Expectations were high for the Patriots heading into free agency this offseason for several reasons, with their league-high cap space leading the charge. With so many holes to fill on the roster and plenty of money to get the job done, they were projected to make a big splash with free agents as soon as the legal tampering period began.
Fortunately, that is exactly what they did, even if their primary goal appeared to be focusing on signing the best defensive players available. For the most part, those they chose to sign were praised and deemed to be quality players, especially in trying to accomplish a new culture in New England.
Despite their apparent need to overpay, which did reward them with the best available defensive player available, it was hard to argue that any one player was a bad signing, even if there is a fair argument to make about the lack of offensive talent brought in.
However, not all analysts and reporters were quick to award them a top grade for Mike Vrabel and Co.'s decisions, with The 33rd Team's Marcus Mosher slamming one signing as one of the more confusing decisions made by the new regime thus far.
The Patriots decision to sign LB Harold Landry is not being received well by everyone
As one of their earliest signings of free agency, Vrabel chose to reunite with one of his former linebackers from his days as the Titans' head coach, Harold Landry. It had been speculated in the days prior due to his release from Tennessee, and the Patriots were deemed the likeliest candidate to bring him in for the 2025 season.
They chose to sign him to a three-year contract, which Mosher believes it is a significant overpay for a player of his caliber, even more so for one he feels has been rapidly declining over the last few years. He gives the team credit for their other prominent signings of guys like Carlton Davis, Robert Spillane and Milton Williams, but disagrees with reuniting Vrabel and Landry in Foxboro.
"However, Harold Landry has been a declining player for a few years and was recently released by the Titans. And yet, the Patriots gave him a $43.5 million with $26 million in guarantees. Landry has never been an elite pass rusher, but he’s a solid run defender with below-average size. But now, the Patriots are paying him like an elite edge rusher, and we know that he won’t ever be that.
Landry will reunite with Mike Vrabel, and maybe he can get the most out of whatever is left. Still, this felt like a major overpay for New England, given where Landry is at this point in his career."
When looking at his career over the past two years, since he missed the 2022 season due to an ACL injury, it's difficult to suggest Landry's performance has declined so severely that he wasn't worth the contract the Patriots gave him.
During the 2024 season, he recorded 71 combined tackles (70 in 2023), 15 tackles for a loss (14 in 2023), a safety (none in 2023), four passes defended (none in 2023) and nine sacks (10.5 in 2023). That isn't a massive difference in production, especially when the most tackles he's recorded in a single season was 75 in 2021, as well as 12 sacks that year.
Looking at his PFF grades supports Mosher's argument a bit more, but only Landry's performance as a pass rusher; that's where he saw a severe decline last season, dropping to a 49.6 grade from 62.6 the year before. So, in that regard, yes, he declined. But it seems fair to say we need to see more before suggesting he's on a downward spiral in his career.
Because he saw the best seasons of his career with Vrabel as his head coach, there's reason to believe that will be the kind of play we will see from him with the Patriots. Maybe they slightly overpaid, which they were expected to do, but we are yet to see that pay off, as Landry hasn't even played a game for the team yet.