The New England Patriots and former third-round draft pick Marte Mapu will go their separate ways. On Tuesday, the third-year linebacker and special teamer was informed of his upcoming release. That never happened: instead of getting cut, Mapu was eventually traded to the Houston Texans as part of a late-round draft pick exchange in 2027.
The Patriots sent Mapu and a seventh-round selection that year to Houston in return for a sixth-rounder. Let’s assess what the move means from a big-picture point
of view.
Another linebacker departure
Even though their linebacker position was a pleasant surprise in 2025, the Patriots apparently are looking to upgrade. They did retain Robert Spillane and Christian Elliss, the top two at the position last year, but have seen the next three players on the depth chart depart: Jack Gibbens signed with the Cardinals as a free agent, Jahlani Tavai was cut, and Mapu has now been traded.
Together, the trio played 1,013 defensive snaps during the 2025 season. While that number accounts for 79% of snaps, it is not overly massive given that it took three players to produce it. That said, the Patriots still need to find ways to replace those contributions in order to keep the depth chart in a serviceable state.
At the moment, that depth chart looks as follows:
Linebacker (6): Robert Spillane (14), Christian Elliss (53), K.J. Britt (35), Chad Muma (49), Otis Reese (54), Amari Gainer (99)
On paper, free agency signing K.J. Britt and 2025 in-season pickup Chad Muma are the frontrunners to fill the primary backup roles at linebacker in 2026. That said, the expectation is that New England will add further competition to the mix in this year’s draft.
New personal protector needed
Despite being a third-round draft pick just three years ago, Mapu never found a consistent role on the defensive side of the ball. In fact, the safety/linebacker hybrid, who fully committed to the latter position last year, was on the field for only 122 defensive snaps (9.5%) in 2025.
He did haul in an interception, but his biggest impact on the Patriots’ operation still came elsewhere: the kicking game. Mapu was a four-unit special teamer in 2025 and played 59.5% of snaps in the game’s third phase. He registered 13 combined tackles between the regular season and playoffs and added a forced fumble.
He also served as the personal protector on the punt team, a fairly important job that includes setting the protection up front. With the 26-year-old running the show, New England did not surrender any blocked punts in 2025.
Now that he is gone, of course, the role has to be reassigned. One candidate to take over is third-year safety Dell Pettus, who served as personal protector during his 2024 rookie campaign.
Minor draft portfolio update
The Patriots did not increase their number of selections in 2027 because of the Mapu trade, but they did slightly upgrade their portfolio’s overall value. At the moment, they are in possession of the following nine selections next spring:
- Round 1
- Round 2
- Round 3
- Round 4
- Round 5
- Round 5 (via Bears for Garrett Bradbury)
- Round 6
- Round 6 (via Saints for Ja’Lynn Polk)
- Round 6 (via Texans for Marte Mapu)
Of course, no additional movement happening between now and April 2027 is highly unlikely. The list above is therefore merely a snapshot at this particular point in time.
Minor salary cap update
From a salary cap perspective, the Patriots releasing or trading Mapu makes no difference. He is still on his rookie contract, after all, which consists of only two elements: his base salary and his signing bonus proration, which in 2026 are worth a respective $1.509 million and $261,583.
In either scenario, the base salary is removed from the Patriots’ books — either into the ether in case of a release, or traveling alongside Mapu in a trade setting. We now know he is headed down the second route, which means that his entire salary is transferring to the Texans.
The remaining signing bonus consisting of only one of originally four installments, on the other hand, is staying put due to its fully-guaranteed nature. A cut or a trade would have made no difference in that regard.
What all of this means is slight cap savings. Mapu and $1.509 million of his $1.77 million cap figure are off the books now, with another player — OL Andrew Rupcich — taking his spot on the Top 51 list of biggest cap impacts. Rupcich carries a $1.075 million cap hit, which means the team gained $433,688 in cap space on Tuesday.
According to salary cap expert Miguel Benzan, the Patriots are now $35.56 million under the cap.
