2026 Patriots OTAs: Five Things To Watch
2026 Patriots OTAs: Tracking Maye's Growth, Roster Battles, and Position Overhauls
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With OTAs set to begin this week, we’ll finally start to get some insight into this 2026 New England Patriots team after what’s been a busy offseason. Here’s a list of questions we’ll hopefully start to get some answers to in the coming days.
Maye’s growth over this offseason has been one of the more notable topics of discussion this spring, with the hope that the third-year quarterback is able to take an even bigger step forward following what was overall a successful second season for him in 2025.
For that to happen, he’s likely going to have to do that with a significantly different cast this season. As it stands, the biggest change is the departure of Stefon Diggs, with whom the team parted ways earlier this offseason. The team did sign Romeo Doubs, with the dynamic Packers wideout hopefully injecting some youth and explosiveness into that receiver room.
While the A.J. Brown trade rumors continue, building chemistry with Doubs will be key this week for Maye, who will likely need to rely on him quite a bit this season. Diggs finished 2025 with 85 receptions for 1,013 yards and 4 touchdowns, nearly double the next closest wide receiver (Kayshon Boutte, 551 yards, 6 TDs). Doubs will need to help replace a lot of Diggs’ production.
Kyle Williams is also a player who has reportedly worked on getting stronger this offseason, with the hope that Williams might be a player who takes a significant step forward this season. The rookie caught just 10 passes for 209 yards along with 3 touchdowns during the regular season in 2025. For an offense that needs explosive plays, having Williams build on his first year would certainly be great to see.
Boutte has reportedly stayed away from the team’s offseason activities, leaving his future in question. He’s been the subject of trade rumors in recent weeks, with Brown’s potential acquisition possibly seeing the club move him.
Moving Boutte would be disappointing, but the timing makes it necessary. He’s in the final year of his contract, and keeping him around would only leave them with a similar problem next year. Should he have another productive season, his price tag would likely be too high for him to stay, so if the Patriots can get some sort of compensation now, it makes sense.
At the same time, moving on from the player who was their second-leading wideout in 2025 is risky. With Diggs gone and Boutte potentially out, it would leave the club without the two players who led all Patriots wide receivers on third-down receptions in 2025. That will be another area to keep an eye on. After losing their leading third-down receiver in 2022 when Jakobi Meyers was replaced by Juju Smith-Schuster that offseason, the club went from converting 34.9% of its third downs in 2022 to just 30.2% in 2023.
Meanwhile, Demario Douglas is another player whose future is in question. His playing time in the offense was sporadic throughout much of last season, with Douglas’ production also seeing a significant drop off. He caught 31 passes for 447 yards and 3 touchdowns, down from the 66 passes for 621 yards and 3 TDs he had the previous season.
One interesting note was the fact Douglas had receptions of 53 yds (TD), 44yds, 58yds, 37yds, meaning that nearly half of that production came on four receptions after defenses seemingly lost track of him downfield.
But overall, last season felt like it was tough for him. He seemed to struggle getting open, and after Week 1, where he played 63.4% of the offensive snaps, his percentage remained mostly in the 20s for the majority of the season. He finished 2025 having been in on just 26.3% of the snaps.
How he’ll fit in this season remains to be seen, as Mack Hollins cut into his playing time for the majority of the year. However, Douglas has gotten several votes of confidence at various points this offseason by Mike Vrabel in his press conferences, so it will be interesting to see where he fits into the offense.
Efton Chism is another player to watch. He’s been said to have been working hard this offseason, and it’s possible he could push for more playing time in 2026 after being mostly a special teams contributor last season.
One of the biggest changes this offseason up front has been moving Jared Wilson from left guard to center, with Wilson stepping back into the position he excelled at during his days at Georgia.
How he performs will be interesting to watch, especially given that Wilson and last year’s starter, Garrett Bradbury, both struggled at various points in the quarterback and center exchange last preseason. That issue became a surprisingly big problem for both players, and it appeared to be one of the things that took Wilson out of the mix and solidified things for Bradbury.
However, it ended up being a blessing in disguise for Wilson, who ended up winning the starting role at guard alongside Bradbury last season.
Stepping into that guard spot is expected to be new free agent acquisition, Alijah Vera-Tucker. Vera-Tucker is a player who should give them a big presence alongside Wilson and solidify the left side of the line, while hopefully offering up more power in the ground game.
Meanwhile, seeing where Will Campbell is at should certainly be interesting. After being sidelined with a leg injury last year, he didn’t seem like himself late during his postseason return and the hope is that he’s had time to get healthy. The other hope is that he was able to get stronger this offseason, which is generally something we see for most rookies heading into their second NFL season.
The other thing to watch will be seeing exactly where rookie tackle Caleb Lomu sees action this week. Lomu is expected to potentially take over for Morgan Moses at right tackle after this season, with Lomu’s ability to play both sides also being an asset. With Vederian Lowe having departed via free agency this offseason, the club was thin at the tackle spot, and adding someone else who could step in for either Campbell or Moses was critical. The club also drafted Dametrious Crownover, who will likely be a part of the rotation.
One of the positions that’s probably seen the biggest shift is linebacker, with the team addressing that need in Round 2 after selecting Illinois’ Gabe Jacas with the 55th overall pick. He’s an explosive player and adds a unique skillset to a group that moved on from K’Lavon Chaisson, Anfernee Jennings, Jack Gibbens, Jahlani Tavai, and Marte Mapu this past offseason.
The team added Jesse Luketa and K.J. Britt via free agency, and by the time the Patriots take the field in September, it’s obviously a group that’s going to look significantly different from what it did in 2025.
One other question will be the health of Harold Landry, who, prior to his injury, was one of the more disruptive players on that side of the football. Landry’s health will certainly be key this season, with both he and Robert Spillane anchoring a group with plenty of question marks.
This is the time of year when a lot of that chemistry and communication is built, which will definitely be important this week.
After seeing Austin Hooper move on in free agency, the club added free agent Julian Hill and then drafted Notre Dame’s Eli Raridon.
Raridon is a massive player, which isn’t evident until you look at his film and see him out there compared to his peers. The biggest question is going to be how his skill set translates to this level, but he’s incredibly strong and should be an intriguing player to watch alongside Hunter Henry.
This is an offense that relied on that position quite a bit last season, with the hope that they can have another player to be make an impact. Henry was the team’s second-leading receiver in 2025, finishing with 60 receptions for 768 yards and 7 touchdowns.
Seeing how both Raridon and Hill fit in should be interesting to follow, with one of them needing to emerge this season in order for the club to pick up where it left off last year.
One other detail will be who steps in for Thayer Munford, who remains a free agent but spent time as an extra lineman for the Patriots for a good portion of last season. Adding that extra player up front was something we saw quite a bit last year, and it should be interesting to see who might take over that role should they implement that as part of their offense in 2026.
With Stefon Diggs gone and Romeo Doubs signed, building chemistry with Doubs will be key for Maye, especially as Doubs is expected to replace much of Diggs' 2025 production.
Kayshon Boutte's absence and trade rumors, along with Demario Douglas's inconsistent playing time and production drop in 2025, raise significant questions about the depth and reliability of the receiver corps.
Jared Wilson has moved to center from left guard, with new free agent Alijah Vera-Tucker expected to step in at left guard, solidifying the left side of the line.
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May 12 - May 27 (Through 26yrs)
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