{"id":284112,"date":"2025-08-13T06:16:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T06:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/284112\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T06:16:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T06:16:11","slug":"patriots-veteran-with-60-career-starts-named-surprise-cut-candidate-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/284112\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots veteran with 60 career starts named surprise cut candidate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The New England Patriots signed linebacker Jahlani Tavai to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spotrac.com\/nfl\/player\/transactions\/_\/id\/29079\/jahlani-tavai\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:three-year extension worth $16 million;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">three-year extension worth $16 million<\/a> last offseason. However, just a year later, it looks like the veteran defender is fighting for a spot on the roster.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.boston.com\/sports\/new-england-patriots\/2025\/08\/12\/patriots-roster-watch-5-possible-candidates-for-a-surprise-cut\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Boston.com\u2019s Khari A. Thompson;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Boston.com\u2019s Khari A. Thompson<\/a> listed Tavai as a surprise cut candidate for the Patriots, who are set to square off against the Minnesota Vikings in two joint practices and a preseason contest this week.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCutting your leading tackler in back-to-back years could be a dicey move for any franchise, but it\u2019s exactly what the Patriots would be doing if they cut Tavai. They released Ja\u2019Whaun Bentley last year,\u201d Thompson wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Tavai has <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ezlazar\/status\/1954915944771252625\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:missed most of training camp due to a calf injury;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">missed most of training camp due to a calf injury<\/a> and though he has been a consistent starter on the defense over the last few years, there\u2019s a ton of competition in the linebacker room.<\/p>\n<p>Robert Spillane is guaranteed a starting spot, while Christian Elliss, Keion White, and Jack Gibbens are pushing for the other starting role with Tavai absent. The 28-year-old is already in danger of losing his starting spot, but it\u2019s not out of the picture that the Patriots could cut him and start fresh in the position group.<\/p>\n<p>Obviously, when healthy, Tavai is a solid contributor. The Hawaii product tallied a career-high 115 tackles in 2024 and hasn\u2019t missed a regular-season game in three years.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>However, with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patriots.com\/team\/coaches-roster\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:coaching staff completely different in New England;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">coaching staff completely different in New England<\/a>, they could cut ties with Tavai and move forward with the linebacker group on the field in camp.<\/p>\n<p>Related Headlines<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New England Patriots signed linebacker Jahlani Tavai to a three-year extension worth $16 million last offseason. However,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[11813,7,10286,6304,7900,54428,259,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208,9591],"class_list":{"0":"post-284112","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-christian-elliss","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-jack-gibbens","11":"tag-jahlani-tavai","12":"tag-keion-white","13":"tag-khari-a-thompson","14":"tag-minnesota-vikings","15":"tag-new-england","16":"tag-new-england-patriots","17":"tag-newengland","18":"tag-newenglandpatriots","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-patriots","21":"tag-robert-spillane"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115019998058536201","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}