MORSE: Thoughts on Peppers Release and Other Patriots Transactions

Jabrill Peppers Released

I am shocked by this move! Three days after the initial cutdown, the Patriots released Peppers? What happened in the last three days? PFF had Peppers with a 90.1 rating on average of the last 4 seasons, which is 4^th best overall.

Peppers sounded like the perfect Mike Vrabel type of player. He is a hard hitter and responsible safety, a leader on the team, a tone-setter.

Here are six scenarios:

Peppers had another drug incident or Domestic incident. Phil Perry reported “Nothing off-field, I’m told. No incidents. If that’s what folks are wondering”. Mike Giradi also chimed in with “can tell you there were no off-field issues for Peppers that led to the release. He obviously dealt with legal issues a year ago that landed him on the Commissioner’s List”.
Peppers was being dropped down to a backup and Peppers didn’t take it well. Peppers played a lot in that last Pre-Season game versus Giants. Report from patriots.com are now surfacing that Peppers played exclusively with the 2^nd team Defense during practices this week. The beat writers could not report on this due to the agreement they have with the team on reporting what goes on in these practices.
Did they try and trade Peppers and couldn’t find a trade partner? Andrew Callahan stated that he checked with some contact around the league and they say that Peppers wasn’t shopped.
Did they ask Peppers to take a pay cut?
Peppers’ skill set doesn’t fit what the new Patriots Defensive scheme is
Did Peppers refuse to play on Special Teams?

The Patriots owe Peppers $4.32M in guaranteed money. That is about what they saved from the Kendrick Bourne contract.

The Patriots are not deep enough to be dumping good veteran talent like Peppers. Vrabel stated the reason that Peppers played in the Giants game was because he wanted to see him play with Woodson. Did they not like what they saw? If so, why wait until Friday when they could have done this at the cutdown day?

Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald speculated “Peppers’ release is a surprise. Based on his performance in practice and the preseason, there isn’t much basis for cutting him, especially given their depth. Without speculating specifically, other considerations likely factored”.

Why did the Patriots wait until 9 days before the opening game to release Peppers? It was curious that the move was made on a Friday of a Holiday weekend.

Curious that all of the original Captains from last season’s team have been let go. Hunter Henry was named Captain after Ja’Whuan Bentley’s season ending injury. He is the only Captain left from last year.

This move cannot come down on Eliot Wolf! There is no way that Wolf could make this move without getting the approval of Head Coach Mike Vrabel. This kind of decision is not being made in a vacuum.

Eric Gregory Signed, Jabrill Peppers Waived

Gregory enters his first season in the NFL after going undrafted in the 2025 Draft. He played six years at Arkansas and appeared in 61 games, starting 44 of them from 2020-24. He totaled 135 tackles, 18.5 tackles for loss, and 9.5 sacks.

Arkansas turned to Gregory to start during the COVID-shortened 2020 season and kept him in the rotation and starting lineup for years to come. He played all over the defensive line for the Razorbacks but was mainly aligned in the B-gap. His most productive season was his last in 2024 when he netted 42 tackles, five tackles for loss, and three sacks. Pro Football Focus graded him out at 75.3 overall and 82.3 in run defense for that season.

Gregory, who had a draftable grade, signed a three-year, $2.995 million college free agent deal in May following the draft. He earned a $30,000 signing bonus, tied for the largest out of Cincinnati’s 14 UDFAs, and can earn a non-guaranteed $840,000 base salary this season. The signing bonus is indictive that Cincinnati

At the Combine he ran 5.14, 40-yard dash, and put up 28 reps on the Bench Press. From what I have seen, the Bengals were upset they lost Gregory.

Thayer Munford OT was signed to the Practice Squad and OT Jack Conley was waived.

Mumford, 6’6” 354-pounds, was a 7^th Round (#238) by Las Vegas. His career at Ohio State was outstanding. Having been selected 2^nd Team All-Big 10 Left Tackle in 2019, 1^st team in 2020 and 1^st team LT in 2021 and followed that up with a position change to LG in 2022 and was selected 1^st team again. He had 44 career starts, 0 sacks in 2019, 5 sacks in 2020, 0 sacks in 2021 and just 1 at LG in 2022! This gives them a player that provides roster protection at two positions.

Conley, the 6’7” 325-pound OL from New Caanan CT, played at Boston College, where Patriots Offensive Line coach Doug Marrone was a consultant for HC Bill O’Brien.

I think there is a roster imbalance at the Defensive Tackle position with 6 on the active roster and 4 more on the Practice Squad. Are the Patriots planning to play a Three Defensive Tackles and 1 Edge player Defense?

Money Is at the Root of Patriots Moves

It’s beginning to look like money is the root of Patriots Roster moves and other moves they could have made. The Patriots tried to move him and when they couldn’t, they asked Kendrick Bourne to take a pay cut, he refused, and he was released. I guarantee that Jabrill Peppers was also asked to take a pay cut. He wouldn’t and they released him. His release was before the Patriots were awarded Eric Gregory.

The Patriots inquired about Micah Parson but the amount of money they would have to pay him ($120M guaranteed), to go along with the two 1^st round draft picks, and a starting DT (believed to be Barmore) was too much. That $120M has to put in escrow immediately and Robert Kraft would not do that.

Andrew Callahan also indicated today that the Patriots had a deal in place for Kyle Dugger, but the two teams couldn’t agree on the amount of Dugger’s salary the Patriots would retain. Peppers was insurance in case they were going to trade Dugger. With Dugger still on the team, Peppers and Dugger became redundant, so they jettisoned Peppers.

2024 Salaries Are a Problem

This you can blame on Eliot Wolf. The following salaries were agreed upon by Wolf when it became obvious that Free Agent players from other teams wouldn’t sign to play in Foxboro. These are all contracts signed by Wolf in 2024!

The following players are no longer with the Patriots:

Jabrill Peppers: 3 years, $24 million

Davon Godcahux: 2 years, $21 million

David Andrews: 2 years, $12 million (inj./retired)

Kendrick Bourne: 3 years, $19.5 million

Josh Uche: 1 year, $3 million

These players are still on the roster:

Kyle Dugger: 4 years, $57 million (shopped)

Anfernee Jennings: 3 years, 12 million (shopped)

Christian Barmore: 4 years, $83 million

Mike Onwenu 3 years, $57 million

Rhamondre Stevenson: 4 years, $36 million

Hunter Henry: 3 years, $27 million

Jahlani Tavai: 3 years, $16 million (IR)

Barmore had the blood clot issue that no one could predict. Stevenson developed a fumbling issue, and he has not lived up to his contract. Onwenu didn’t play well last year but has looked good so far this season. Jury is out on his performance versus the contract. They couldn’t agree on how much money to take back in a trade for Dugger. They couldn’t find a trade partner for Jennings. Jahlani Tavai would have been let go if they couldn’t put him on IR. The only player worth his contract has been Hunter Henry.

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About Mark Morse

Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.

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