The 10 most important figures of the Patriots’ offseason

No crew made larger splashes final offseason than the Patriots, who spent a league-high $192 million assured in free company and drafted within the prime 5.

However even when their splashes are smaller this 12 months, the stakes of the Pats’ 2026 offseason are simply as excessive.

The Patriots are again within the interior circle of NFL contenders, having zipped from rebuilding straight to chasing championships after a shock Tremendous Bowl run of their first season below Mike Vrabel. Despite the fact that their roster expertise has markedly improved from a 12 months in the past, the Pats’ competitors will quickly degree up, too, with a brutally troublesome schedule in 2026. To remain one step forward, the Patriots should patch most holes on their depth chart and fortify their present strengths, which would require extra good work in free company, the draft and commerce market.

To that finish, Vrabel gained’t be the one individual figuring out whether or not the Pats finally succeed within the coming weeks and months.

Listed below are the ten most necessary figures within the crew’s offseason:

Stefon Diggs

The construction of Diggs’ contract successfully ensures either side will return to the negotiating desk lower than 12 months after he signed final March. Diggs is owed simply $1.7 million assured over the ultimate two years of his deal, whereas he’s scheduled to depend for $26.5 million in opposition to the crew’s 2026 cap. Based on Over the Cap, if Diggs is on the roster March 13, he’ll add an additional $6 million in ensures, although it stands to purpose he’ll need much more having simply authored the franchise’s first 1,000-yard season in six years.

Will the Patriots give it to him? Or do they imagine they will discover a higher No. 1 large receiver elsewhere, particularly after Diggs totaled simply 110 receiving yards within the playoffs? He’ll additionally flip 33 this November and faces serious charges of felony strangulation or suffocation and misdemeanor assault stemming from an alleged incident final December.

With out Diggs, the Patriots would indisputably be worse on the sector. But when he once more tops their receiver depth chart in 2026, it’s doubtless they are going to run into the identical issues in opposition to elite defenses as they did within the postseason.

Based on Over the Cap, the Patriots would create roughly $16 million in cap room by reducing Diggs earlier than June 1 and take up a $9.8 million cap hit. In the event that they commerce him, they might add $17.5 million in cap house and take an $8 million cap hit. Restructuring or extending his deal may be on the desk.

Eliot Wolf

The person on the prime of the Patriots’ entrance workplace has a number of difficult choices on the docket.

What to do with Diggs?

How a lot ought to he spend money on the offensive line? Or does the O-line merely want time and endurance? Ought to Jared Wilson transfer again to heart, the place he would change Garrett Bradbury, a favourite of Drake Maye’s, and let the Pats pursue a veteran left guard?

Is a Maxx Crosby trade viable?

If not, how else can the Patriots sharpen their move rush? Does that embrace re-signing Okay’Lavon Chaisson with out over-paying him?

And the way a lot does Christian Gonzalez deserve in an extension?

Talking of the star nook …

Christian Gonzalez

Think about being a 23-year-old with an imminent payday north of $100 million, and all you need to do is sit there and watch for it.

That is life as Christian Gonzalez is aware of it.

Gonzalez ought to quickly become the highest-paid cornerback in NFL historical past, having not too long ago change into eligible for a contract extension on the conclusion of his third season. His deal ought to construct on one, if not each, of the 2 richest offers signed by a nook: Sauce Gardner (4-year, $120.4 million) and Derek Stingley (3-year, $90 million with $89 million assured).

The one query is whether or not Seattle’s Devon Witherspoon beats him to that title. As a fellow 2023 first-round decide, Witherspoon can be newly eligible for an extension and among the finest corners in soccer. All 4 events concerned — the Patriots’ entrance workplace, Gonzalez’s camp, the Seahawks’ entrance workplace and Witherspoon’s camp — are conscious of the truth that the primary participant to ink an extension will set the opposite up for a barely larger payday. That’s precisely how Gardner’s deal performed out final 12 months, 4 months after Stingley signed.

So, will Gonzalez play hardball realizing the Patriots want him and should make him the highest-paid participant at his place sooner somewhat than later? Does he need extra complete {dollars}, like Gardner, or larger ensures like Stingley? Do the Pats retain him for 3 years, by way of his age-26 season, or for 4, successfully locking him up by way of his prime?

John Spytek

Reportedly, Crosby has stated he gained’t play one other down in Las Vegas, the place the Raiders’ new regime is now attempting to rein of their 28-year-old star move rusher. If Crosby does hit the commerce block, the Pats must be on the entrance of the road to scoop him up, and that line can be crowded, which suggests Wolf should persuade Raiders GM John Spytek he has one of the best package deal to expedite one other rebuild in Las Vegas.

Does Spytek need picks? Younger gamers? Will Spytek negotiate with any directions or enter from minority proprietor Tom Brady, who might really feel a method or one other about coping with his former crew?

Any commerce talks ought to begin with the Patriots’ first-round decide at No. 31 total, plus another smaller belongings; be it a Day 2 choice, late-round decide or youthful participant (DeMario Douglas or Christian Elliss anybody?). Until the Seahawks bounce into the Crosby sweepstakes, the Pats’ first-rounder can be much less priceless than every other provided to the Raiders, which places them at a drawback. So what can they add to compensate?

Even when Wolf and Vrabel give the OK, that’s a query for Spytek.

AJ Brown

It feels just like the Brown-to-New England rumors have circulated for years.

However after a disappointing Eagles season the place Brown’s displeasure with the state of the passing offense was no secret, what’s yet one more offseason within the rumor mill?

Brown’s historical past with Vrabel is an apparent issue right here, although a number of others are extra necessary. Specifically, Eagles GM Howie Roseman is perpetually in win-now mode, and buying and selling his No. 1 receiver for picks wouldn’t place Philadelphia any nearer to a Tremendous Bowl. It could take Brown making a large number, a la an NBA famous person, for this kind of commerce to achieve any traction.

However stranger issues have occurred, particularly with the Eagles.

Robert Kraft

Kraft turns 85 in June.

His days because the front-facing proprietor of the Patriots are numbered, together with his son, Jonathan, President of the Kraft Group, ready to succeed him. Kraft simply received a whiff of the Tremendous Bowl after 4 dropping seasons in 5 years. So may he push Wolf and Vrabel to function with extra of a win-now mentality than the Patriots have previously?

Unlikely. However it may possibly’t be dominated out. The octogenarian proprietor is an everlasting optimist, and it’s simple to speak somebody with that sort of perception of their crew into being only one piece away.

If custom holds, Kraft may even deal with reporters on the annual league conferences in late March. Would possibly he provide some perception or commentary about being neglected of the Corridor of Fame but once more?

Drake Maye

This can be a sneaky large offseason for Maye.

He’s now an MVP runner-up with a Tremendous Bowl look on his resume. The child gloves are off, particularly at house, the place he’s not a rookie nor a 23-year-old quarterback discovering his approach below one more new coach and offensive coordinator. Expectations for Maye subsequent season can be as excessive as every other quarterback within the league, and rightfully so.

So how does Maye behave below these expectations? How does he lead contained in the constructing? How does he prepare to get rid of the pointless sacks and hits he took final season? What does he be taught from how defenses bottled him up within the playoffs?

And extra instantly, can Maye efficiently pitch free brokers to come back to New England? Inside and outdoors the constructing, it’s on Maye to take possession of the Patriots. It’s his crew and his time.