest like edge depth.

 

[mgteich]

Those contracts will heal soon enough. Onwenu is at least playing like a good starter despite the overpay. We’re getting something out of Rhamondre for now.

Dugger is the only major sunk cost.

Really?

How would like to have Pettus playing 100% of the reps instead of Dugger?

 

[Bill Lee]

That was a nice offseason, still though almost instantly had buyers remorse on agholor and jonnu.

Judon was an incredible signing, our mvp for a couple seasons. Bourne and Henry were great additions, somewhat underrated to this day imo.

Im really suprised van noy’s second stint with bb didn’t go better though and he went on to do great with the ravens.

Agree, Judon was the no-brainer signing of the lot. Not often you find All-Pro level talent still young enough to be productive for several seasons available on the FA market.

A lot of the other signings though never really felt sensible to me. You want to get either young talent under-valued by the market or older talent willing to play at a big discount. Seemed we signed a lot of players right at their plateau at full market rates, or in some cases, over full-market.

 

[RxJock1120]

I would argue that KLavon Chaisson has been the best signing of all. His impact has been on par with MW, I have seen him take over multiple games including the last one AND his contract is tiny. He is only 26 years old, I forsee a big effort to resign him long term throughout the year. Can't let him walk away, he just fits too well in this defense.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Agree, Judon was the no-brainer signing of the lot. Not often you find All-Pro level talent still young enough to be productive for several seasons available on the FA market.

A lot of the other signings though never really felt sensible to me. You want to get either young talent under-valued by the market or older talent willing to play at a big discount. Seemed we signed a lot of players right at their plateau at full market rates, or in some cases, over full-market.

Yep, most of those other guys that we didn’t mention were ‘ok’ at best and didn’t stick for more than a couple seasons. Unfortunately even judon only gave us 2 good years and then got hurt.

 

[Ring 6]

I would argue that KLavon Chaisson has been the best signing of all. His impact has been on par with MW, I have seen him take over multiple games including the last one AND his contract is tiny. He is only 26 years old, I forsee a big effort to resign him long term throughout the year. Can't let him walk away, he just fits too well in this defense.

He’s been ok but he hasn’t “taken over games”.

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

One more I did not include, but shout out to Josh Dobbs for that 3rd down pass Sunday. That's the kind of play you want to see out of a backup in a pinch. His grade is more incomplete because he's hardly taken any snaps. (thankfully)

C'mon it's one play. He is pretty bad

 

[Bill Lee]

C'mon it's one play. He is pretty bad

Let's hope we never find out how bad he really is...

 

[zydecochris]

I would move Bradbury and Moses up into the top group. Moses has been very stable playing all the snaps and has been a crucial resource for the younger players to tap. He hasn't had any issues and wasn't very expensive. Bradbury has been much better than expected in pass pro and was pretty cheap, relatively speaking. He's not all-world or anything but they are getting more out of him than they're paying for.

Agreed, they have both been excellent signings that didn’t break the bank.
…That said, I’ve been surprised that OL has been so far down the list of future needs (BobDigital had an excellent post where he put OL as the 5th highest priority). Moses in particular has been a great mentor for the youngsters and had played very solidly, but he will turn 35 next March and has had injuries in recent years. If we could draft a solid RT or G/RT in the first 3 rounds next year I think it would do wonders for our running game and offense as a whole. By all means let’s keep Moses next year to tutor his replacement.

 

[UGAPatsfan]

We could part ways with all Three next year. But if Rham and Onwenu plays good down the stretch; we can live with them. But Dugger and K White are gone baby gone.

White isn’t particularly expensive but def sucks

 

[Ross12]

Agreed, they have both been excellent signings that didn’t break the bank.
…That said, I’ve been surprised that OL has been so far down the list of future needs (BobDigital had an excellent post where he put OL as the 5th highest priority). Moses in particular has been a great mentor for the youngsters and had played very solidly, but he will turn 35 next March and has had injuries in recent years. If we could draft a solid RT or G/RT in the first 3 rounds next year I think it would do wonders for our running game and offense as a whole. By all means let’s keep Moses next year to tutor his replacement.

Moses has actually generally been kind of an iron man health-wise most years. Not a guy that gets hurt a lot. Hard to expect that to hold up into his late 30s though, but he will probably be here next year based on his contract structure. I am guessing they will give Marcus Bryant first crack at being the heir apparent.

Both guard spots also are future needs. Onwenu is a likely cut in 2026 because he’s only been so-so and they save $18M with no dead money by cutting him. They may be able to find a free agent replacement who is an upgrade for similar money. At left guard, Wilson probably stays there in ‘26 but eventually they’ll want to move him to center and get someone else at left guard.

 

[farn]

A+ to me. Davis is a little disappointing but still been okay overall. To say theres no big regrets with the large amount we spent is pretty insane because theres alot we could have screwed up. usually there would be at least a couple big misses. And the underrated finds like tonga, bradbury, chiasson who didn’t thrive on their old teams (at least not recently in bradbury’s case) the way they are in your program are the signs of a stud FO.

A few people are down on Davis. While he’s not Revis, I remember watching Austin try to stop players. It was sad.

The fact that I don’t see Austin + they have started a wining streak, makes me think having Davis over Austin is fun.

 

[Vindicate]

Great thread. Thanks.

Davis is very physical. As a CB that can be a detriment but in the playoffs the refs keep their flags in their pockets. Davis will be better and better as the season rolls on.

Browner proved his entire worth in one play where he told Matt Patricia "I'm gonna choke the **** out of this guy" when he went for the block that cleared the way for Malcolm. Physical CB play is a great thing to have.

 

[Joey007]

Really?

How would like to have Pettus playing 100% of the reps instead of Dugger?

I’m not sure what you’re even arguing about in this thread. You seem like you’d argue about the sky being blue.

 

[SlowGettingUp]

FWIW, Dugger got decent PPF grades this last game, and played 100% of the snaps. And the much maligned Mapu and Elliss did even better. (Yes it's PFF, but at least they grade every snap and don't just go by a few plays that stand out in peoples' minds).

Top five PFF graded players​

1. LB Marte Mapu - 84.5
2. LB Christian Elliss - 83.7
3. OLB K'Lavon Chaisson - 71.4
4. CB Christian Gonzalez - 68.9
5. S Kyle Dugger - 63.5

Bottom five PFF graded players​

1. LB Jack Gibbens - 41.3
2. S Craig Woodson - 44.0
3. OLB Harold Landry III - 44.1
4. CB Carlton Davis III - 47.0
5. LB Jahlani Tavai - 52.0

 

[TommyD4207]

FWIW, Dugger got decent PPF grades this last game, and played 100% of the snaps. And the much maligned Mapu and Elliss did even better. (Yes it's PFF, but at least they grade every snap and don't just go by a few plays that stand out in peoples' minds).

Top five PFF graded players​

1. LB Marte Mapu - 84.5
2. LB Christian Elliss - 83.7
3. OLB K'Lavon Chaisson - 71.4
4. CB Christian Gonzalez - 68.9
5. S Kyle Dugger - 63.5

Bottom five PFF graded players​

1. LB Jack Gibbens - 41.3
2. S Craig Woodson - 44.0
3. OLB Harold Landry III - 44.1
4. CB Carlton Davis III - 47.0
5. LB Jahlani Tavai - 52.0

We need to be done with PFF grades now.