{"id":772287,"date":"2026-02-24T02:57:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T02:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/772287\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T02:57:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T02:57:23","slug":"patriots-release-backup-rb-after-injury-hit-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/772287\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots Release Backup RB After Injury-Hit Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New England Patriots<\/a> have one of the better cap situations in the NFL, especially for being the reigning AFC Champions.<\/p>\n

The Patriots have nearly $37.5 million in available cap space and only two true starters, edge rusher K’Lavon Chaisson<\/a> and safety Jaylinn Hawkins, hitting free agency next month.<\/p>\n

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However, that does not mean that New England will get sloppy with trying to keep their roster as lean and streamlined as possible .<\/p>\n

The team made a cap-saving move on Feb. 23 to release one of its more versatile offensive weapons, running back Antonio Gibson, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How Much Do The Patriots Save By Releasing Gibson?\"New<\/p>\n

Sep 28, 2025; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) hands the ball off to running back Antonio Gibson (4) during the second half of a game against the Carolina Panthers at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images | Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Per Over the Cap, New England does not free up vast amounts of cap room to sign expensive free agents or re-sign high-performing players like Chaisson, but it does give them a big more to work with as they finalize their strategy<\/a> for March.<\/p>\n

“Gibson had a $4.14 million cap charge for the Patriots this year and his release will save the team $3.14 million on the salary cap. His dead money that will remain with the team will be $1 million.” Jason Fitzgerald wrote<\/a>. “Gibson signed a three-year, $11.25 million contract with the Patriots as a free agent in 2024.”<\/p>\n

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Interestingly, Fitzgerald pointed out, Gibson will collect $2.1 million in salary in 2026 if his injury does not allow him to take to the field this coming season.<\/p>\n

“The Patriots should now be about $42.5 million under the salary cap for 2026. That ranks 10th in the NFL,” Fitzgerald added.<\/p>\n

This number slightly differs from that of Spotrac<\/a> due to their differing calculations on the team’s exact amount of rollover cap from the year prior, but it is clear that New England will have around $40 million to work with – barring any more roster cuts – moving into free agency.<\/p>\n

Gibson had a decent first season as the complementary back to Rhamondre Stevenson back in 2024, rushing for 538 yards and managing 206 yards receiving.<\/p>\n

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His second year saw him land as the third choice option on the depth chart to start the year, behind Stevenson and rookie TreVeyon Henderson, and a torn ACL in Week 5 sealed his fate for the rest of the year.<\/p>\n

Hopefully, Gibson is able to make a full recovery and keep providing value as a do-all auxiliary back for a team in the league.<\/p>\n

Make sure you bookmark New England Patriots on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns, and so much more!<\/a><\/p>\n

This article was originally published on www.si.com\/nfl\/patriots\/onsi as Patriots Release Backup RB After Injury-Hit Season<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New England Patriots have one of the better cap situations in the NFL, especially for being the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":772290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[4191,7889,235,260,2567,833,7,12059,18106,23289,7895,100555,9737,7502,1167,249,6,236,4120,596],"class_list":["post-772287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-carolina-panthers","tag-adam-schefter","tag-antonio-gibson","tag-carolina","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-carolinapanthers","tag-drake-maye","tag-football","tag-foxborough","tag-gillette-stadium","tag-jason-fitzgerald","tag-jaylinn-hawkins","tag-k39lavon-chaisson","tag-mandatory-credit","tag-massachusetts","tag-new-england","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nfl","tag-panthers","tag-rhamondre-stevenson","tag-treveyon-henderson"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772287","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=772287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}