The Patriots spent the start of free agency on the sidelines.
This, unfortunately, was to be expected.
Sources told the Herald at the scouting combine the Patriots saw few game-changers in this year’s free-agent class. Therefore, the front office was prepared to be priced out on players they liked, but didn’t love. And so they were outbid, just as they outbid teams in their pursuit of Milton Williams, Carlton Davis, Robert Spillane and others amid a $300 million spending spree last year.
Within five minutes of free agency opening, Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce re-signed for $29 million annually. The Pats had interest, but league rumblings suggested that interest would not exceed $26-27 million per year in any offer. What’s an extra two or three million bucks to them?
Great question.
Once Pierce came off the board, the front office reached terms with a mid-level veteran, Dre’Mont Jones, who helped address their lagging pass rush but wasn’t among the top six edge defenders available. The Patriots then inked ex-Bills fullback Reggie Gilliam, who also addressed another need in a way you can eat a rice cake as a snack. Technically true and temporarily filling, but hardly satisfying for a franchise hungry to re-establish itself as a perennial contender.
The Pats need more. That much was obvious at this stage of free agency, a frenzied sprint the Patriots often treated as the start of a marathon in the Belichick era before lapping the competition when the games started thanks in part to value signings. Last season, underneath all the splashy free-agent signings, the Pats hit on several middle-class and bargain-bin veterans who helped power their Super Bowl run: K’Lavon Chaisson, Khyiris Tonga, Mack Hollins, Jaylinn Hawkins and Morgan Moses.
But now, hitting on deals like those seems to be their entire free-agent plan. That approach carries less obvious risk than signing a big-time free agent, but risk nonetheless. Because there’s swinging and missing, and then there’s bunting and missing, bunting and missing, then bunting foul for strike three.
As of late Monday night, here are more bite-sized Patriots takeaways and nuggets from Day 1:
Carolina’s lesson hurts Pats
The Patriots intended to add their outside linebacker room with one, if not two, free-agent additions. On Monday, there was Jones and then … radio silence.
In a roundabout way, the Pats may have themselves to blame.
Jaelan Phillips of the Philadelphia Eagles in action against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on November 10, 2025 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Less than an hour after the market opened, Carolina agreed to a massive deal with Jaelan Phillips that overshot expectations. The ex-Eagles and Dolphins pass rusher landed a 4-year, $120 million deal with $80 million guaranteed after Philadelphia, which traded a third-round pick for him last November, worked to retain him. The Panthers, though, would not be denied. Why?
Remember the bidding war they lost last year to the Patriots over Williams? Since then, they’ve had to watch the Pats make the Super Bowl with Williams, a player Carolina they believed they were signing until Mike Vrabel and Eliot Wolf kept upping their offer. So instead of losing Phillips, Carolina appears to have pushed its offer higher and higher and the edge defender market, too.
Almost four hours later, Washington handed Odafe Oweh a $100 million contract. Ex-Seahawks outside linebacker Boye Mafe, who had two sacks last season, got $20 million per year from the Bengals. The Patriots had eyes on both players.
As of late Monday night, that left Trey Hendrickson, the best available edge defender all along, as the only Pro Bowl-caliber option left. K’Lavon Chaisson is available, too, but paying players after a breakout season is generally a fool’s errand. Still, think either Hendrickson or Chaisson will take anything less than top dollar now? Ha.
No Mike Evans
After reportedly pursuing Pierce, the 49ers agreed with Mike Evans to a three-year, $60.4 million deal. Evans, it seems, was their Plan B.
But he wasn’t the Patriots’.
The Pats did not pursue Evans, according to sources. Evans is a six-time Pro Bowler with 1,000 receiving yards in 11 of his 12 NFL seasons. The Patriots already have receivers who excel downfield, like Evans, though that didn’t stop them from pursing Pierce, whose game-breaking speed is one of the major differences between him and the future Hall of Famer, as well as a seven-year age gap.
On guard
Days after trading center Garrett Bradbury to Chicago for a fifth-round pick — a solid piece of business with Bradbury entering a contract year but also immediate consequences — the Pats have a hole in their offensive line.
If the Patriots are ever going to extend themselves, there are two left guards worthy of overpays who were available as of late Monday: Alijah Vera-Tucker and Joel Bitonio. Vera-Tucker is an injury-plagued former first-round pick who played across the offensive line for the Jets and thrived at guard. Dropping him between Will Campbell and Jared Wilson could result in a stable left side of their offensive line for three-plus years.
Bitonio, meanwhile, is eight years older but just as appealing with a lower price tag. He’s a former captain and All-Pro in Cleveland, where the Browns signed Zion Johnson to replace him. Bitonio knows Vrabel, who surely can see the wisdom in bringing in a 34-year-old with still elite pass-blocking skills to mentor and patch his offensive line.
Dylan Parham, whom Josh McDaniels drafted in Las Vegas where he started four years, is also available. Time to pay big bucks for the big fellas.
Farewell, Khyiris Tonga
One of the friendliest, most well-liked players I’ve ever covered in Foxboro is now a Chief.
Defensive tackle Khyiris Tonga, who started eight of 14 game appearances last season, was respected across the locker room. On Monday, he left for a 3-year, $21 million deal in Kansas City. Tonga’s market grew after extension talks between the team and his camp broke down in December.
If the Patriots had a do-over on those negotiations, my sense is they would take it.
