4 contracts holding the Patriots back right now

DeVante Parker - wide receiver

2024 Cap hit: $6,566,668

Like JuJu Smith-Schuster, Bill Belichick trading for DeVante Parker was not an exciting decision for most. It was an attempt to help a weakened receiving corps, but not exactly the player that felt like the guy for the job.

Since he arrived in 2022, he has dealt with injuries that kept him sidelined in back-to-back seasons, missing eight total games. He was productive his first year, which was quite the feat considering the absolute chaos behind the scenes in Foxboro that year, but he hasn't been able to become much of an improvement over the other receivers on the team.

Despite it all, he signed a contract extension last summer to keep him with the Patriots through 2025, likely due to the lack of receivers signed to the team beyond this upcoming season. And unfortunately, although he should be a cut candidate, doing so won't yield much in return.

The ideal scenario would be to trade him after June 1, as the Patriots would only take on $1,566,666 in the dead cap over the next two seasons. They would also receive $4.6 million in savings for the 2024 season.

Releasing or trading him, especially before June, doesn't seem worth doing, and it would almost be better to let him finish his contract in New England instead.

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