Which free agent players on the current roster are the most important for the New England Patriots to try and retain in 2019?
The Patriots find themselves in somewhat-uncharted territory this offseason.
Traditionally, the hallmark of this franchise is its ability to constantly get more with less. In the draft, that means often trading down in order to stockpile picks, rack up players of varying potential, and set themselves up as much for future drafts as the present one. During the regular season and even deep into the playoffs, it’s always remarkable to witness which unsung heroes will rise from the fog of obscurity and suddenly make a name for themselves.
And in free agency, New England is notorious for scooping up aging veterans and reclamation projects alike, and then giving them new life as valuable, rejuvenated players. The classic saying, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” comes immediately to mind when considering the Patriots’ history in free agency.
This offseason might be a bit different though. For the first time in what feels like forever, Bill Belichick and the rest of the New England brass don’t have quite the cap space they’re used to working with. Spotrac has their available space estimated at coming in just below $15,000,000, which currently slots them 25th out of 32 teams in the NFL. Usually the Patriots are at least in the upper half of the league when it comes to spending space, but not this year.
So what’s the best strategy for the defending champs as they turn their focus to the future? It should go without saying that as Super Bowl champions, they don’t have nearly as many holes to plug as most of the other teams in the NFL.
Inevitably though, those other teams are going to come calling, just like they always do. Players are never esteemed higher than when they’ve just completed a 19-game season’s worth of tape and earned a ring in the process. If and when the rest of the league comes to try and pilfer players from the Pats, which ones should the team try to prioritize re-signing?
5. Ryan Allen
It might seem odd at first glance to find a specialist on this list – and a punter, no less. But Ryan Allen isn’t your ordinary special teams player; just as he isn’t your average punter, either.
Anyone who tuned into Super Bowl 53 probably got to see a lot more of Allen than they ever cared to. Of the 23 offensive series in the Super Bowl that didn’t include kneel-downs, a whopping 14 of them ended in punts (nine for the Rams, five for the Patriots). On those five Patriots punts, Allen managed to average 43 yards per kick, and he pinned the Rams within their own 10-yard line three out of five times.
In six seasons with the Patriots, Allen has never missed a game. He’s been blocked just twice in 409 career attempts, and both his gross and net yards per punt career averages (45.3 and 40.3, respectively) rank among the best marks in the NFL today.
Part of what makes Bill Belichick such a brilliant coach is his attention to detail. He’s famous for prioritizing special teams, when most other franchises consider the third phase of the game to be little more than an afterthought.
Why? Because Belichick understands that in “a game of inches,” seemingly innocent and inconsequential things like wind direction, receiver eligibility, and stadium roof mechanics could have massive and unforeseen consequences on the outcome of who ultimately wins and who loses.
That’s why he leaves nothing to chance, and why the Patriots shouldn’t leave anything to chance when it comes to re-signing their proven veteran punter. Starting drive position means everything in the NFL – particularly in today’s version where offenses arguably have the edge – so it’s never been more important to have a punter who can flip the field as needed.
4. Jason McCourty
There were many heroes in Super Bowl 53; and among them, Jason McCourty stands at the very forefront. In what was the lowest-scoring game in Super Bowl history, the Patriots prevailed 13-3 over the Rams. The game’s lone touchdown came when Sony Michel dove into the end zone after a gorgeous down-the-field completion from Tom Brady to Rob Gronkowski set him up.
McCourty’s pass breakup in the end zone, though, might have been the difference between the Patriots winning their sixth Lombardi Trophy or losing their sixth Super Bowl. Rams quarterback lofted one of his only good throws of the night to ex-Patriot Brandin Cooks, who seemingly had a clean shot at securing the ball for a game-tying touchdown in the end zone.
It was not to be, however. McCourty proved himself a worthy addition to Belichick’s defense by not giving up on the play, tangling and wrestling with Cooks until the ball was eventually wrested free and fell to the ground. The end result was an incompletion, and not long thereafter, patriotic-colored confetti was falling at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
McCourty just finished playing out a two-year, $6 million contract he signed with the Cleveland Browns after being released in 2017 by the Tennessee Titans, the team that originally drafted him. At 31, he’s not necessarily past his peak athletically, but he’s also not a “spring chicken” either.
The Patriots were wise to kick the tires on the veteran out of Rutgers and to pair him with his twin brother in a strong New England secondary. They’d be even wiser to try and get him to re-sign for another year or two while they’re at it.
