One of the most eventful weeks on the NFL calendar is right around the corner, and the New England Patriots once again project to be major players. Ranking among the league leaders with currently $61.6 million salary cap space, they have the means and the motivation to restock a roster that advanced all the way to the Super Bowl a year ago.
Naturally, all of our attention this week was on the upcoming free agency. And with that said, welcome to the latest edition of our Sunday Patriots Notes.
Biggest Patriots free agency needs, ranked
Although
they played in the Super Bowl just a month ago, the Patriots are not necessarily in a position to rest on their laurels. For starters, they lost that game in relatively lopsided fashion. In addition, a look at their roster overall shows that several areas need to be addressed either be re-signing internal options or by looking at the open market for reinforcements.
With that in mind, let’s go through our admittedly subjective ranking to find out where New England has the biggest potential for improvement in free agency.
14. Quarterback: The Patriots have Drake Maye, and everything behind him is just gravy. That said, having Joshua Dobbs still under contract and re-signing Tommy DeVito on a two-year extension gives New England some solid depth options at the most important position in the sport.
13. Long snapper: Julian Ashby played good football as a rookie in 2025. Nothing to worry about here.
12. Kicker: Even though Andy Borregales had his ups and downs, particularly down the stretch, he showed enough flashes to be given more opportunities. Maybe another kicker gets added as a camp leg of sorts, but the spot is fine with Borregales as the top option.
11. Punter: Bryce Baringer is entering the final year of his rookie contract off a campaign that features plenty of ups but also the occasional down. The Patriots might try to bring in some competition this offseason.
10.Cornerback: With Christian Gonzalez, Carlton Davis and Marcus Jones as the top three, the starter level is set in stone. The group behind them could benefit from some upgrades and developmental depth, especially now that Alex Austin is headed for the open market.
9. Off-ball linebacker: Eliot Wolf said at the Scouting Combine that the Patriots would like to add some youth at linebacker, but that they are quite happy with the group they have. That makes sense, with Robert Spillane and Christian Elliss providing some quality play from atop the depth chart.
8. Running back: Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson are a perfectly fine one-two at running back, and should show some natural growth in 2026. That said, their presence should not prevent the Patriots from adding extra depth and upside.
7. Offensive tackle: Will Campbell and Morgan Moses are expected back as the starting tandem at offensive tackle, but questions remain. While the ones surrounding Campbell have been the most publicised in the aftermath of the Super Bowl, the biggest might be how to build depth behind them and prepare for Morgan to eventually call it a career possibly as early as next offseason.
6. Interior defensive line: Few positions on the roster have as many high-profile moving pieces as the interior D-line. Besides Khyiris Tonga being one of three free agents, the Patriots also have yet to learn about Christian Barmore’s fate in light of his legal issues. At this point, everything seems possible with this group.
5. Safety: Jaylinn Hawkins is an unrestricted free agent, but even retaining him should not keep the Patriots from adding to the group. Craig Woodson played some solid football as a rookie starter last year, but he alone won’t be able to get the job done
4. Tight end: Hunter Henry is not getting any younger, and the depth behind him no more exciting. The Patriots should be looking at bringing some youth into the fold to improve the outlook not just temporarily but in the long term.
3. Interior offensive line: With Garrett Bradbury off to Chicago, the Patriots are now looking at an interior starting group of Ben Brown Jared Wilson and Mike Onwenu. They are expected to add a stater-level left guard to move Brown back to his role as a top backup, possibly as early as this coming week.
2. Wide receiver: Stefon Diggs was the Patriots’ most productive wideout a year ago, but he will be cut after the start of the new league year. His departure creates a massive spot in the starting lineup, but also gives the team resources to aggressively pursue another wideout on the open market.
1. Edge: Harold Landry will turn 30 this summer and is coming off an injury-plagued season; Anfernee Jennings and Elijah Ponder are solid depth pieces, but seemingly no future world-beaters either; Bradyn Swinson is a total wildcard; and finally: K’Lavon Chaisson is headed for free agency after arguably the best season of his career. Whether it is bringing him back or going after outside options, or both, the need along the edge is obvious.
So, there you have it, our definitive list of Patriots needs heading toward free agency. Speaking of which, please head down to the comments to discuss.
Jeremy Springer extension
The Patriots’ kicking game unit had some ups and downs, but the group as a whole mostly performed well in its 548 total snaps in 2025 — a direct reflection of its coach. Don’t take it from us either: the Patriots apparently agree, or else they would not have recently signed special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer to a new two-year extension.
“Blessed for the opportunity, blessed to work with some incredible people every day,” Springer told the New England Football Journal. “I’m so excited to be here. I say it all the time, but I live on a week-to-week basis, a year-to-year basis. It doesn’t matter what happened, the work is still being in the present. All that matters for me right now is the month of March, then April, then June. I’m just excited to keep working with this staff and to have this opportunity. It’s a blast.”
Gonzalez extension floor
One of the Patriots’ biggest to-dos this offseason is signing star cornerback Christian Gonzalez to a new contract. While he is still signed through 2026 and possibly 2027 as well, if the fifth-year option is exercised, he has shown that he is the type of blue-chip, building block player worthy of being locked up early and for the long haul.
Obviously, as with all things NFL contracts, money will do the talking. And what that money could look like could soon be revealed: Trent McDuffie, who was traded from the Chiefs to the Rams this offseason, is up for a new deal, and could end up setting the floor for what Gonzalez will be looking for.
What could that floor look like? It seems like McDuffie will become the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL and surpass the $30.1 million annual average of Sauce Gardner’s current deal with the Colts.
Thoughts on the Maxx Crosby trade
Even though there had been some speculation, Maxx Crosby will not wearing the Patriots’ colors anytime soon. The Pro Bowl edge was traded to the Ravens this week, with the Raiders getting a pair of first-round draft picks back in return.
Make no mistake, Crosby is a good player who kept producing at a high level even while playing on one of the worst teams in the NFL year in and year out. He should do fine in Baltimore, and help the Ravens bolster their front seven and ability to go after opposing quarterbacks.
The Patriots, meanwhile, are left empty-handed despite having expressed some level of interest in Crosby previously. They are better off for it, not because of Crosby — as noted above, he is a quality player — but rather because of what it would have cost to pry him loose from Las Vegas. Maybe the Ravens feel like they are that one piece away from turning the corner, but New England sure isn’t despite having advanced a lot farther in last year’s playoffs (which wasn’t hard to do given that Baltimore failed to qualify).
The two first-round draft picks therefore look more valuable for the Patriots than Crosby would have been. Yes, he would have helped fill the biggest need on the team but limited its flexibility in both free agency and the draft.
Business licensing dispute
A Boston restaurant received a three-day suspension of its liquor license this week, and the Patriots play a role in that. The establishment hosted a group of unnamed players on an after-hour party following the AFC Championship Game, and the event led to police being called.
According to the police report, officers claimed around 30 people were present and drinking. Furthermore, dollar bills were spread across the floor, with drinks, liquor bottles and hookahs as well as “multiple exotic dancers” present as well.
While none of the players present got into any legal trouble for the circumstances of the police arriving as far as we can tell, the restaurant hosting them on the private party did.
Week ahead
As noted above, one of the busiest weeks on the NFL calendar is coming up and the action will start right on Monday: at noon ET, the legal-tampering window will open. From there, the news will keep coming in because the start of free agency is only one part of what is going on this week.
A look at our Patriots offseason calendar shows this:
March 9-11: Legal tampering period
While free agency proper will not being until later that week, meaning that players are not allowed to sign contracts at this point, the legal-tampering period effectively marks the start of player movement. Between 12 p.m. ET on March 9 and 3:59:59 p.m. ET on March 11, “clubs are permitted to contact, and enter into contract negotiations with the certified agents of players who will become unrestricted free agents upon the expiration of their 2025 player contracts.” Of course, there always has been a rather loose interpretation of what this means. One of our favorite example comes from the 2019 free agency period, when then-Patriots offensive tackle Trent Brown agreed to a multi-million dollar contract within nine minutes of the window opening.
March 11: Free agency and 2026 NFL league year begin
Once the clock strikes 4 p.m. on March 11, the NFL is officially on to 2026. This means the “real” start of free agency as well as the implementation of the salary cap rules: by the start of the league year, teams have to be under the cap. The Patriots are in good shape in both areas given the aforementioned $42 million in projected cap space as well as a free agents list lacking definitive star power despite several starter-level contributors being on it.
In addition to free agency, 4 p.m. ET on March 11 also marks the deadline for teams to exercise contract options (of which New England has none) as well as submit offers to their unrestricted and exclusive rights free agents. There are several Patriots players falling into those categories, even though it seems unlikely any RFA tenders will be given out.
Besides free agency, the Patriots also will have to make a decision on defensive tackle Christian Barmore. On Friday, Mar. 13, $10 million of his salary will become fully guaranteed. Considering his unclear legal situation, this will be an interesting deadline to keep an eye on.
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