How should the Patriots use their cap $ in 2024 Free Agency?

[Hugepatsfan]

Agreed. There are a number of tall press corners in FA. We need to sign one.

The subject of J Jones at FS comes up every year, and without fail the Pats never consistently play him at FS. I think we need to sign a FA FS like Winfield Jr. to plug that hole.

You are right and I have been beating that drum. We need to sign a defensive FS, tall press CB, and an EDGE or DT. Let Duggar go in FA and use Mapu in his place. Then pick all offense in the next two drafts.

That is only the approach because the offensive FAs are weak. Maybe we sign T Brown and Becton at offensive tackle and draft two rookies? There are a few good TEs in FA too.

Has Jon Jones at FS been seriously discussed that much really? Prior to last year we had McCourty at that spot. I think it was always talked about more in a depth role. Last year was the first year the starting spot was open. And I think Phil Perry suggested it in passing at some point in the offseason, but think of what the CB room looked like. Jon Jones was our top outside CB in 2022 season. Last year we added Gonzalez in the draft, but Jones still entered training camp as the other clear starter outside. And then Jon Jones missed the start of the year only for Gonzalez to be out by the time he got back (or shortly after).

With Gonzalez in the fold again, Alex Austin having played decently down the stretch and then the hypothetical we're going off with us signing another starting caliber press man outside CB in free agency, this would be the first year where the FS position is open for Jon Jones and the outside CB depth is sufficient to think about moving him. Maybe it's been discussed in the past to some degree, but moving the guy who's mostly been the only viable starting outside CB on the roster (even if it's not his ideal spot) to the less important FS position isn't something you can really do.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

Peppers is a glue guy, locker room leader. We need him. On the field he brings a tenacity to the defense an attitude that is needed. Gotta keep him around. Dugger is the guy and deservedly so.. will probably leave in FAs.. so left would be Bledsoe, marpu, or mills that could play the FS position. On Barmore I agree.. extended him now makes all the sense.

Peppers is only 1 year older than Dugger and I think more of a vocal leader on a team that I don't think has a ton. Dugger is a better player... I know last year Peppers probably looked better but that's because he got to play the true SS position that they're both meant for whereas Dugger is the one who has to play more outside of his comfort zone because they both had such duplicative skill sets. But I don't think the gap is so wide that it'd be worth it to pay Dugger top of the market money and move Peppers who's signed cheaply another year. I'd actually try to work on a modest 2-3 year extension for Peppers that will be much less than Dugger probably signs for and use those savings to get a true FS type that creates a better complimentary pairing.

 

[Real fan 02]

Peppers is only 1 year older than Dugger and I think more of a vocal leader on a team that I don't think has a ton. Dugger is a better player... I know last year Peppers probably looked better but that's because he got to play the true SS position that they're both meant for whereas Dugger is the one who has to play more outside of his comfort zone because they both had such duplicative skill sets. But I don't think the gap is so wide that it'd be worth it to pay Dugger top of the market money and move Peppers who's signed cheaply another year. I'd actually try to work on a modest 2-3 year extension for Peppers that will be much less than Dugger probably signs for and use those savings to get a true FS type that creates a better complimentary pairing.

Agreed, McCourty even said himself the absence in wich was asinine of not having a true FS last season. Mills was there he played FS in Philly, he's good enough to play FS. Is why I'd rather see him re-signed as well. Peppers was an all pro in my opinion last season, but the offense was so bad that it affected the overall evaluation of the team from outsiders. If KD got the tag it's around 16 million I think? They are going to have to designate someone and tag a player. Dugger is great up around the line, and maybe 10 yards off. He's not a FS.. he's a terror for running backs, and TEs/WRs across the middle he will put a lick on them. I believe KD leaves in FA.. so Marpu will in play.

 

[Patriot Missile]

Initially I thought it was a terrible class but that was because I was looking at needs which was offense. Seems like Higgins will be tagged which I find a strange move by cinci. Probably means every team with money will throw it at the Colts wr. Really don’t want to see them get into a bidding war over Pittman.

RB and defense seems to be the strength here, so I’m fine with dedicating free agency towards defense, signing key Pats players and saving some for some unexpected cuts June 1st/training camp. All in on offense for the draft.

 

[Joey007]

Initially I thought it was a terrible class but that was because I was looking at needs which was offense. Seems like Higgins will be tagged which I find a strange move by cinci. Probably means every team with money will throw it at the Colts wr. Really don’t want to see them get into a bidding war over Pittman.

RB and defense seems to be the strength here, so I’m fine with dedicating free agency towards defense, signing key Pats players and saving some for some unexpected cuts June 1st/training camp. All in on offense for the draft.

I was just going to do a post about this class.

When you look at the class from top to bottom, it’s way deeper than last years free agent class. Last year was more top heavy at QB, had a few better young tackles on the market, but that was about it. This year has far more options on DL, IOL, RB.

Even while WR isn’t super deep this year, last year was almost barren outside of Meyers.

 

[cstjohn17]

What about a trade with Denver for Sutton or Juedy for Mac Jones? They get a competent backup QB (cough), someone who can compete as a potential starter and cap relief.

We get an upgraded piece at WR.

Maybe we throw in a 5th as well.

Cap figures ( for team receiving the player in a trade)
- Juedy / Sutton - around 13 M
- Jones around 3M

 

[Love The Drake]

What about a trade with Denver for Sutton or Juedy for Mac Jones? They get a competent backup QB (cough), someone who can compete as a potential starter and cap relief.

We get an upgraded piece at WR.

Maybe we throw in a 5th as well.

Cap figures ( for team receiving the player in a trade)
- Juedy / Sutton - around 13 M
- Jones around 3M

I can get down with that.

 

[DaBruinz]

I was just kicking around some ideas as far as the bargain bin goes while filling some holes. Below would equate to about 60M in cap space used, but these could mostly be structured to front load/backload. Not sure how I feel about going crazy signing big names to big money when we will suck. Don't want to sign this many players either just looking at people we could get while keeping a chunk of money.

​	Name​	Years​	Money​	cap hit​
QB​	Brisett​	2​	$16,000,000.00​	$8,000,000.00​
WR​	KB​	2​	$10,000,000.00​	$5,000,000.00​
TE​	Fant​	3​	$10,500,000.00​	$3,500,000.00​
TE​	P Brown​	1​	$2,500,000.00​	$2,500,000.00​
T/G​	Onwenu​	4​	$55,000,000.00​	$13,750,000.00​
T​	Brown​	1​	$6,000,000.00​	$6,000,000.00​
Edge​	Epenesa​	2​	$12,000,000.00​	$6,000,000.00​
LB​	Jennings​	3​	$10,500,000.00​	$3,500,000.00​
CB​	A. Austin​	1​	$985,000.00​	$985,000.00​
ILB​	M. Wilson​	3​	$8,000,000.00​	$2,666,666.00​
DT​	J. Jones​	3​	$21,000,000.00​	$7,000,000.00​
S​	Bledsoe​	1​	$915,000.00​	$915,000.00​

Why are you suggesting a guy who is not a good run defender in Epenesa?
Trent Brown isn't coming back and certainly not for only 6M.

Personally, I don't care for a TE who doesn't like to block.. That's Fant.

Why are you giving Pharoah Brown 2.5M? Especially when he's turning 30. Do you really think he earned a 150% raise?

Why do you think that Justin Jones of the Bears would accept just a 1M increase over his previous contract? What makes you think that he's worth $7M. I mean, the guy isn't an upgrade over Godchaux or even Lawrence Guy, for that matter. Plus he misses way too many tackles for being an IDL guy..

Short term deals like you're suggesting would be good for a team that was not rebuilding their offense. For this team, they need longer term deals that show the players commitment.

I'd much rather bring in Christian Wilkins on a 4 year deal where you spread the Bonus hit out, than a guy like Jones who is not as good as the players we're letting go.

 

[DaBruinz]

What about a trade with Denver for Sutton or Juedy for Mac Jones? They get a competent backup QB (cough), someone who can compete as a potential starter and cap relief.

We get an upgraded piece at WR.

Maybe we throw in a 5th as well.

Cap figures ( for team receiving the player in a trade)
- Juedy / Sutton - around 13 M
- Jones around 3M

Why would Denver break up one of the better WR tandems in Jeudy / Sutton? Especially with the injury history of guys behind them.

