Josh Uche Would Love To Stay With Patriots — But Knows He Might Not

FOXBORO, Mass. — Josh Uche hopes his fourth season as a New England Patriot isn’t his last. But given the nature of the NFL, he knows that’s a distinct possibility.

Uche is coming off a breakout third season, piling up 11 1/2 sacks for a Patriots defense that ranked among the league’s best. He’s now eligible for a contract extension as he enters the final year of his rookie deal.

The 24-year-old linebacker said his representatives have discussed a potential extension with the Patriots, and that he ideally would like to stay with the team that drafted him in the second round in 2020.

For now, though, he’s keeping his focus on 2023. His motto as he navigates his fourth New England training camp is: “Control the controllables.”

“They’ve been in communication, but I just didn’t want to worry myself with the details,” Uche said Thursday after the Patriots’ second camp practice. “I want to just let them handle all the little stuff and come out here and work each day.”

He added: “(I’m) coming out here with my teammates each day, giving it everything I’ve got and trying to get better. That’s all I can control. I leave (contract talks) to the agents.”

“I love it out here. I’ve been able to make myself at home, and I would love to be here.”

Josh Uche

Asked whether he wants to be part of the Patriots’ new core moving forward, Uche replied: “I mean, of course.”

“This was the team that took a chance on me,” he said. “I know a lot of other teams didn’t know what to possibly do with me or what I was coming out of college, and this is the team that developed me into the player I’ve become.

“This is the place I’ve called home for the last four years, and I’m comfortable. I know the area. I have family out here. I love it out here. I’ve been able to make myself at home, and I would love to be here. But at the end of the day, I understand it’s a business, and business is business is business. So no hard feelings.”

Uche’s breakout 2022 campaign came after two underwhelming seasons in which he totaled just four sacks as a rotational edge rusher. The Michigan product started slowly last season, too, but broke out after Halloween, with all of his sacks and all 14 of his quarterback hits coming in New England’s final 10 games. Pro Bowler Matthew Judon said multiple times during that surge that Uche, not Judon, is the Patriots’ best pass rusher.

“People are going to have to block him,” Judon said after Uche notched three sacks in December win in Arizona. “If they don’t and they chip my side and they worry about me, Uche will do that every week. … We all knew what type of player he was. He was drafted pretty high here, and now he’s just emerging, and folks are going to have to watch out.”

High-end pass rushers are some of the highest-paid players in football. If Uche delivers another productive season, he can expect to cash in as a free agent next spring. Or, he and the Patriots could reach an agreement before that point that would keep him Foxboro for the foreseeable future.

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Staying put is Uche’s preference, but he knows his career could take him elsewhere if he and New England don’t see eye to eye in negotiations.

“Wherever I’m wanted, wherever I’m needed, I’m willing to work,” Uche said. “I just want to work, bro. At the end of the day, this is a job. Growing up, my father always put me to work on weekends and stuff, yardwork, so all I know is working. Wherever it may be — God willing, it’s here — I’m just going to give it everything I’ve got.”

Uche is one of three key Patriots players eligible for extensions for the first time. The others are safety Kyle Dugger and right guard Mike Onwenu, fellow 2020 draftees who have developed into vital cogs in New England’s secondary and offensive line, respectively.

Dugger also said he would “love” to stay with the Patriots but, like Uche, said he’s leaving contractual matters to his agent.

New England signed two veterans to extensions before the start of training camp, finalizing new deals with wide receiver DeVante Parker and linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley.

“We are always in conversations, just like earlier in the summer,” director of player personnel Matt Groh said Wednesday. “We took care of a couple of the guys who were going to be up next year. There are only so many of us. We can only get so many guys done at a time.

“There is a lot of time and effort that’s put into it by our end, contractually, and trying to do everything that makes sense. We will keep looking at different options. I like taking care of business, so there is not a whole lot of sitting around and waiting for things to happen. We are trying to be pretty proactive with things.”