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FOXBOROUGH - Big afternoon at Gillette Stadium today. The Patriots trotted out its newest acquisitions via free agency. All eight of them, from the soft-spoken Romeo Doubbs right on down to special teamer/safety Mike Brown, got to spend some quality time with yours truly and the rest of the Boston media contingent. ‘Dear Diary, you won’t believe what happened to me today. It was the greatest day of my life.’ Or something like that...
Before I dive deep into our session with Eliot Wolf (no Mike Vrabel until league meetings later this month), just a few nuggets worth sharing.
- Alijah Vera-Tucker said he has not been told what position he’ll be playing, but Wolf indicated it would be left guard. The former Jet still has some restrictions from a workout standpoint as he recovers from a torn tricep suffered right before the 2025-26 season, but told us he expects to be a full-go by OTAs.
- Reggie Gilliam is very familiar with the Pats playbook. He’s already thumbed through it, and it has a lot of similarities to what he experienced in Buffalo when Brian Daboll was the offensive coordinator.
- Dre’Mont Jones does not, in fact, weigh 281 pounds (as he is listed). He wouldn’t give me a number but did say it was in the 260s (my guess is the low 260s). That helps explain why he was able to play most of his snaps as a standup edge player while still being able to kick inside on obvious passing downs, thanks to his experience at a heavier weight.
- Doubs said the team didn’t discuss what his role will be in the offense, but that he is comfortable wherever they decide to line him up (more on that in a minute).
- On the surface, tight end Julian Hill got himself a decent contract from the team. 3 years worth up to $18 million. Also, Jones receives $23.3 million in guaranteed money.
Ok, on to Wolf. He did two media sessions, one with the writers and another with the TV types.
Here’s what I would consider the most relevant parts of the Q&A:
What went into moving on from Stefon Diggs? “Just a variety of factors, looking at financials, ability, you know, a lot of things go into this, and we have nothing but respect for Stefon. He was an absolute warrior for us, as I said to him multiple times after games, and just really appreciate all his contributions to the team.
Were there conversations about reworking his deal? “We talked about a variety of options, and ultimately, just went in this direction. And, you know, excited to move forward with the guys that we signed.
Doubs didn’t play a ton on the inside. Do you foresee him being able to do more of that? “I think he has a really cool skill set. I think you play outside. Inside, he blocks. He can play Z, can play X. He's good on the short routes. He's good in the deep routes. He's good with the ball in his hands. He has a lot of route variants that we liked, and is strong for the ball. There are some things that he can improve upon that we'll try to help him with. But overall, just the competitor, the person, I mean, I don't know if you guys saw him up here. He was already in the playbook. He was on his iPad learning the formations while I was trying to get him to sign his contract this morning.” (When asked if they could revisit something with Diggs later, Wolf didn’t rule it out and also added that they have plenty of players who can play different spots.)
Are you done adding at wide receiver? “Again, we're always open to trying to improve the team any way we can.”
Were you ever in on Maxx Crosby? “We make a lot of exploratory calls and, you know, I'll just leave it at that (slight chuckle).”
Would you be open to revisiting those talks for Crosby (again, he didn’t confirm whether they did or didn’t)? “I'd have to talk to (cap guy) Richard Miller about our numbers right now.”
How did you weigh risk/reward with Vera-Tucker? “We just looked at the film, and the youth and the type of injuries it was - all factors that we talked about - and just ultimately, we felt like taking a swing at a player that’s still young and still has upside and is a really good player at his position.”
Where do the game changers on this roster come from (the idea of the question being that they’ve added good starters, but not on the highest end)? “I think we have a solid roster. I don't know that I'd necessarily agree that we don't have really good players on this team, difference makers. I would say Vera-Tucker in 2024 was one of the best guards in the NFL. So, I don't know if you can call a guard a difference-maker, but he's got a chance to do that. I think Doubs is really good. Dre’Mont is really good. I think that, you know, we're doing everything we can to help improve the team.”
Was there an emphasis on improving the ground game? “I think there are points in the season where we didn't run the ball as well as we would have liked last year, for a variety of reasons. And I think adding the fullback, guard, and a tight end who's primarily been a blocker in his career, certainly was intentional, trying to get some toughness and some identity guys for Coach Vrabel and the offense.”
On reports of continued interest in AJ Brown? “We'll explore anything that we think can help the team.”
On Christian Gonzalez's extension? “It's no secret we'd like to keep Christian Gonzalez, and I don't know what the timing of that is, but that's something that certainly we're preparing for.”
Why are you so adamant that Will Campbell is your left tackle? “We know who the free agents are going to be at left tackle. We know who's in the draft at left tackle. We know that we're picking 31st, and again, if there's somebody that's a better left tackle than Will Campbell that's available, we'll look at anything. Just not sure how realistic that is at this time.”
What’s his relationship like with Eagles GM Howie Roseman, and is there a drop-dead date in terms of potential trade talks? “I have a great relationship with Howie. I've known him for a long time. They actually put in a permission slip for me when I was in Green Bay as a young scout, and that got blocked. I've known Howie for a long time. We have a good relationship. We talk often. He's obviously a great resource and someone you can learn a lot from.
“And then, as far as the deadline thing, I think the only real deadlines you have are, you know, sort of maybe salary cap related. For instance, did we spend money in free agency that would take us out of something else, but I wouldn’t say there’s a deadline in trying to improve the team.”
Did you spend too much in free agency to be involved with someone like, say, a wide receiver in Philadelphia? “I'm not going to talk about a specific player that's under contract with another team, but we're happy. We're happy with the guys that we signed.”
BSJ ANALYSIS
I asked several questions in the scrum, and that last one was most definitely yours truly. It struck me that Wolf, who didn’t brush off a couple of inquiries about Crosby (not that he revealed anything), got a little tight and invoked the “not going to talk about a specific player that’s under contract line.” That’s right out of the Bill Belichick playbook. But it also ducked the question, which was clearly about whether they’ve spent to their limit here in free agency. Now obviously, things can change. They could restructure deals or move on from higher-priced players to improve cash flow (always important to the owner), while still being able to extend and absorb Brown’s sizeable contract. But the fact that Wolf brought up Richard Miller and the numbers suggested they were creeping toward the end of their budget. I could be wrong, but that’s certainly the vibe I picked up.
Bedard here. The numbers for Doubs, Byard and Hill are not in yet. But guestimating, I'd say the Patriots are right around the projected cash budget I had for them in the offseason, and they hit every one of the needs I had for them. To go further, I think either they're going to have to offset the cash — Mike Onwenu, Christian Barmore — and/or Robert Kraft would have to approve a special expenditure.
After being $48 milllion cash over cap the previous two years, the Patriots are -$36 million right now. So they are $12 million cash over cap during this 3-year window. ... Actually, I forgot about Anfernee Jennings' release, which frees up $4 million more cash. Updated estimates: