Free Agency

A Bill? But can we Digg it?

March 26, 2025 by Clare Cooper

Picture this if you will, a passionate Patriots fan who whilst is an advocate for the o-line and definitely a tight end kind of girl, she knows the need for wide receiver cannot be ignored.

And so, during the early days of free agency the Patriots picked up a guy, decent, WR3-4-5 perhaps? Can play on special teams, is said to be a great locker room presence and has a quirky personality. But… He was previously a Buffalo Bill.

For this die hard Pats fan it was a tough pill to swallow. But it’s something we have to get used to as players are traded, selected, cut and picked up. But seriously a Bill…?!?

Perks were sought out, nerves were tempered and former Patriot Devin McCourty told the wonderful Karen Guregian of Mass Live, that he loved the signing and that Mack Hollins has an attitude that he believes will be really good for the team, so I can get on board.

A veteran of 8 NFL seasons with several teams including Miami, and most recently Buffalo, the 6-foot-4, 221-pound wide receiver was a Philadelphia fourth round draft pick in 2017, and remained with the team until 2019.

Hollins has a resume of 112 regular season games, playing his last in Buffalo with 13 starts, 31 receptions and 5 touchdowns. And can apparently, and let me quote the lovely McCourty twin here, “block the hell out of you in the run game.” Hmm, nice!

So they you go, he was a Bill and now he’s a Patriot. Okay I can cope, let’s go!

But wait…

The wide receiver position is still an area of need, Hollins is a good piece, and whilst probably more productive last season than any Patriots WR, he isn’t that top pass catcher fans are pounding the table for.

Okay so perhaps the draft? Let’s get Drake Maye that rookie wide out that can grow in the fold. We shan’t dwell on the fact that Chris Godwin stayed in Tampa Bay, or that DK Metcalf would rather freeze in Pittsburgh than Massachusetts and whilst Brandon Aiyuk may still be a possibility, his injury situation means he may not be a starter for 2025…

Hold up you lovely lot.

Not content with challenging my venom for the Bills, the Patriots (rather inconveniently for this England resident as it was kind of late at night!) announced they were signing Stefon Diggs.

The former Houston Texan (and before that, Buffalo Bill!) had been to New England and spent time with Mike Vrabel. Not only that folks, Diggs had suddenly followed Drake Maye on Instagram! (If you can’t hear the sarcasm dripping in my tone there, there is no hope for you and I.)

But alas, the wide receiver headed home last week with no deal, and possibly with the hope of some Patriots fans fading in his wake.

And yet! Those delicious Patriots decided to test me once more and here we have a new dawn and a new day with, gulp, another ex Bills player.

Now before I get my butt kicked, I do know that Diggs had the majority of success and start of his career, in Minnesota as a Viking and was kinda Justin Jefferson before they drafted Justin Jefferson, but this Pats fan knows Diggs mostly as the Buffalo Bill spending four seasons from 2020 beating their defense!

2025 will be Diggs’ eleventh season in the NFL and he is 31 years old coming off a right knee ACL tear but, according to ESPN this six foot, 182 pound wide receiver is ranked 7th in the NFL since 2020 for touchdowns, so theres that.

I’m guessing many fans are happy with these signings as ultimately the wide receiver room has potential for 2025 to be vastly improved, and I don’t disagree it’s just, Bills? Really?

But I know how it is folks, we have to move on with what’s best for the team, and I wholeheartedly believe that and am excited to have some potential pizazz on this offense! So I can confidently say when these guys, and other free agency signings, suit up in Patriots colours I shall be all good, excited, passionate and positive, and I hope you will be too!

Even so, I may never forgive Coach Bill for trading away Ryan Izzo for a seventh round pick… sometimes folks, emotions just gotta win out.

Go Pats!

This article is dedicated to John (aka CatManDude) who is heroically fighting cancer once again but is still a ray of sunshine in many people’s days. You’ve got this John!

If you wish to delve into the list of free agents the Patriots have signed a little further, full list below, why not check out the latest episodes of Pats Procrastination on the Pats Propaganda Youtube channel! Episodes 56 and 57 are available now and should give you a good laugh in the process! (Links below).

