With Super Bowl LX in the rear-view mirror and the 2025 NFL season officially in the books, all of the league\u2019s 32 teams are now in offseason mode. For the New England Patriots, it will be an interesting one: fresh off a Super Bowl berth, they need to keep adding talent to a roster that exceeded expectations in the first year under head coach Mike Vrabel.<\/p>\n
The overall goal is clear, though: to further build around third-year quarterback Drake Maye. How the Patriots will do so remains to be seen, but we do know when they will do it.<\/p>\n
With that said, let\u2019s set the club\u2019s offseason calendar for the next few weeks and months.<\/p>\n
February 17: Franchise tag window opens<\/p>\n
While franchise and transition tag numbers will not be finalized before the salary cap is made official, the NFL has already informed its teams that the cap will end up in the range of $301.2 million to $305.7 million<\/a> per team. This will give the Patriots around $42 million<\/a> to work with, but don\u2019t expect any of it to be spent on the franchise tag. While they do have starter-level talent among their 14 free agents-to-be<\/a>, none of them have shown they are deserving of that level of investment.<\/p>\n February 23-March 2: NFL Scouting Combine<\/p>\n As has become tradition, the NFL will hold its preeminent scouting event at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. More than 300 players hoping to get drafted later this year will be present and go through rigorous testing both on and off the field. The Patriots will have all of their big-hitters \u2014 Mike Vrabel, Eliot Wolf, Ryan Cowden, Matt Groh \u2014 present.<\/p>\n March 3: Franchise tag window closes<\/p>\n As mentioned above, the franchise designation window is not expected to be relevant for the Patriots this year. That said, they will still keep an eye on who will or won\u2019t receive the tag this year ahead of free agency.<\/p>\n March 9-11: Legal tampering period<\/p>\n While free agency proper will not being until later that week, meaning that players are not allowed to sign contracts at this point, the legal-tampering period effectively marks the start of player movement. Between 12 p.m. ET on March 9 and 3:59:59 p.m. ET on March 11, \u201cclubs are permitted to contact, and enter into contract negotiations with the certified agents of players who will become unrestricted free agents upon the expiration of their 2025 player contracts.\u201d Of course, there always has been a rather loose interpretation of what this means. One of our favorite example comes from the 2019 free agency period, when then-Patriots offensive tackle Trent Brown agreed to a multi-million dollar contract within nine minutes<\/a> of the window opening.<\/p>\n March 11: Free agency and 2026 NFL league year begin<\/p>\n Once the clock strikes 4 p.m. on March 11, the NFL is officially on to 2026. This means the \u201creal\u201d tart of free agency as well as the implementation of the salary cap rules: by the start of the league year, teams have to be under the cap. The Patriots are in good shape in both areas given the aforementioned $42 million in projected cap space as well as a free agents list lacking definitive star power despite several starter-level contributors being on it.<\/p>\n In addition to free agency, 4 p.m. ET on March 11 also marks the deadline for teams to exercise contract options (of which New England has none) as well as submit offers to their unrestricted and exclusive rights free agents. There are several Patriots players<\/a> falling into those categories, even though it seems unlikely any RFA tenders will be given out.<\/p>\n March 13: Contract guarantee deadline for WR Stefon Diggs and DT Christian Barmore<\/p>\n Stefon Diggs and Christian Barmore are not only both currently facing legal situations stemming from alleged incidents last year, they also share a distinction as being the only two players on New England\u2019s roster with a guarantee deadline: if they are on the team on the third day of the new league year, an extra $6 million and $10 million of their respective salaries will become fully guaranteed.<\/p>\n April 15: Final opportunity to host draft-eligible players<\/p>\n Up until April 15, the Patriots can bring draft prospects into their facility for so-called 30 visits. After that deadline, they can still visit with them but will have to do so on their \u201chome turf.\u201d Last year, for example, the team\u2019s entire brain trust flew to Baton Rouge for a final visit with eventual fourth overall draft pick Will Campbell.<\/p>\n April 17: RFA tender deadline<\/p>\n As noted above, this date is unlikely to be relevant for the Patriots\u2019 internal free agents. If they plan to bring other restricted free agents aboard, however, they have until April 17 to have them sign an offer sheet (something that is also quite unlikely to happen).<\/p>\n April 20: First day of offseason workout program<\/p>\n For the first time since 2023, the Patriots are among the second group of teams to start their offseason workout program. Whereas clubs with new head coaches can begin on April 6, the Patriots have to wait two more weeks to jump into action. Phase 1 of the workout program focuses exclusively on strength and conditioning work.<\/p>\n April 22: Final opportunity for contact with draft-eligible players<\/p>\n While there is a one-week window where teams can still visit draft prospects but not host them, that window will be shut on the eve of the draft.<\/p>\n