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How about Jermaine Kearse to add another pass catching option? Or a running back like Bilal Powell or Arian Foster? Maybe Eric Weddle to bring veteran presence to the defense? Or some lesser known player to add depth to a deep roster?
The first day of the 2016 free agency period is over but there are still a lot of talented players on the open market – players that could potentially help the New England Patriots in the upcoming season. While the Patriots sat back and watched the free agency frenzy mostly from afar yesterday, the team projects to be more active today.
If history is any indicator, they will be.
In recent years, New England has shown little activity in the first hours of the free agency period. Instead, the team's front office scanned the market and its developments to find the players it is most comfortable with. Financial aspects as well as scheme and personal fits all play a part in this process and will determine when New England enters the race for some of the players out there.
While it is impossible to predict when this race will pick up steam, the last two years the giant that is the Patriots has started to wake up on day two of free agency: in 2014, the team signed Darrelle Revis on the second day of the league year, in 2015 it signed edge defender Jabaal Sheard. Both Revis and Sheard became valuable contributors in 2014 and 2015, respectively, and were the team's biggest free agency signings of the year.
Will 2016 be similar?
Possibly. While the team already has one of the deepest rosters in the entire league, it could upgrade several positions, especially on offense. With no priority players having entered free agency yesterday, and with around $16.3 million available in cap space, we will probably see some activity from New England today.