The New England Patriots have been throwing money around since the NFL’s legal tampering period began Monday, two days before the official start of free agency and the new league year.
This obviously is a stark contrast from the way Bill Belichick usually conducts business, so it’s fair to wonder the exact reason for the change in philosophy. What gives?
Well, as ESPN’s Mike Reiss wrote Monday night after New England’s initial wave of moves, this simply might be a matter of Belichick trying to strike while the iron is hot.
“What has most directly sparked such an aggressive approach, according to those familiar with the thinking, is the view the 2021 offseason was a rare opportunity based on the NFL’s plummeting salary cap,” Reiss wrote.
The NFL set its 2021 salary cap at $182.5 million, a decrease from the 2020 salary cap of $198.2 million.
This drop — the result of a loss in revenue caused by the COVID-19 pandemic — forced some teams into a financial crunch. The Patriots, meanwhile, entered the offseason with the league’s third-most cap space, per OverTheCap.com, a luxury they’ve since taken advantage of on the open market.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Patriots reportedly had agreed to deals with eight external free agents: Tight ends Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith, wide receivers Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne, edge rusher Matt Judon, defensive back Jalen Mills, defensive tackle Davon Godchaux and defensive lineman Henry Anderson.
“Because of that, it thinned the field of teams the Patriots were competing against for free agents because many teams were scrambling just to get under the cap,” Reiss wrote regarding the NFL’s first salary cap decrease since the 2011 collective bargaining agreement. “That sweetened the free-agent pool, making players in the prime years of their career available who might not have otherwise hit the market; consider that Smith and Bourne are 25, Godchaux and Mills are 26, Agholor is 27 and Judon 28.
“So with an abundance of salary-cap space to work with, and knowing the cap is going to spike in the coming years because of new television broadcast deals, Belichick and the Patriots went all-in like never before.”
Obviously, there’s no guarantee this approach will work, especially with it being unfamiliar territory for a franchise that typically is much more prudent with its free agency expenditures. But sometimes, you need to step outside your comfort zone in order to move forward, and it’s hard to imagine there’s not a method to Belichick’s madness.
The Patriots had needs up and down their roster, and they’ve addressed them in quick succession by flexing their financial muscles at a time when many other organizations can’t.
