Fans aren't the only ones frustrated with Patriots free agency activity

Before the chaos of the offseason began, there wasn't much hope that the Patriots would make significant moves in free agency, mainly due to Bill Belichick's history of choosing to either not pay up for top-of-the-line players or spend the money on the wrong guys.

That attitude shifted slightly when the longtime head coach announced his departure, and Jerod Mayo was set to succeed him. The former linebacker spoke about wanting to "burn some cash" this offseason, thus giving fans high hopes that this year would be different. However, after two days of the legal tampering period, it does not look like that will be the case.

Many fans have expressed disappointment in the lack of signings and apparently, they're not the only ones feeling this way.

According to Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald, some agents have shared their frustration with how New England is handling their negotiations, claiming they're playing hardball in getting contracts done.

"That urgency, however, may be lost on the Patriots during negotiations with lower-level players. Agents for some of these players recently vented to the Herald that Wolf's front office has been playing hardball, more evidence of working the count as Belichick often did.

(Sidebar: agents, especially those in difficult negotiations, like to complain. This is both necessary context, and a small glimpse into the Patriots' work behind the scenes.)"

To an extent, agents' desire to get things done quicker is understandable since they work on behalf of the player and typically have several clients. Perhaps in the Patriots' case, the regime change made some of them believe the process would move quicker than in the past, and because it's not, they're not pleased.

At the same time, fans should embrace this since it proves the Patriots are not just frivolously spending money; they appear to be actually thinking things through before signing on the dotted line. It may create some impatience, but throwing money around like it's nothing doesn't necessarily make a team better.

Now that it appears most of their in-house re-signings are complete, it'll be interesting to see where they go from here and how they approach the official start of free agency. Maybe their tactics will change; maybe they won't. But hopefully, regardless of what they do, it will make a better roster for the 2024 season.

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