The possibility of Jack Gibbens leaving in free agency existed ever since the New England Patriots decided not to use a tender to keep the restricted free agent from the open market. And while it did take a few days for him to make a decision, he eventually took his talents elsewhere: on Monday, the Arizona Cardinals announced that they had signed Gibbens to a two-year contract.
Let’s analyze what his departure means for the Patriots.
New LB3 needed
Despite arriving on a relatively modest one-year, $1.3 million contract
last offseason, Gibbens ended up playing a valuable role on the Patriots’ defense. He was on the field for 47% of defensive snaps in 2025, ranking 11th on that side of the ball overall and third among linebackers behind Robert Spillane (74%) and Christian Elliss (51%). With him now gone, a new LB3 is needed.
At the moment, the candidates look as follows:
90-man roster (7): Robert Spillane (14), Christian Elliss (53), K.J. Britt (35), Marte Mapu (15), Chad Muma (49), Otis Reese (54), Amari Gainer (99)
On paper, recent free agency pickup K.J. Britt is first in line to replace Gibbens. He filled a similar role during his time in Tampa and Miami — backup linebacker and core special teamer — and should get an opportunity to compete for a role on the team.
Additionally, the Patriots are seen as realistic candidates to target the position in the draft. Executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf said so himself when meeting with local media at the Scouting Combine.
“I think we’d like to maybe address that in the draft,” Wolf said. “It looks like a good year at linebacker.”
Special teams impact
Even though his defensive role was significant, Gibbens had a higher playing time share in the kicking game. A core member on all four return and coverage units, he ranked third on the team with a combined 357 special teams snaps (65%) between regular season and playoffs; additionally, he was tied for fifth on the team with 10 tackles.
The Patriots now also will have to find a way to replace that production. The aforementioned K.J. Britt, who himself arrived in New England last week via a one-year contract whose value has yet to be made public, again looks like a prime candidate to take over: Britt played a similar role for the Dolphins in 2025 and therefore seems tailor-made to slide into the post previously belonging to Gibbens.
Of course, players such as Chad Muma, Otis Reese or Amari Gainer will try to also the opening to get practice reps and eventually position themselves to earn a spot on the roster.
14% return rate
Gibbens was initially considered a realistic return candidate, but he has now become the seventh free agent to leave New England since the opening of the legal tampering window a week ago. Add five players whose fate has yet to be determined, and you get a return rate of only 14% at this point in time: only two of initially 14 free agents have been retained by the Patriots.
Those two players are third-string quarterback Tommy DeVito, who signed a two-year, $4.4 million contract extension, and fullback Jack Westover, who was tendered as an exclusive rights free agent.
There is a chance that some of those outstanding five free agents — OT Thayer Munford Jr. (UFA), OT Yasir Durant (RFA), DT Jaquelin Roy (RFA), RB Deneric Prince (ERFA), DT Isaiah Iton (ERFA) — are ultimately re-signed as well, but at the moment no moves appear to be imminent. It would therefore not be a surprise if the return rate remained quite low.
No compensatory impact
Even though the Patriots’ list of free agency departures is long and includes notable players such as edge rusher K’Lavon Chaisson and defensive tackle Khyiris Tonga, the team will not be getting any extra selections in next years’s draft through the NFL’s compensatory process. Losing Gibbens does not change that projection: as a restricted free agent who went untendered, he does not qualify as compensatory free agent.
Consequently, the team’s projection currently looks like this:
If the projection turns out accurate, and there is no reason to believe that will not be the case, the Patriots would go without any compensatory picks for a fourth straight year in 2027.
