New England Patriots: 5 Landing Spots for Dont’a Hightower

1. New England Patriots

Is it going to be cheap? No, but it will be worth it for the Patriots to re-sign him through his prime. The Patriots can’t afford to lose their defensive leader in a time when their defense has lost many key pieces already, such as Jamie Collins and Chandler Jones.

He is irreplaceable.

Bill Belichick constantly raves about Dont’a Hightower’s football instincts and unique skill set. His unique ability to stop the run and stuff the line of scrimmage is something few linebackers can do.

In Super Bowl XLIX, he benched pressed Russell Okung off of him to tackle Marshawn Lynch at the one-yard line. Setting up an eventual Malcolm Butler interception to win the game. In Super Bowl LI, he had a timely blitz and strip sacked Matt Ryan for a turnover, eventually setting up a Patriots score.

Now, many argue that the Patriots would be 3-4 total in Super Bowl’s without Hightower. Those people would be correct. Without the Lynch tackle, the Patriots would be given a little less than a minute to score. A near impossible time to score on the vaunted Seattle defense. Without the strip sack of Ryan, the Patriots would almost certainly have had no time to have 2 possessions to score.

He is one word: Irreplaceable.

However, unlike other teams, if all goes wrong in early negotiations, they can still use the franchise tag. Which is why New England has to be number 1 on the list. Bill Belichick shows Dont’a Hightower the appreciation he shows very few players in the league, let alone his team. Which is why the Patriots are certain to keep Dont’a Hightower, and with over $60 million in cap space it looks more and more likely to happen.