5 New England Patriots Free Agency Targets
By Liam McKeone
The New England Patriots are at a crossroads this offseason. The 2023 season was a catastrophe of epic proportions that led to the ouster of Bill Belichick and pretty much all of his cronies from the organization. Jerod Mayo is now in charge and brought sweeping changes already, doubling the size of the coaching staff with almost all new faces. Now the franchise is armed with the No. 3 overall pick in the draft and $86 million in cap space to utilize to overhaul the roster and return to playoff contention.
The Pats probably won't have all of that money to play with. A few of their own young talents they'd like to keep, like Kyle Dugger and/or Michael Onwenu, are hitting the open market. But they'll still have more cap space than nearly every other team in the league. As new unofficial general manager Eliot Wolf told media at the combine on Tuesday, sometimes it just comes down to who has the most money.
#Patriots director of scouting Eliot Wolf asked about his recruiting pitch: "It's a new program. ... It's a new era."
— Henry McKenna (@henrycmckenna) February 27, 2024
He added: "Teams can put their best recruiting pitch on, and at the end of the day, a lot of times, [players] go to whoever's offering the most money." pic.twitter.com/08xvPIe3tL
That sounds like a man willing to throw his franchise's financial weight around to get what he wants. New England can pursue several paths towards rebuilding their team in free agency. There are some needs that take top priority -- like a pass catcher -- but the Patriots have plenty of choices this offseason. Which ones they make in free agency will provide clarity into how they plan to operate in the draft and then the 2024 NFL season. We'll visit several of those possible paths and their alternatives below.
Here are five free agent targets for the Patriots to pursue when everything gets started on March 11.