Mike Vrabel had a quiet mantra for the New England Patriots’ defense in 2025: Everyone has a role.
Jack Gibbens’ role? It wound up being a lot bigger than Patriots fans expected, and that made the team’s handling of his expiring contract all the more curious.
The Patriots opted not to place a tender on Gibbens, who was among the team’s restricted free agents and played on a one-year deal worth just $1.3 million in 2025. He was a major bargain at that number, giving Vrabel over 600 defensive snaps and 10 total starts, including two in the playoffs.
Reading between the lines, this one feels far more about the money than the scheme fit. He had obviously earned himself a pay raise, and the Patriots’ most logical course of action was to use a right of first refusal tender, which would have guaranteed Gibbens at least $3.5 million in 2026. He still would have hit free agency, but the Patriots would have been able to match any offer sheet he received.
Instead, the Patriots allowed Gibbens to become an unrestricted free agent at the start of the new league year, and he recently agreed to a two-year deal with the Arizona Cardinals worth up to $7.5 million with $4.5 million in guarantees.
That's a fair price for a player who greatly exceeded expectations and started at linebacker in the Super Bowl, but Gibbens essentially confirmed what Patriots fans know all too well in a recent spot on Sirius NFL Radio.
“It will definitely be tough to leave there,” Gibbens said, via ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “It’s bittersweet. I love that team. I love Coach Vrabel and his staff. We had an unforgettable year, for sure. It’s definitely a little sad leaving those guys but just felt like I had a great opportunity with an organization that is kind of trying to get things going in the right direction, similar to [where] New England was last year. So I’m excited to get out there and be part of the turnaround and getting back to where we just took the Patriots.”
Two soundbites from @johngibbens18:
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) March 22, 2026
🏈What he learned in New England that he could bring to Arizona: “The first thing is getting to know everybody and forming those personal relationships. I think that was a big factor in the Patriots’ success last year. That was the most… https://t.co/AgQdkniUwH
Patriots passing on a bargain deal for Jack Gibbens raises real questions
Outside of Robert Spillane and Christian Elliss, no Patriots linebacker saw the field more often than Gibbens in 2025. He was also third on the team in total special teams snaps at 353, per Pro Football Focus.
The Patriots are essentially replacing Gibbens with veteran K.J. Britt, the former Buccaneers and Dolphins linebacker who signed a one-year deal worth $1.4 million. They’re definitely saving money with that swap, but as Reiss pointed out in his weekend notebook, the Patriots are extremely healthy from a salary cap standpoint; after signing defensive back Kindle Vildor, they’re projected to have about $32 million in cap space, which ranks top 10 among the NFL’s 32 teams.
Obviously, New England could have tendered Gibbens for $3.5 million, easily absorbed the cap hit for 2026, and kept a solid depth player on the roster for at least one more season. It also could have matched the two-year deal Gibbens got from Arizona for added flexibility on his 2026 base salary.
The Patriots did neither, and Gibbens’ quote on the situation says everything. The part about him loving the team and being sad to go was the brutal truth. The part about him joining a bad Cardinals team to “be part of the turnaround” is the painful reality.
There’s no chance Gibbens picked Arizona over New England. This was a Patriots decision, and the fact that it was essentially made over a couple million bucks is tough for fans to wrap their heads around.