The New England Patriots’ offseason is officially underway after losing Super Bowl LX to the Seattle Seahawks and Mike Vrabel and Co. have a couple of key decisions to make regarding the list of impeding free agents.

So, who exactly are those guys? Let’s dive in and discuss.

Editor’s note: All information is from Over the Cap unless noted otherwise.

Patriots’ key unrestricted free agents heading into the offseason

The Patriots only have six impending UFAs, but there are a couple of big names in there as you can see below:

• EDGE K’Lavon Chaisson
• S Jaylinn Hawkins
• TE Austin Hooper
• T Vedarian Lowe
• T Thayer Munford Jr.
• DL Khyris Tonga

The biggest name of the group is Chaisson, who has watched his career blossom over the last couple of years. He finished second on the team with 7.5 sacks during the regular season and racked up a respectable 13.5% pressure rate before leading the Patriots with 3.0 sacks during the playoffs/Super Bowl. He also produced a 17.6% pressure rate, obviously surpassing his regular season mark.

There will be plenty of suitors for the former first-rounder, so the Pats better be ready for some competition if they plan on bringing him back.

Hawkins would easily come in second (it’s a coincidence they’re the first two on this alphabetically-ranked list). He snagged a team-leading four interceptions –nearly half the Patriots’ regular season total as a team– and formed one of the league’s better safety duos with Craig Woodson.

The rest of the guys are depth players, but a couple of them still managed to carve out impactful roles based on the context. Tonga was a very good rotational player who played up and down the defensive line and even fullback at times. Hooper made a few plays here and there in the passing game and was a pretty good run blocker.

Lowe stepped in and started at left tackle when Will Campbell was lost for four games later in the season and he had his fair share of struggles, but was good enough to hold up the left side until Campbell’s return. And finally, Munford Jr. spent some time at right tackle and as an extra o-lineman and was serviceable enough.

Overall, it’s mostly depth guys, but they’re impactful depth guys. The Patriots’ UFAs are easily headlined by Chaisson and Hawkins, who should both earn respectable pay days.

Who are the Patriots’ restricted free agents?

Restricted free agents and exclusive rights free agents fall into different categories than the unrestricted guys. The latter gets to dive into free agency with zero limits, whereas it’s a totally different story for the others.

RFAs are players with three accrued seasons and they are allowed to negotiate with other teams, but their team has the right of first refusal and can set the tone when it comes to negations via tenders. There are five different types of tenders teams can use when it comes to RFAs: right of first refusal, original round, second round, first round, and then the “upgraded” tender. You can read more about the specifics of each, here.

Below are the Patriots’ RFAs for 2026:

• CB Alex Austin
• QB Tommy Devito
• OL Yasir Durant
• LB Jack Gibbens
• DL Jaquelin Roy

These guys’ futures are strictly tied to how much the Patriots value them. They’ll either give them a deal that’s unrelated to the RFA process or they’ll slap them with tenders with the hope it persuades teams to look elsewhere.

Who are the Patriots’ exclusive rights free agents?

Lastly, we have the ERFAs, who have the least amount of options. The Patriots can offer these guys any deal they deem appropriate, but it can be as low as a one-year, minimum deal based on the amount of accrued seasons said players have (fewer than three).

If the Patriots offer one of these guys an ERFA deal then the player cannot negotiate with any team. Obviously, they’re free to do whatever if the Pats don’t offer a deal, but will still go through the same process with their new team.

Below are the Patriots’ ERFAs for 2026:

• EDGE Isaiah Iton
• RB Deneric Prince
• TE Jack Westover

How much cap space does the Patriots have?

Overall, it’s not a long list of impending free agents, so the Patriots are in a good spot when it comes to retaining as much of 2025’s roster as possible.

It gets even better when accounting for the fact New England currently has $37,729,739 million in effective cap space, which is 11th-most, per OTC. The key with effective cap space is it accounts for both the draft class and the one player the Patriots will add to get the roster to the 51 players that make up the cap during offseason.

That number doesn’t account for the futures contracts New England will doll out in the coming days and weeks, so it’ll likely go down in the near future, but it won’t be anything crazy.

All of that and considering Drake Maye is still under a rookie contract and isn’t eligible for a new deal until after 2026 has the Patriots in a spot where they can be loose and free during the offseason, which obviously bodes well for a team looking to not just replicate, but elevate, the success from 2025.

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