{"id":802664,"date":"2026-03-09T15:53:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T15:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/802664\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T15:53:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T15:53:15","slug":"patriots-make-last-minute-roster-cut-on-verge-of-free-agency-98-5-the-sports-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/802664\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots make last-minute roster cut on verge of free agency – 98.5 The Sports Hub"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Patriots are making a roster cut ahead of the start of the free-agent negotiation period. According to Albert Breer<\/a>, they are releasing linebacker Jahlani Tavai.<\/p>\n

Cutting Tavai sheds $4 million in salary and bonuses off the books for 2026, and $3.875M for 2027. Elsewhere on the linebacker depth chart, the Patriots also have a decision to make on Jack Gibbens, who is on track to become a restricted free agent. Robert Spillane and Christian Elliss are lineup regulars who are under contract for 2026 and are the only two linebackers signed for 2027, so the Patriots have a need at that position both short-term and long-term.<\/p>\n

Tavai played 12 games for the Patriots in 2025, logging 42 tackles (four for loss) and a forced fumble. He saw a significant drop in playing time under Mike Vrabel, playing just 32% of defensive snaps (19 snaps per game). As for the cap, cutting him pre-June 1 creates about $1.7 million in new space (via Spotrac<\/a>).<\/p>\n

But more importantly, the Patriots have a few million extra bucks to work with in the event that they make an early push for a free agent as soon as Monday. It made a difference last year, when they went the extra mile to bring in defensive tackle Milton Williams, making him the highest-paid free agent in team history.<\/p>\n

It’s unclear whether the Patriots are about to make that big of a move, but they have several needs at key spots in the lineup. They will need a linebacker or two, whether it’s in free agency or the draft. If they want to make a bigger move, the free-agent market is flush with established veteran linebackers in their primes, including Devin Lloyd, Bobby Okereke, Tremaine Edmunds, Devin Bush, and Quay Walker.<\/p>\n

Matt, a North Andover, Massachusetts native, has been with The Sports Hub since 2010. Growing up the son of Boston University All-American and Melrose High School hall-of-fame hockey player Steve Dolloff, sports was always a part of his life. After attending Northeastern University, Matt focused his love of sports on writing, extensively writing about all four major Boston teams. He also is a co-host of the Sports Hub Underground podcast and is a regular on-air contributor on the Sports Hub. Matt writes about all New England sports from Patriots football to Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Patriots are making a roster cut ahead of the start of the free-agent negotiation period. According to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,6304,1167,249,2326,2094,6,2592,208,111578],"class_list":{"0":"post-802664","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-jahlani-tavai","10":"tag-new-england","11":"tag-new-england-patriots","12":"tag-newengland","13":"tag-newenglandpatriots","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-nfl-free-agency","16":"tag-patriots","17":"tag-patriots-offseason-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116200027704337021","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802664","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=802664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}