Will the New England Patriots be big spenders in 2024?

After this season the New England Patriots are looking to have an incredible amount of cap space. According to Spotrac, the Patriots will have 97 million in cap space going into the 2024 offseason. Of course, the Patriots will have their own guys already on the roster that they may want to pay and retain, but with this amount of cap space it opens the door to bring in some serious talent going into the 2024 season.

With all this cap space does come holes in the roster as well. For the skill positions on the offensive side of the ball, DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne, and Hunter Henry will all be free agents. In addition, along the offensive line starting left tackle Trent Brown, and offensive guard Mike Onwenu are set to be free agents.

Defensively, the Patriots will keep mostly in tack. The big names along the defense that would be set to become free agents are pass rusher Josh Uche, along with safety Kyle Dugger. These two players are young players just looking to hit their prime that I am sure Belichick and the front office staff would love to retain.

The first position group Belichick and company should address is the skilled positions on offense. This has been a pitfall of this regime in the draft, so to prevent another draft day blunder at receiver, just use a portion of the abundant cap space to fill the glaring need.

Listed as free agents at wide receiver are slim and as time goes on the most talented guys are not ever getting to free agency. Teams are electing to sign their own early, or if they don't have a #1 receiver they are trading to get their true alpha receiver. The top wide receiver free agent for 2024 is Cincinnati Bengals receiver Tee Higgins. This may change though as all reports from Cincinnati seem to be that they are working on a long-term deal for Higgins before the season starts.

Another receiver target in free agency could be Mike Evans. Although, according to Rick Stroud of Tampabay.com the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are attempting to re-sign him as well. Other options would be Michael Pittman Jr, Darnell Mooney, Curtis Samuel, and division rival Buffalo Bills receiver Gabe Davis.

On the defensive side of the ball there looks to be a plethora of free agent options. Former New York Jets defensive lineman Leonard Williams is scheduled to be a free agent along with other pass rushers in Trey Hendrickson, Carl Lawson, Marcus Davenport, and former Defensive Rookie of the year Chase Young. In the secondary, Adore Jackson, Budda Baker, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, and many others will be free agents.

As I've talked about in regards to the outlook on the 2023 season, I think this will set up for 2024 to be a big spending offseason for the Patriots. Coming off another losing season Belichick will be forced to have to spend in the 2024 offseason to get this roster up to snuff with the rest of the AFC.