A Patriots Fan’s Free Agency Shopping List

As you and I discussed the other day, it’s been years since anyone had a handle on what the Patriots intended to do in free agency. Gone are days when you could look at all the rankings of available players, start at the bottom, and just work your way up to some bargain basement role player would sign here. On Day 3 of the period. For an average salary at his position, plus incentives, and paid for in deferred salary and some Ocean State Job Lot Crazy Deal Bucks. 

So it’s a fool’s errand to try and predict what Mike Vrabel and Eliot Wolf’s intentions are. What we can make an educated guess on, based on what they’ve said, they mean to:

–Build from the trenches, out.

–Become tougher and more physical. In Vrabel’s words, add “violent players.”

–Come out of free agency with an intact roster they could line up and compete with.

–Contend for championships in the long term, but with the immediate goal of simply being a tough out. A pain in the ass to play. So no repeats of the late season games where they just rolled over and exposed their soft underbelly to be gored by the Cardinals and Chargers.

Beyond that, like which players on the market fit system in terms of height, weight, speed and so on, everybody’s guess is as good as mine. All we can do is look at the list of the best players available, understand that every position group on the field besides quarterback is an area of need, and hope that having 30% more cap room than the No. 2 team in the league means they’ll be shopping like Al Bundy at the Foodies’ Millionth Customer Challenge:

So without further preamble, let’s get to the wish list, more or less in order of priority:

LT Ronnie Stanley

It’s very possible that by the time I’m done posting this, Stanley might already have re-signed with Baltimore. Here’s hoping not. Like it says above, if he makes it to the open market, the Pats will face stiff competition from Kansas City, but this is a bidding war worth winning. Left tackle has been gigantic canyon-sized hole in the roster ever since they let Nate Solder leave in 2018. Even though they got lucky with one miraculous championship season out of Trent Brown, no one else has even come close to filling that hole in. Sign Stanley, who’s 30 years old, and you’ve not only solved this chronic problem for the next four or five seasons, you’ve freed yourself up to use the No. 4 draft pick on other areas of need, like wide receiver. Fail to do so, and you’ve left yourself no other choice but to take the best LT on your board. 

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DT Milton Williams

To repeat myself from earlier in the week:

Williams is a former 3rd round pick who has improved every single season of his career. A smaller, penetrating defensive tackle in the mold of (not comparing them; just talking about their playing style) of Aaron Donald. What the Pats hoped Dominique Easley would be, Williams has become. Last season he was 15th in overall Pro Football Focus defensive grade among DTs, No. 1 at his position in pass rush grade, and finished in the top 10 among interior rushers in sacks, hurries and total pressures. Pete Prisco of CBS has him listed as his 6th best free agent. And tomorrow is his 26th birthday. Plug this guy into the middle of the line alongside (a hopefully fully healthy) Christian Barmore and Keion White, and you’ll create matchup nightmares among all guards and centers in the league, where last year there was no pass rush at all to speak of.

Edge Josh Sweat

Sweat’s production wasn’t off the charts in 2024. But he was Top 20-25 at his position in every pass rush category. And was still 28th in solo tackles, despite being in run defense on only 29% of his total defensive snaps. The thing about him is that at 6-foot-5, 265 pounds and with 4.53 speed, he perfectly fits the prototype of an Edge player in Belichick’s scheme. The one Vrabel mastered. Whether that has any value in the exchange rate to Vrabel and Terrell Williams system? Beats me. But at just about 28 years old, Sweat is the age Matthew Judon was when he signed here. And he worked out OK.

WR Chris Godwin

Just to build from the outside-in a little bit, it turned out Tee Higgins was just a pipe dream (for now). But as of this week, Tampa Bay reportedly passed on Franchising Godwin and the 144% bump in pay that would require, making him the best receiver option. Still, he’s not exactly hitting the open market dealing from a huge position of strength, as he missed the second half of the season with an ankle dislocation. Prior to going down though? He was Godwinesque, with zero drops on 52 targets. Which lowered his career percentage of only 6%. While the Patriots have long had a hell of time finding receivers who could function in Josh McDaniels’ system, one need look no further than how Godwin functioned in it from the moment in 2020 when Tom Brady took a pair of wirecutters to Bruce Arians’ headset and started running the offense he perfected. Godwin topped 1,000 yards twice with Brady, and again for Baker Mayfield when the GOAT retired. That was as the Bucs’ WR1 behind Mike Evans. In Foxboro, he’d be the unquestioned Alpha. 

LB Dre Greenlaw

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Greenlaw would be the most Belichickian of signings. A former top-tier player at his position who missed all but 34 snaps last season with an Achilles injury. But one he’d suffered leading his team to the Super Bowl the year before. So while he’s had time to heal, he might be better off taking a short term “prove it” deal. When healthy, he’s a 100-tackle guy in the middle of your defense, which was sorely lacking once Ju’Whaun Bentley went down last year. If his medicals check out, Greenlaw would be exactly the sort of culture-changing tough guy Vrabel is looking for. 

Edge Haason Reddick

OK, maybe “2021: Bullied by Mac Jones” shouldn’t be on anyone’s LinkedIn profile. But Reddick is another guy who could use a comeback season after having a down year with the Jets (which can be contagious) in a contract dispute. After four straight seasons of 13-plus sacks for three different teams, he only had three in 10 games in 2024. Let him off the leash in a system like Philly’s and he’s a pure disruptor. And the model of consistent production. In two seasons there he had 68 & 67 pressures, 40 & 41 hurries, 18 & 13 sacks, and 10 & 13 QB hits. He’s entering his ninth season and will 31 in September, meaning if he doesn’t get his last big payday right now, he’ll need to have a stellar season to get it next year. I love a guy who has that kind of incentive. Almost as much as I love signing a guy away from the Jets and watching him succeed right in their faces. 

T Cam Robinson

Some in the football intelligentsia have Robinson ahead of Stanley. Which I guess can be justified since Jacksonville Franchised him twice and the Vikings swung a trade for him at the deadline last year. I don’t think he’s better than Stanley. In fact, I think he’s a slightly above left tackle who is coming off his statistically worst season in pass protection, with 52 total pressures allowed. But that wouldn’t prevent him from being a significant upgrade in New England. And yes,  Doug Marrone coaching the offensive line now could help immensely. 

CB Rasul Douglas

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In a perfect offseason, the Pats fill their desperate need offensive tackles before the draft, Travis Hunter falls to them at No. 4, and you’ve got your bookend cornerback opposite Christian Douglas. But you can’t have too many. Especially when your CB2 is also your WR1. So Douglas would be a terrific fit at an area of need. He doesn’t have elite straight line speed, but he spends a preposterous amount of time with his hands on the ball. In seven seasons before last year, he had seven or more pass break ups in six of them. And four or more interceptions in three straight seasons. I give those stats from pre-2024 because last season was a down year for him as he battled through some stuff. (Don’t we all?) But as recently as 2021 he was second among all corners in the league with a passer rating against of just 43.7. He won’t come a super premium. But as a wide corner you can trust to line up on an opponent’s Z-receiver and keep him from going off on you the way it kept happening last year, you could do a lot worse.

So that’s my list right now, four days before the unofficial start to official Free Agency season. But by no means is it the complete list. Vrabel and The Wolf certainly have my permission to sign all of these guys and more. This would just be a nice start.