Denver can free up $12M with a simple restructure of Wilson's contract and without adding more void years.. They can do the same with McGlinchey's contract to free up $9M. They're also very likely to cut Justin Simmons to free up another 14.5M.

Denver isn't in dire need of cap space. They have it if they want it. Now, the question is how the Saints (85M), Bills ( 58M), Dolphins ($59M) and Chargers ( $45M) are going to free up space..

 

[DaBruinz]

Winfield or McKinney would be ideal.

No on Winfield. PFF makes excuses for the guy. He had 6 TDs allowed as a rookie. PFF claims only 2. Guy misses too many tackles for a FS..

McKinney is better in that he's not given up as many TDs in 4 years (5) compared to Winfield (16). He misses about 1 fewer tackle per year than Winfield, which isn't great. However, McKinney seems to be injured every other year, to this point. Having missed 13 games as a rookie and 8 in 2022.

Julian Blackmon, Kamren Kurl, and Geno Stone could be interesting.

 

[Patsgofor4]

I was just kicking around some ideas as far as the bargain bin goes while filling some holes. Below would equate to about 60M in cap space used, but these could mostly be structured to front load/backload. Not sure how I feel about going crazy signing big names to big money when we will suck. Don't want to sign this many players either just looking at people we could get while keeping a chunk of money.

​	Name​	Years​	Money​	cap hit​
QB​	Brisett​	2​	$16,000,000.00​	$8,000,000.00​
WR​	KB​	2​	$10,000,000.00​	$5,000,000.00​
TE​	Fant​	3​	$10,500,000.00​	$3,500,000.00​
TE​	P Brown​	1​	$2,500,000.00​	$2,500,000.00​
T/G​	Onwenu​	4​	$55,000,000.00​	$13,750,000.00​
T​	Brown​	1​	$6,000,000.00​	$6,000,000.00​
Edge​	Epenesa​	2​	$12,000,000.00​	$6,000,000.00​
LB​	Jennings​	3​	$10,500,000.00​	$3,500,000.00​
CB​	A. Austin​	1​	$985,000.00​	$985,000.00​
ILB​	M. Wilson​	3​	$8,000,000.00​	$2,666,666.00​
DT​	J. Jones​	3​	$21,000,000.00​	$7,000,000.00​
S​	Bledsoe​	1​	$915,000.00​	$915,000.00​

Color me very underwhelmed by this free agency haul. $60m and not a single elite player/game changer on the list.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

I'd much rather bring in Christian Wilkins on a 4 year deal where you spread the Bonus hit out, than a guy like Jones who is not as good as the players we're letting go.

I agree backup the brinks truck on Wilkins for 4 years.

Judon, barmore, Wilkins and white? That is strong starting unit

 

[Ivan]

I want the Pats to get younger and to get them into long-term contracts. I would trade older veterans for picks and sign no one over 28 to no more than a minimum contract. Holes on the roster are secondary right now. We need to build the base.

I’m looking at the overall picture in the same way, but I would sign players that are over 28, just not really high priced ones. You need good leaders on every unit, and both Parcells and Belichick knew this, and they both brought in veteran players they knew would provide that leadership in every room. That really paid off for their teams as the young players learned how to go about their business and become good to great pro’s by having that leadership and those leading the way for them. As an example Rodney Harrison was one of the veteran players that had been released by the Chargers, but who came in and became an immediate leader for their secondary, which had lost guys like Law and Molloyin previous years. And although they were already in place veterans like Bruschi, McGinest, and Faulk provided great leadership in their early dynasty years. So to me keeping a guy like Jabril Pepoers around as a leader in their secondary, and Judon for their linebackers and DL is important, as they set the tone, and show the younger players all the things they don’t know coming into the pro’s. Overall I agree that the focus needs to be for success 2-3 years from now and beyond, and getting good young players is the key to that, but also selectively bringing in veterans who are really good leaders and motivators are an essential part of that. So they can kiss guys like Trent Brown goodbye for all I care, but be sure to have at least one good veteran leader on every unit.

 

[Ivan]

The problem with that is we have about 24 FAs in '25 including Barmore, Rham, Peppers, Phillips, Jo Jones and Judon. We need to sign three (3) TEs, WR1, QB1, LT, RT, Swing T, RB2, 3rdD RB just on offense alone. You can't do that all in the draft.