ED Harold Landry III: Signed (3 years, $43.5M)

LB Robert Spillane: Signed (3 years, $33M)

CB Carlton Davis III: Signed (3 years, $54M)

OT Morgan Moses: Signed (3 years, $24M)

DL Milton Williams: Signed (4 years, $104M)

DT Khyiris Tonga: Signed (1 year, $2.1M)

QB Joshua Dobbs: Signed (2 years, $8M)

WR Mack Hollins: Signed (2 years, $8.4M)

ED K’Lavon Chaisson: Signed (1 year ($TBA)

OL Wes Schweitzer: Signed (1 year ($TBA)

S Marcus Epps: Signed (1 year, $2.025M)

C Garrett Bradbury: Signed (2 years, $12M max)

LB Jack Gibbens: Signed (1 year, $TBA)

WR Stefon Diggs: Signed (3 years, $69M max)

Pats Procrastination – YouTube show Episode 57 – mildly fizzling free agency?!

March 25, 2025 by Clare Cooper

Join Chudders and Clazzy Clare as they check in on the latest developments to the NEP at perhaps the tail end of free agency with the draft swiftly approaching!

Clazzy Clare and Chudders bring you a little Patriots chat, in a casual and light hearted show that (hopefully) has you feeling like you’re sitting back and having a laugh with some fellow Patriots buddies!

Pats Procrastination – YouTube show Episode 56 – Freaky Free Agency Frenzy!

March 11, 2025 by Clare Cooper

Join Chudders and Clazzy Clare as they check in on all that’s happened so far in New England with the commencement of the crazy that is free agency!

Pats Procrastination – YouTube show Episode 23

March 21, 2024 by Clare Cooper

Join Clazzy Clare and Chudders as they percolate (and debate!) all the goings on in the NEP camp during free agency in particular with the offensive line and wide receiver groups.

Tight Endage!! Unisex T-Shirt

Pats Procrastination – YouTube show Episode 22

March 15, 2024 by Clare Cooper

Free Agency Frenzy Friday! Join Clazzy Clare and Chudders as they recap, percolate (and debate!) all the goings on in the NEP camp during the first week of free agency!

Addition by Subtraction? A Pats recap by Clazzy Clare

May 13, 2022 by Clare Cooper

Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

Obviously, following the draft the Patriots have added to their roster with several of the draft selections already signing contracts, but is it the players who have left that’s of more significance?

(For a full draft recap see the great work from Tom Shaw-Mellors https://www.patspropaganda.com/patriots-2022-draft-recap/)

Going back aways the Patriots said bye bye to Chase Winovich for Mack Wilson — bit of addition by subtraction — kinda. Maybe just a like for like in regards to player talent, but time will tell. It would seem both guys needed a change of scenery so expectation may not be too high.

Ted Karras and Shaq Mason — you know what, it’s still too fresh, I can’t talk about their departure from Foxborough just yet…

But the Patriots and the NFL, did poach a shining prospect in Drew Desjarlais, top offensive lineman from the CFL. They also added depth to the wide receiver room with DeVante Parker heading over from Miami.

Terrence Mitchell, Jabrill Peppers, and Malcom Butler came over to put a bit of extra experience in the defence, with the Patriots not signing one linebacker in the draft. They picked up the UDFA DaMarcus Mitchell, who is noted as a DE, but did play in the linebacker position at Purdue, but it’s looking like all those year two chaps might have some time to shine in 2022.

Jarrett Stidham recently joined the slew of participants on the bus to Las Vegas, catching up with the likes of Brandon Bolden and Jakob Johnson who departed New England as free agents. And whilst we are talking about it, other past Patriots have been drawn to the bright lights of Sin City and Josh McDaniels, with the Raiders signing Chandler Jones, Duron Harmon, Jacob Hollister, Tashawn Bower and Cre’van LeBlanc. Not to mention a stack of coach and personnel peeps too!

And how can I forget, the release of the very versatile Devine Ozigbo, who was another casualty of the draft with running back being a double dip position.

But you know what they did bring in !?!?!? A tight end!! Yeah okay, I’m not that excited by Matt Sokol really, yet, he hasn’t played many games in the NFL after being picked up as an UDFA by the Chargers in 2018, but he’s said to be a great blocker and we all know how much I like those! Probably a bit of a practice squad addition really, indicating it’s a good chance Troy Fumagali isn’t on his return stint to New England, but with the revolving door that is training camp, you never know.

