The New England Patriots’ defensive edge is going to look drastically different in 2026, that is one of the main takeaways from the first few days of NFL free agency week. After the team signed Dre’Mont Jones to a three-year, $36.5 million contract on Monday, it saw two departures at the position on Wednesday.
K’Lavon Chaisson is off to the Washington Commanders on a reported one-year, $12 million deal, while Anfernee Jennings will be released at the start of the new league year. Chaisson and Jennings finished
first and third in snaps among their position group last year.
Let’s analyze what the moves mean.
New-look group
Bringing aboard Chaisson, Harold Landry, Elijah Ponder and Bradyn Swinson in the offseason and trading away Keion White in October, 2025 was a year of change for the Patriots’ defensive edge. By November, Jennings remained as the only player on the roster who had been with the club before new head coach Mike Vrabel’s departure.
Four months later, he is gone as well, and so is Chaisson. As mentioned above, they as well as Landry were the top three in snaps played on the edge in 2025.
In turn, the group now looks as follows:
Defensive edge (5): Harold Landry III (2), Dre’Mont Jones (—), Elijah Ponder (91), Bradyn Swinson (43), Jesse Luketa (—)
Landry and Jones project as the current starters on the edge with Ponder a candidate to increase his role heading into his sophomore season. While that means more stability than a year ago — the biggest change is Jones effectively taking over for Chaisson — the uncertainty surrounding the group as a whole remains significant.
How will Landry look coming off a season disrupted by a nagging knee injury? How quickly will Jones adapt to his new team? Are Ponder and Swinson ready for more prominent roles? All those questions will get answered eventually, and they will decide the group’s success in 2026.
All-around questions
The questions above all relate to particular players, but it is their impact on the game as a whole that will be important in 2026. And if we look at those who have departed, we can see that both the pass rush and the run defense will be impacted.
Chaisson and Jennings were fundamentally different players in that regard, of course. The former was a quality pass rusher, whose 73 pressures and 10.5 sacks ranked first on the team in 2025. The latter remained one of the stoutest edge setters in all of football. If you put them in different situations, their impact was less pronounced: Chaisson’s run defense was suspect for much of the year, while Jennings’ 25 pressures in 18 games were solid but ultimately replacement level.
Still, both played well in their primary roles. How those will be filled remains unclear, especially in Jennings’ case. That said, the Patriots’ coaching staff seemed content with him playing a limited role and ultimately releasing him, so they are likely not sweating the situation either.
More help needed
The Patriots considered the edge as a primary area to improve all offseason, and they acted accordingly. They expressed interest in, among others, Ravens Raiders edge Maxx Crosby and eventually decided to sign Dre’Mont Jones to a three-year pact.
What Wednesday shows, however, is that they are far from finished building the group. While a blockbuster move such as trading for Crosby seems unlikely, there are still several players on the market worth taking a look at. Names to keep an eye on include the likes of Al-Quadin Muhammad, A.J. Epenesa, Arnold Ebiketie or D.J. Wonnum — complementary pieces who would improve the group’s overall depth and serve as safety nets in case Elijah Ponder or Bradyn Swinson do not develop as hoped.
While more free agency investment could happen, the Patriots likely will take a close look at the edge class in this year’s NFL Draft. They already had some pre-draft contact with some of the top players available such as Cashius Howell (Texas A&M), Akheem Mesidor (Miami), R. Mason Thomas (Oklahoma) and Zion Young (Missouri).
Even with Jones brought aboard, the Patriots very well could invest a high draft pick at the edge. More help, especially from a longer-term perspective, is needed.
Special teams impact
While their primary focus was on defense, both Chaisson and Jennings also were actively involved in the kicking game in 2025.
Chaisson was a mainstay on the punt coverage team particularly early in the season, and ended with 129 snaps in the game’s third phase (23.4%; 16th). Jennings, meanwhile, played mostly on the kickoff return and coverage teams but also saw the occasional snap on the punt units as well; he finished with 194 special teams snaps (35.4%; 11th) and seven tackles (8th).
Replacing those parts of their contributions will not be quite that big of a task. Still, it is another angle for the Patriots to consider when it comes to roster construction.
Financial gains
While the Patriots are losing two proven players on Wednesday — one of them by choice, of course — they are gaining some more cap space. Releasing Jennings before the final year of his current contract created net savings of $2.85 million.
His non-guaranteed $3 million salary and $867,647 worth of likely to be earned roster and workout bonuses are now off the books, while his $1 million signing bonus proration remains as dead cap. Meanwhile, a player with a cap hit of $1.01 million will take his spot on the Top 51 list.
In total, salary cap expert Miguel Benzan projects the Patriots to be $50.13 million under the cap with all but one signing (WR Romeo Doubs) considered.
The Chaisson departure, meanwhile, does factor into the NFL’s compensatory draft picks formula. But while he is the fourth qualifying free agent to leave the team this week, it appears no additional picks will be headed New England’s way in 2027:
At the moment, two of the Patriots’ compensatory free agents this offseason remain unaccounted for: offensive tackle Thayer Munford Jr. and safety Jaylinn Hawkins. Not only are they unlikely to sign contracts that would massively impact the formula, both are realistic candidates to ultimately be retained by the club.
For a fourth straight year, therefore, it seems New England will not gain any extra draft capital through the compensatory process.
