5 free agents the Patriots should avoid this offseason

There are 700 players heading to free agency in March. And the Patriots have a lot of holes that need filling and position groups that need strengthening. With 700 players to pick from that’ll be easy, right? Well, maybe not. There are going to be some free agents the Patriots should avoid. Here are 5 of them.

Ryan Tannehill

The Titans paid 35 year old Tannehill $29.5 million last year. That’s a lot of money for a QB who has never made it past the ACF Championship game (and has only been there once). It seems like even more money when you know that Tannehill only started 8 games last season!

Tannehill isn’t a bad quarterback, he has a higher average number of passing yards per game than Mac Jones, 225 to 212.3. And he averages 4.8 rushing yards per attempt compared to Jones’ 2.8 yards. But Mac Jones has a higher pass completion rate, 66.1% to Tannehill’s 64.3%.

Everyone expects the Patriots to add at least 1 quarterback this offseason, but there are better options than Tannehill. There could be a complete shake-up of the quarterback room with Alex Van Pelt running the offense. But even if they draft a “project” quarterback to develop and keep Jones as the starter they’ll only be paying Jones half what Tannehill will be looking for.

Odell Beckham Jr.

Beckham Jr. Caught 35 passes for the Ravens during the regular season and his 565 receiving yards were his most since 2019. He averaged a whopping 16.1 yards per catch, which was the 8th highest in the league last season.

But the 2024 wide receiver class is absolutely loaded (Josh Cephus is only projected as a 7th-round pick and he looks great). And as good as Beckham’s stint in Baltimore was he’ll cost north of $15 million, that’s 3 Kendrick Bournes!

Randy Gregory

The Patriots do need more pass rushers and Gregory is technically a pass rusher. He only has 22 sacks in 8 seasons mind you. He’s also played 72 games in 8 years. That’s partly down to some substance issues but mainly due to injuries. His first major injury came when he was playing basketball in college. He broke his wrist and he’s not really had much luck since.

Gregory earned $14 million this year, that’s an awful lot to pay someone who’s averaging 9 games a season. If the Patriots are keen to sign a pass rusher in free agency they should really be looking in Brian Burns’ direction. Or even Josh Allen’s.

Duane Brown

The Patriots will need offensive tackles. They might even need 4 new, starting offensive linemen! They’ll probably need to sign 2 starters. But neither of them should be Brown. He’ll be 39 when the season starts and he’s not Jason Peters. Brown has only played 2 full seasons in the last 5 years. In 2023 he only managed to get on the field in 5 games after shoulder surgery in the offseason.

Nick Folk

Not because he wouldn’t be an improvement on Chad Ryland. He absolutely would be. But let’s be honest, who wouldn’t? But because he turns 40 on the 5th of November and there are younger options available. Ka’imi Fairbairn will be a free agent and he’s just 30. He also has the 8th highest field goal percentage since records began (87.065%). But if he’s too expensive there are 8 other kickers out of contract in March.