Heading into free agency, the Patriots find themselves essentially back where they were a year ago, a last-place team in need of significant help talent-wise.
When you’re not a desirable destination, that usually means having to significantly overpay to attract talent. With significant salary cap space, New England essentially has a blank checkbook to address major roster needs this offseason. However, the real question will likely be just how high they’ll have to go in order to avoid what happened last March when they couldn’t get anyone to take their money.
This time around, the Patriots have Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye in place, which will likely give them a little more of a fighting chance. Maye is coming off a terrific rookie season, and he put enough on film where any offensive player should certainly feel comfortable they can be productive here.
The challenge then simply becomes what type of a deal it will take to potentially land one of them. Players like Tee Higgins – if he hits free agency and isn’t franchised – are among the guys expected to be in the crosshairs of New England and will likely receive a big payday this offseason. That’s probably going to require a contract higher than we’ve seen the Patriots pay in the past, and it will likely reset the market internally for some other guys in the coming years, depending on how things unfold.
That’s a point NBC Sports Boston’s Phil Perry brought up during a recent appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub, where Perry pointed out that Christian Barmore’s contract extension last offseason created some problems behind the scenes with other players internally. He also talked about the fact that rewarding someone like Higgins with his injury history is something that could also send the wrong message.
“Listen, however you decide to do it, your highest paid player, like it or not, necessarily indicates what you value as a program, as a coach as a front office,” said Perry. “If this is what Tee Higgins is doing, then maybe I should just do what he’s doing, and then I’ll get rewarded. I’ll get paid, too. If that means sitting out five games every year because I got a sore hammy, then that means sitting out five games every year. That’s Okay, because that’s what that guy does, and he’s our star player.”
“That’s part of the reason why Tom Brady was as valuable as he was to Bill Belichick. He was their best player, their hardest worker, and there was a cap on how much money he was going to make. And so everybody had to slot in behind him.”
Fans are certainly hoping to see the Patriots open up their checkbook, likely at whatever cost necessary in order to ensure we don’t see a repeat of what happened last season. New England ultimately went into 2024 with one of the worst rosters in the league, and the result turned into another 4-13 season, the second one for the team in as many seasons.
But a short term fix could create a long-term problem, which is the difficult situation they’re likely going to be up against. Perry also pointed out that players like Christian Gonzalez, who is heading into the third season of his four-year rookie deal, along with Maye down the road, will likely measure themselves by a potential deal like the one someone like Higgins could receive.
“So there’s issues right there,” said Perry of the ripple effect it may have. “Christian Gonzalez is looking at him saying, Well, I better make at least that much when my contract comes up. And Drake Maye’s saying, I got to make 50% more than that when my contract comes up. I’m way more important than he is.”
“We already saw it this past offseason where Christian Barmore gets this massive deal, and he’s your most valuable player from a dollar-figure standpoint. Then what happens immediately thereafter is you get guys that are pissed about their contracts, whether it’s Josh Uche or Davon Godchaux who ultimately did get another contract. But guys look at this stuff from afar and say, ‘Hey, if he’s making that much, how much am I worth? Let’s get back to the table here.’ I think you have to be careful in terms of what you’re willing to spend on because it does send a message.”
“When you are in this very precarious position that Vrabel’s in, where you are at the nascent stages of your program and what you want your culture to be, everything you do sends a message, and you do have to take heed when it comes to doing that.”
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
