4 Thoughts On The Patriots’ Third Day Of Nfl Free Agency

The New England Patriots were relatively quiet on Tuesday, reaching an agreement with only one free agent player, wide receiver Romeo Doubs. They picked up the pace again on Wednesday, adding four outside players to the mix, making several tender decisions, and seeing a quartet of players depart.

Here are our quick-hit thoughts on those moves and the third day of free agency week as a whole.

Safety upgrade

Jaylinn Hawkins, who signed a two-year, $10 million pact in Baltimore, was a perfectly serviceable player for the Patriots, who successfully made the transition from role and special teams player to three-down starter during his two seasons in New England. He finished the 2025 season ranked third on the team in defensive snaps and while his five takeaways were more than any other of his teammates registered.

And yet, the Patriots managed to upgrade at the position. Kevin Byard, who they signed on a one-year, $9 million deal on Wednesday, remains one of the top safeties in the NFL even coming off his age-32 season.

A member of the Bears, he finished 2025 with a league-leading seven interceptions, was voted first-team All-Pro for the third time in his career, and played a pivotal leadership role. While it remains to be seen what his impact in New England will be, he presents an on-paper improvement over an above-average player who was probably best suited for a more specified role than the one he held in 2025.

Edge downgrade

The Patriots entered the week with questions about their defensive edge, and four days in those questions still remain. While they did sign Dre’Mont Jones to a three-year, $36.5 million deal on the first day of legal tampering, they saw both K’Lavon Chaisson and Anfernee Jennings depart on Wednesday: the former signed a one-year deal worth $11 million with the Commanders, while the latter was released.

Those moves as well as the prior release of versatile linebacker Jahlani Tavai leave the Patriots understaffed on the edge. Sure, sophomores Elijah Ponder and Bradyn Swinson are in line to make the famous second-year jump but that does not mean they will rise to starter-level contributors especially against the run.

And that’s where the biggest question is at the moment. For their shortcomings in other areas, both Jennings and Tavai were capable early-down players when aligned on the edge. Maybe the Patriots feel strongly about their youngsters to help fill that role, maybe they see Harold Landry and Jones as true three-down players (something Chaisson was only to a certain degree).

Still, as of today, the edge depth chart as a whole looks worse than it coming out of the season. That does not mean there is no potential for the current group to improve, but rather that additional investments might be needed for the Patriots not to leave themselves overly vulnerable.

Chaisson surprise

Speaking of K’Lavon Chaisson, he was one of the few big names on the Patriots’ list of free agents. And yet, despite that and the fact that he led the team in sacks during the 2025 season, their partnership will come to an end after just one year.

The question is why that is the case. Surely the Patriots would have been able to match or surpass the Commanders’ one-year, $11 million deal with $10.3 million in guarantees. And surely, Chaisson would not have been opposed to staying with the team that helped him play the best football of his career.

So, what’s going on?

We can only speculate on personal intentions, but from a team perspective it feels like it saw an opportunity to upgrade and jumped on it. Whether or not Dre’Mont Jones will be just that is the subject of speculation at this point in time, but there is evidence to support this line of thinking: he had a higher pass rush win rate in 2025 and has been a superior if himself not overly spectacular run defender throughout his career.

And with him added to the mix, the need to also invest in Chaisson became limited despite the still-lingering overall questions on the edge.

0-for-5

Coming out of their loss in Super Bowl LX, the Patriots had 14 players headed for free agency. Six among them were in the unrestricted category, and as of Thursday morning all but one of them have left the team: tight end Austin Hooper, offensive tackle Vederian Lowe and defensive tackle Khyiris Tonga signed elsewhere on Monday, followed by Chaisson and Hawkins on Wednesday.

This leaves only one UFA — backup offensive tackle Thayer Munford Jr. — standing. There is a chance he returns, but if he does not the Patriots will ended up having gone 0-for-6 when it comes to retaining their unrestricted free agency class.

In a way, that low hit rate was by design. Hooper looked like a goner all offseason, while Lowe was willing to look for an opportunity elsewhere. The fates of Chaisson and Hawkins, meanwhile, were seemingly sealed when the Patriots brought Jones and Byard aboard on what are more expensive deals based on their annual average value.

This leaves Tonga as the only player the team was actively trying to bring back into the mix but was unable to do so. Even though the two sides almost reached an agreement on a contract extension during the season, he opted to test the free agency waters and was rewarded with a three-year, $21 million deal.

While retaining him would probably have been the Patriots’ preferred outcome, none of the other departures feel like overly crippling losses at this point in time and within the context of the team’s roster construction overall.