Some Patriots and NFL-related news on this Friday:
1) After just 30-of-32 players were under contract this week, that number has finally increased over the last 48 hours.
It’s now up to 12, with varying degrees of guarantees coming based on where each draft pick was taken.
San Francisco’s Alfred Collins was the third player to finally get a deal done, with Collins becoming the first player among the 2025 second-round draft class to not have his deal fully guaranteed. Both the first and second selections in Round 2, Cleveland linebacker Carson Schwesinger (33rd overall) and Houston receiver Jayden Higgins (34th overall), each signed fully guaranteed contracts.
Prior to this 2025 draft class, players having 100% of their deals guaranteed hadn’t happened. With the amounts more or less set by the CBA, that portion of things was relatively under control, at least as it related to the players’ salaries. However, the amount of guaranteed money had really become the only real sticking point in recent years, and this was the first offseason where things had started getting a little out of hand.
Houston started most of the issues after first setting the precedent with Higgins and fully guaranteeing his deal. That forced Cleveland to follow suit since Schwesinger went right before him.
That seemingly brought everything to a standstill until Collins finally signed the first rookie deal in round two that wasn’t 100% guaranteed this week.
All of this is relative to the Patriots because rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson, who was taken at 38th overall as part of this year’s 2025 Patriots Draft class, remains unsigned. Another deal was reached Thursday night at the top of the round with the Seahawks’ safety Nick Emmanwori (35th overall), who joined both Higgins and Schwesinger with a fully guaranteed contract.
That doesn’t help New England’s situation.
The benchmark for non-fully-guaranteed deals right now starts at 41st overall, which is with Buffalo defensive tackle T.J. Sanders. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, his deal was for four years, $10.645 million with $10.073 million guaranteed, with essentially 94.6% of his deal guaranteed.
He was taken three picks after Henderson, while Emmanwori was taken three picks before. So Henderson currently sits right in the middle, with whatever happens with Cleveland running back Quinshon Judkins (36 overall), and Miami offensive lineman Jonah Savaiinaea (37th overall) likely being the players who will directly affect those negotiations.
Judkins, who is also a running back and was taken just two picks earlier, will probably be the biggest factor, given that he’s essentially a direct comp. Obviously, that could change if Henderson’s deal gets done first, but right now, all eyes are probably on both Judkins and Savaiinea, at least in terms of how this might play out here in New England.
For now, the ball at least appears to be picking up speed when it comes to getting these guys under contract, with the only question being where the line moves next in terms of non-fully guaranteed deals. With the start of training camp just days away, the clock is definitely ticking.
Our forum member @Pape put together a terrific breakdown of all the signings, which details all of the second-round deals done so far. So be sure and check that out.
2) When it comes to Stefon Diggs, the biggest question is clearly going to be where he is health-wise heading into training camp.
Based on his availability during minicamp (he was somewhat limited but still took part), things definitely feel like he’s trending in the right direction. Add in the fact that he looked like he was in great shape during the recent workouts posted by Kendrick Bourne with Drake Maye, which saw multiple offensive players getting some pre-camp work in, and there’s definitely reason for optimism.
However, the key thing now is really less about how much he’ll be a part of training camp and more about just making sure he’s out there by Week 1 against Las Vegas. According to MMQB’s Albert Breer, it sounds like that timetable remains in play.
“I think he probably starts camp on PUP, and I think he probably comes off at some point between now and August,” said Breer during a recent appearance on NBC Sports Boston. “I do think that he’s trending right now to being able to play in week one, which is… If you look at it, it’s not that crazy, a recovery timetable. He was injured right around Halloween. The end of August would be 10 months. Again, I think the bigger question becomes, Kayla [Burton], whether or not you can expect 100% of Stef Diggs this year, because that first year can be tricky sometimes, especially for an older player.”
“But just as far as when he’s going to be cleared to actually play football, full speed in 11-on-11. I think at some point in August it happens, and that timetable isn’t that crazy, considering the juncture of last year when he was hurt.”
3) Meanwhile, players apparently are already starting to trickle into Gillette Stadium. According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, quarterback Drake Maye was among players spotted at the facility on Thursday, with both rookies and quarterbacks due to be present on Saturday.
It appears some of those guys are trying to get an early start, which is encouraging. We’ve heard all offseason that the energy in the building has been positive and that players appear to have been pretty upbeat for most of the spring.
With the first practice set for Wednesday, this is definitely a good sign.
Maye took part in workouts last week with many of the offensive players, including fellow quarterback Josh Dobbs, along with DeMario Douglas, Rhamondre Stevenson, Kendrick Bourne, Kyle Williams, Ja’Lynn Polk, and Hunter Henry among the players on hand. Based on what Bourne said on his video, the group worked for three straight days in North Carolina ahead of the start of things kicking off next week.
4) Tonight’s a big night for anyone who has been looking forward to episode two of Forged in Foxborough, which is an offseason documentary for this year’s New England Patriots team.
The episode is set to be released today, and based on when the last one came out, it should be happening sometime between 7:00 pm ET and 7:30pm ET.
The club dropped the trailer earlier this week, which included a fiery speech from captain Jabrill Peppers as he set the tone following one of the practices.
“In order to take advantage of s*** in football, we’ve got to eliminate that s*** ourselves,” said Peppers following a practice in the video. “Center to quarterback exchange, missed assignments, mental errors, all that s***. Don’t be no repeat offender. Be professional. Do what you’re supposed to do when you’re supposed to do it. Perfect practice make perfect, bro. We’ve got to keep chasing that.”
Needless to say, it should be fun to watch while also getting everyone even a little more fired up to see the team out on the field in the coming days.
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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.
Seems Vrabel set the tone that’s got the team working off-season. Valid perception or not, it’s good. It will be fascinating to see how the offense in whole (line, pass game, run game) looks under the new McD offensive system. Same with the D front 7. I don’t think you’ll get a definitive view in the limited summer work, but enough. End of Sept will be a key benchmark in terms of if this unit is ready to make a run at the playoffs or not. To me this will be a year of change engineering and accordingly the measure… Read more »