3. Stephen Gostkowski
Word on the street is Stephen Gostkowski might be getting the franchise tag from the Patriots soon. If it does indeed happen, this will mark the second time New England has given Gostkowski the tag in his career. It would also be the fourth time the Patriots under Belichick have used their tag on a kicker, with the team twice slapping Adam Vinatieri with it while he was still in Foxborough.
Belichick is known for his reluctance to use franchise and transition tags on his players, preferring instead to rework contracts to his exact liking, or to simply let players walk if they can’t see eye-to-eye when all’s said and done. The advantage to giving a player like Gostkowski the tag, though, would be in shielding him from potential suitors around the league – of which there would certainly be many.
Gostkowski is currently third all-time in career accuracy when it comes to field goal kicks, just behind Baltimore’s Justin Tucker and San Francisco’s Robbie Gould. Yes, he’s struggled at times lately, especially when the lights have been at their brightest. He’s missed some major kicks in critical postseason moments.
He’s also made a ton of gotta-have-it kicks in critical postseason moments, too, though. Never forget that the reliable veteran just accounted for nearly 50% of his team’s total scoring output in their latest championship game victory.
Whether it’s the franchise tag or a reworked contract, the Patriots should remember the adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” when it comes to their kicking game. Like Ryan Allen, Stephen Gostkowski is a rare breed of consistency and excellence at a position that you need oodles of both qualities in.
2. Trent Brown
Trent Brown, like Jason McCourty, was one of the feel-good stories of the 2018 Patriots team narrative. Both players were underutilized and perhaps unappreciated in their previous homes; Brown came into the league relatively quietly for a player of his preternatural physical gifts. At 6’8 and 380 lbs, the behemoth left tackle is one of the largest, biggest, strongest, fiercest specimens in the entire league – and yet he was drafted in the seventh round by San Francisco, and spent three seasons in virtual obscurity there.
Belichick acquired Brown last spring for a box of stale Cheerios… and the rest, as they say, is history. He started all 16 games at left tackle for the Patriots, effortlessly sliding into the starting lineup and protecting Brady’s blind-side all season long. As good as he was in pass protection, he was just as solid in run-blocking.
The only problem for New England now is that Brown may have been too good. While the team has every reason in the world to try and keep him in the fold for 2019 – especially with last year’s draft pick Isaiah Wynn still recovering from a season-ending Achilles injury – it’s going to be extremely tough sledding to do so.
Recently, Brown was asked in an ESPN podcast if he’d be interested in returning next season to play for the Patriots. “That’s definitely something I would love. We’re going to cross that bridge when we get there,” he added.
Brown plays a position that’s perhaps the most overvalued and overpaid in all the NFL, next to quarterback. Teams understand that naturally the second-most important player on a roster is the one who protects the most important player on a roster from getting walloped every time he snaps the ball.
While it won’t be a death-knell for New England to lose Brown in free agency, he should absolutely be one of their top targets to try and retain if they can.
1. Trey Flowers
Ask any fan or analyst who New England’s top free agent is this offseason, and they’ll all tell you the same name: Trey Flowers.
The defensive end out of Arkansas missed most of his rookie season in 2015 with a shoulder injury, but came back stronger than ever in Year 2 and set the league on notice. He finished that season with 7 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, and 45 tackles; though it was his exceptional showing in Super Bowl LI against the Atlanta Falcons that really put him on the national map (2.5 sacks).
Flowers set career highs in tackles in 2017, and also finished just half a sack shy of his 2016 total, despite missing two games with a rib injury. And in 2018, he set a new career high for sacks with 7.5 in just 15 games of play.
The arrow for Flowers is decidedly pointing up, and it’s looking more and more each day like he could cash in with one of the biggest new contracts this spring handed out to free agents. At least one analysis site has Flowers ranked No. 4 on a list of the top 100 unrestricted free agents this offseason. That puts him in pretty elite company with the likes of Jadeveon Clowney, Le’Veon Bell, and DeMarcus Lawrence, players that are all essentially household names in the NFL.
Part of what makes Flowers such a hot commodity this offseason is his versatility. While he doesn’t stand out as being the best at any one skill set, he’s well above average at all of them: getting sacks, getting QB pressures/hurries, setting the edge, run-stuffing, tackling in space, getting off blocks, etc.
It’s this kind of multi-dimensional game that made Flowers so initially attractive to Belichick when he drafted him, and it has to make the Patriots head coach proud to see how quickly and fully Flowers has blossomed before his very eyes.
Now the only question that matters is: will Belichick and the Pats be able to keep their home-grown talent at home, or will he seek greener pastures elsewhere in the form of a new mega deal?