Henry McKenna
AFC East Reporter
The New England Patriots are headed into free agency with more salary cap space than any other team in the NFL. They have cash to burn, and they will, no doubt, spend big money to bring in talent.
New England is, after all, in a place it hasn’t been in more than two decades. The Patriots are at the bottom of the NFL with a massive rebuild ahead of them. There’s a whole generation of New England fans who have never seen a situation like this, where the team will likely need years of talent acquisition and roster-building to get back into playoff contention.
But the good news is that the Patriots can attack the top of the market at positions where they feel they need the most help. From my vantage, they need help at every single position on offense except center. (Though I think they should draft David Andrews’ eventual replacement.) And then on defense, they could use an explosive playmaker in the front-seven.
With those thoughts in mind, here are some potential targets for the Patriots when the free-agency signing period opens on March 13.
[READ MORE: 2024 NFL free agent rankings: Top 50 led by Chris Jones, Kirk Cousins]
Calvin Ridley, WR, Jaguars
The Patriots have a rare combination of the following: 1) zero trustworthy receivers on the roster and 2) a boatload of cash.
“In terms of physical skills, we need to weaponize the offense,” said Eliot Wolf, the team’s de-facto general manager and director of scouting.
Ridley is likely to be the most dangerous pass-catcher on the market.
The other teams at the top of the market (the Titans, Commanders, Bears, Texans and Colts) have a WR1. So New England will likely have to fight with the teams that have better offenses but don’t have quite as much money — including Ridley’s current team in Jacksonville.
Ridley can help change New England’s offense. He has the ability to attack the deep and intermediate parts of the field while also…
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Publish date : 2024-03-04 21:51:01
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