The ever-changing 2020 offseason is continuing to unfold surprises for the New England Patriots.
Tom Brady’s departure felt astronomical in March — and then the coronavirus pandemic happened, Cam Newton signed and the Patriots now have the third-most cap space in the NFL. New England entered the offseason with less than $500 thousand to spend and now they sit at $35.28 million.
It all began with the grievances they settled with Antonio Brown and Aaron Hernandez that freed up nearly $8 million in cap space. They restructured Rex Burkhead’s contract earlier that week and were desperate to make moves that would clear up space.
The Patriots had an NFL-high eight players opt-out and that created a ton of room for the 2020 season. Nearly $28 million of that money came from Dont’a Hightower, Marcus Cannon and Patrick Chung’s contracts. The cap space for these players has been moved to the 2021 season, and fortunately for New England, they’re in solid shape for next year.
The list of free agents is slim and the Patriots could just let the money roll over into next season. Bill Belichick has a decent team to put on the field and he could sign players throughout the year if the Patriots lose depth.
Things have changed significantly when it comes to salary cap and it gives the Patriots much more freedom going forward.