New England Patriots > Current Patriots Roster

NAME	AGE	POS	THRU
Marco Wilson	24	CB	2024
Shaun Wade	25	CB	2024
Myles Bryant	26	CB	2023
Alex Austin	22	CB	2023
Jonathan Jones	30	CB	2024
Jalen Mills	29	FS	2023
Jabrill Peppers	28	FS	2024
Adrian Phillips	31	SS	2024
Kyle Dugger	27	SS	2023
Joshuah Bledsoe	25	SS	2023
Deatrich Wise Jr.	29	DE	2024
Keion White	25	DE	2026
Jeremiah Pharms Jr.	27	DT	2024
Christian Barmore	24	DT	2024
Davon Godchaux	29	DT	2024
Lawrence Guy	33	DT	2024
Sam Roberts	25	DT	2025
Mack Wilson Sr.	26	ILB	2023
Ja'Whaun Bentley	27	ILB	2025
Marte Mapu	24	ILB	2026
Jahlani Tavai	27	ILB	2024
Anfernee Jennings	26	OLB	2023
Christian Elliss	25	OLB	2023
Josh Uche	25	OLB	2023
David Andrews	31	C	2024
Jake Andrews	24	C	2026
Sidy Sow	25	G	2026
James Ferentz	34	G	2023
Atonio Mafi	23	G	2026
Vederian Lowe	24	T	2025
Mike Onwenu	26	T	2023
Trent Brown	30	T	2023
Bailey Zappe	24	QB	2024
Mac Jones	25	QB	2024
Nathan Rourke	25	QB	2023
Ezekiel Elliott	28	RB	2023
Kevin Harris	23	RB	2024
JaMycal Hasty	27	RB	2024
La'Michael Pettway	26	TE	2023
Pharaoh Brown	29	TE	2023
Mike Gesicki	28	TE	2023
DeVante Parker	31	WR	2025
Tyquan Thornton	23	WR	2025
Kayshon Boutte	21	WR	2026
Demario Douglas	23	WR	2026
Jalen Reagor	25	WR	2023
Cody Davis	34	DB	2023
Brenden Schooler	26	DB	2024
Chad Ryland	24	K	2026
Chris Board Jr.	28	LB	2024
Joe Cardona	31	LS	2026
Bryce Baringer	24	P	2026
Matthew Slater	38	WR	2023

William Hooper	23	CB	2023
Breon Borders	28	CB	2023
Kody Russey	25	C	2023
Matt Sokol	28	TE	2023

Christian Gonzalez	21	CB	2026
Isaiah Bolden	24	CB	2026
Marcus Jones	25	CB	2025
Daniel Ekuale	30	DT	2024
Matthew Judon	31	OLB	2024
Raekwon McMillan	28	ILB	2024
Terez Hall	27	ILB	2023
Cole Strange	25	G	2025
Tyrone Wheatley Jr.	27	T	2023
Riley Reiff	35	T	2023
Conor McDermott	31	T	2024
Calvin Anderson	27	T	2024
Rhamondre Stevenson	25	RB	2024
Hunter Henry	29	TE	2023
JuJu Smith-Schuster	27	WR	2025
Tre Nixon	26	WR	2023
Kendrick Bourne	28	WR	2023

Venecol, you have guys on this list that were drafted last year, and won’t hit free agency for three more years. If you applied that criteria to any team you would get a similar result. And you could cull many of these players out simply by not resigning them. I suppose you could say that’s the advantage of having a weak roster overall. David Andrews will likely retire in another year or two, but should be an easy player to resign, but Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe are on this list, and I sure as hell hope they won’t be around when their contracts come up. There are guys like Barmore, Peppers, and Duggars I want to keep around, but overall this list isn’t bad at all. They could resign the core players they want to keep, and replace the ones they don’t pretty easily.

 

[Ivan]

I agree backup the brinks truck on Wilkins for 4 years.

Judon, barmore, Wilkins and white? That is strong starting unit

Wilkins is a guy I could see opening the wallet for. Keep making the defense even stronger as they rebuild the offense. And pressure up the middle is one of the best ways to disrupt all of the really good young QB’s they face.