The 2025 offseason has arrived for the New England Patriots and while they'll spend the initial weeks searching for their next head coach and building a staff around them, many of the decisions they must make can already be mapped out.

The Patriots have both the draft capital and the salary cap space to give their rebuild a much-needed boost. They'll start the new NFL year in mid-March with the league's highest projected amount of cap space, while their nine draft selections should provide plenty of ammunition to play with, including the fourth-overall selection.

Here's everything you need to know about the Patriots 2025 offseason!

March 12 – 2025 NFL League Year Opens

Pending Free Agents

The Patriots were busy last offseason extending and re-signing a large group of their own players including players like Rhamondre Stevenson and Christian Barmore who would've been headed to free agency this offseason.

Thus, the amount of in-house moves to consider are limited in scope. Certainly the group of internal free agents features some key contributors of recent years like Jonathan Jones and Deatrich Wise, but none should require the kind of large long-term pacts that the team handed out last year, leaving plenty of cap space to attack external free agency with.

Here are the Patriots pending free agents.

• Jacoby Brissett: Brissett went 1-4 starting the first five games of the season until rookie Drake Maye took over. He had two touchdowns and one interception and showed excellent leadership in supporting the development of both Maye and Joe Milton.
• Daniel Ekuale: Ekuale played a career-high 16 games this season, registering a sack and 52 tackles while playing 68 percent of the defensive snaps.
• JaMycal Hasty: The five-year vet experienced a bit of a resurgence in 2024 with 20 carries and 10 receptions, his first registered statistics since 2022.
• Jaylinn Hawkins: Hawkins was a reliable option at safety this season, coming in 11th on the team with 48 tackles with a fumble recovery. He played 55 percent of the defensive snaps and 70 percent of the special teams snaps.
• Austin Hooper: The veteran tight end was third on the team with 45 catches for 476 yards and three touchdowns. He was a capable complement with Hunter Henry, who had a career season with 66 catches, tied for the team lead with DeMario Douglas.
• Jonathan Jones: The nine-year veteran played in all 17 games this season but played just 64 percent of the snaps as his usage has declined in recent seasons. He remains a team leader and versatile member of the secondary. He'll turn 32 this September.
• Joey Slye: Slye won the kicking job out of training camp and went 26-of-33 (78.8 percent) on his field goal attempts while missing just one of his 26 extra points.
• Deatrich Wise Jr.: Wise tied for the team lead with five sacks, but played his lowest snap total (408) since 2019. The 2017 fourth-round pick will turn 31 this July.
• Oshane Ximines: Ximines played just two games before being lost for the season to injury. He showed some edge rusher potential in training camp.

RFA/ERFA

The Patriots must choose whether or not to make qualifying offers to their restricted free agents and exclusive rights free agents. All players in this group should be easy and fairly cheap to retain if the team chooses to keep them around.

• Jeremiah Pharms (ERFA): Pharms played 16 games this season, 43 percent of the defensive snaps, and registered two sacks and 33 combined tackles along the defensive line.
• Ben Brown (ERFA): The second-year player arrived in mid-October and immediately took over as the team's starting center. He went on to start 10 games before suffering a concussion that cost him the final two games of the season.
• Demontrey Jacobs (ERFA): The second-year player was claimed off waivers from the Broncos in late August and ended up playing 90 percent of the offensive snaps, working at both left and right tackle.
• Alex Austin (ERFA): Austin spent much of the 2024 season on IR, but returned for the team's final five games and showed promise while playing an elevated role at cornerback. He had five passes defensed over those last five games.
• Christian Elliss (RFA): Elliss was thrust into a significant defensive role at linebacker for the first time in his five-year career, playing nearly half the defensive snaps and picking up his first career interception along with 1.5 sacks, five passes defensed and 80 combined tackles.

5th-year Option

• Cole Strange: Strange was limited to just two games in 2024 after recovering from a major knee injury and he played them at a new position, center. With David Andrews telling reporters he'd like to return for another season it casts some doubt on what position Strange might play in 2025. Strange remains under contract for 2025 but the team must decide this spring if they'd like to pick up the 2022 first-rounder's option for the 2026 season.

Cap Space Projections

Both websites that track salary cap space list the Patriots as having the most cap space in the NFL for the 2025 season.

• Spotrac: $131 million
• Over the Cap: $131 million

Notable External Free Agents

Three important positions, edge, offensive tackle and wide receiver, top the Patriots spots of need this offseason, while a second starting cornerback and defensive front seven depth should also receive heavy consideration in free agency as they're two deepest positions of quality players in this year's group.

As always, there are some interesting notable names due to hit the free agency market. The Patriots will have to balance their moves between free agency and the draft, with options on the defensive side of the ball appearing to be the most plentiful when the league year opens in March. At tackle and wide receiver there is limited depth after the key names atop the lists like receiver Tee Higgins and offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley.

Here are some notable free agents that will garner plenty of attention around the NFL this spring, specifically focusing on the positions the Patriots could consider upgrading.

• Tee Higgins, WR
• Chris Godwin, WR
• Amari Cooper, WR
• Ronnie Stanley, OT
• Cam Robinson, OT
• Alaric Jackson, OT
• Milton Williams, DT
• B.J. Hill, DT
• Josh Sweat, Edge
• Dre Greenlaw, LB
• DJ Reed, CB
• Charvarius Ward, CB
• Rasul Douglas, CB

2025 Opponents

The Patriots finished in fourth place in the AFC East, locking down their final three opponents that were not already determined by the rotating schedule. New England will face four 2024 playoff teams next season, the Ravens, Steelers, Bills and Buccaneers. On the other end of the spectrum, the Patriots will also play seven of the other nine teams that will be picking in the top 10 of this spring's draft.

AFC East HOME & AWAY

• Buffalo Bills
• Miami Dolphins
• New York Jets

HOME

• Cleveland Browns
• Pittsburgh Steelers
• Atlanta Falcons
• Carolina Panthers
• AFC West: Las Vegas Raiders
• NFC East: New York Giants

AWAY

• Baltimore Ravens
• Cincinnati Bengals
• New Orleans Saints
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• AFC South: Tennessee Titans

April 24-26: NFL Draft (Green Bay)

The Patriots are projected to have nine total picks for April's draft which will take place in Green Bay.

Projected Draft Picks

• 1st Round (4th overall)
• 2nd Round Pick (Approx. 38^th overall)
• 3rd Round Pick (Approx. 69^th overall)
• 3rd Round Pick (via Atlanta/Matthew Judon) (Approx. 77^th overall)
• 4th Round Pick (Approx. 105^th overall)
• 5th Round Pick (Approx. 143th overall)
• 7th Round Pick (via Tennessee/Nick Folk) (Approx. 217^th overall)
• 7th Round Pick (Approx. 220^th overall)
• 7th Round Pick (via Los Angeles Chargers) (Approx. 241^st overall)

DISCLAIMER: The views and thoughts expressed in this article are those of the writer and don't necessarily reflect those of the organization. Read Full Disclaimer