{"id":796826,"date":"2026-03-06T19:15:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T19:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/796826\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T19:15:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T19:15:15","slug":"patriots-make-decision-on-dt-isaiah-iton-ahead-of-nfl-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/796826\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots make decision on DT Isaiah Iton ahead of NFL free agency"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Isaiah Iton will be free to test the NFL\u2019s open market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The New England Patriots have made the decision not to tender the defensive tackle ahead of the 2026 league year, as agent Jesse Foreman of Delta Sports Group told the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DougKyed\/status\/2029986510368284869?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">Boston Herald\u2019s Doug Kyed<\/a> on Friday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Iton, 24, loomed as an exclusive rights free agent with fewer than three accrued seasons and an expiring deal. The 6-foot-2, 277-pounder had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patspulpit.com\/2025\/5\/11\/24428112\/patriots-reportedly-signing-mehki-butler-isaiah-iton-rookie-minicamp-tryouts\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">agreed to terms<\/a> with the organization last May on the heels of participating in rookie minicamp as a sophomore tryout.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">From there, Iton saw 42 defensive snaps in preseason action while notching three tackles, including one for loss. Yet after exiting with a hip issue against the Minnesota Vikings, the interior defensive lineman was waived with an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patspulpit.com\/new-england-patriots-news\/106911\/patriots-place-isaiah-iton-injured-reserve-sign-phil-lutz\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">injury designation<\/a> in the days leading up to the August finale. He subsequently went unclaimed and reverted to injured reserve for the rest of 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Entering the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2024, Iton spent his rookie year on the practice squad of the Tennessee Titans and was briefly retained on a futures contract. He made stops at Northern Colorado and Hutchinson Community College before appearing in 36 games between Ole Miss and Rutgers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">In addition to Iton, running back Deneric Prince and fullback Jack Westover also check in as exclusive rights free agents in Foxborough.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The new league year officially begins next Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Isaiah Iton will be free to test the NFL\u2019s open market. The New England Patriots have made the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":796827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,1167,249,57412,726,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-796826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-england","10":"tag-new-england-patriots","11":"tag-new-england-patriots-free-agency","12":"tag-new-england-patriots-news","13":"tag-newengland","14":"tag-newenglandpatriots","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-patriots"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116183834594634303","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796826","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=796826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}