Whilst some fans wait to see if N’Keal Harry gets on the Vegas bus, or any other for that matter, some of us wonder if Devin Asiasi has a ticket out of Foxborough too. Some even believe Nelson Agholor could be another candidate for exit. Agholor did help the offence last year by drawing coverage, but there’s a possibility that role could be filled with the addition of the speedy receiver in the draft of Tyquan Thornton. I feel it’s a catch-22 situation, they spent a lot of cap on him to give up after just one year, but there’s the catch, spent a lot. So moving on from him could free up some cap. According the fantastic @patscap Miguel Benzan, releasing Nelson Agholor in 2022 could create $3.9M, trading him opens $8.9M and extending him (I know, I know that’s the opposite, but it’s for informational purposes!) $3.94M.

It’s still all kinds of “ifs and butts and candy and nuts” right now, but the schedule is out and we have games on the calendar, it’s beginning to smell a lot like football!

Free Agency: The Tight Endage Report – and MUCH more! from Clazzy Clare

March 15, 2022 by Clare Cooper

Whilst the legal tampering period was opening up, and Patriots Nation’s vision was on where will JC Jackson go (LA Chargers for 5 years at $82.5 million, with around $40 million guaranteed) not forgetting the whole, will the Patriots take a top wide receiver, part of my gaze was focused on what was happening in the tight end rooms.

And, I was rather interested to find many of the top free agent tight ends were re-signed or tagged by their original team. Now, I appreciate you might not be quite as interested as I in this, however, with the depth at the draft this year it may be quite significant that so many teams have stayed with their existing tight ends, even the rather cap strapped Dallas Cowboys tagged Dalton Schultz, but to be fair he is quite good, but I digress.

We all know that the tight end position is one of the tougher ones in the NFL to play, and to develop within. It is utilised in pretty much all the range of offensive plays, meaning the plate of those big 6 foot 4-5-6 guys can get rather full.

So, a quick league wide recap of who has gone and where in the tight end market:

Arizona maintained Zach Ertz for a further 3 years at $31.65 million. The Browns franchise tagged David Njoku, as did the Dolphins with Mike Gesicki. The Colts lost their long time tight end to retirement, and so the maintaining of Mo Alie-Cox on a 3 year $18 million deal wasn’t too surprising. They may have traded away their top quarterback, but the Seahawks kept Will Dissly on a 3 year $24 million deal. There was some tight endage shuffle as the aforementioned Seahawks obtained Noah Fant in one of the biggest trades the NFL has seen for a while. Evan Engram hopped over from New York (Giants) to Jacksonville on a 1 year $9 million deal and the other New York team, the Jets, pulled C.J Uzomah from Cincinnati on a 3 year $24 million deal.

Okay, so now I have done my public service in making sure you lovely Patriots fans are aware what has gone on in the world of tight endage, I am here to update you on the rest! Just call me Miss Unliiiiiiimited…

Moving swiftly on!

Unfortunately, it is with a heavy heart that I write Steady Teddy, Ted Karras, has gotten paid and is on route to Cincinnati on a 3 year $18 million deal. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am happy when a great player gets paid, but when it’s at the possible sacrifice of the offensive line, I’m sorry I can’t really be THAT happy.

The possibly, most obvious move, and perhaps the most hated by many Patriots fans so far this season, is the jetting off of cornerback JC Jackson to sunnier climates. The LA Chargers scooped him up on a long deal of 5 years at $82.5 million.

The Patriots did some quiet maintaining whilst big name wide receivers were moving around, some were having money practically thrown at them, in particular Jacksonville giving Christian Kirk a $72 million, possibly up to $84 million, 4 year deal, but as of yet the Patriots only receiver action was a second round restricted free agent tender on Jakobi Meyers.

The Patriots quarterback room maintains some stability with Brian Hoyer on a 2 year $4 million deal, as New England retains three fan favourites, and some grounding the team needs (in my humble opinion) during this rebuild, of Devin McCourty for 1 year at $9 million, Matthew Slater on a 1 year $2.6 million deal, and (thank goodness!) Nick Folk for 2 years at $5 million. James Ferentz has reportedly signed a contract with the Patriots but the terms have not yet been announced.

So there you have it you lovely lot, free agency frenzy so far… and it’s only Tuesday morning!