The New England Patriots simply must re-sign these three players in the 2018 offseason. Letting any of them go would be a big mistake.
The New England Patriots are in an interesting free agency position this offseason. They have a couple of important players who will hit the open market and command relatively big money. One is Nate Solder, who I fully expect they will look to resign (more on that later), and the other is Malcolm Butler, who is basically as good as gone at this point. The Pats also have many free agents who are important to the team in less obvious ways who they would undoubtedly love to bring back.
As long as Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are around, the Patriots are going to be legitimate Super Bowl contenders. Considering that this era could end at any time now, capitalizing on their opportunity to win now is incredibly important. Sure, it is always wise to take a long-term approach but the Patriots need to be maximizing their efforts in the short-term while they still have Brady making plays under center.
That means adding prime talent to the roster whenever possible and retaining as many impact players, who they know fit the system well, as they can. This is another extremely important offseason for the New England Patriots as they look to capitalize on as many Super Bowl opportunities as they can, before it is too late.
I’m not going to lie, this list was difficult to make. The Patriots have a lot of free agents this offseason who played important roles for the team. However, they do not have many obvious players who they absolutely must bring back. Sometimes simply based on the position they play, a lot of these impending free agents can be replaced with relative ease. Who are the upcoming free agents the Patriots simply cannot live without? Let’s take a look.