Let\u2019s break down what the moves mean for the team from a big-picture perspective.<\/p>\n
OT James Hudson III: Signed<\/p>\n
Swing tackle depth: The Patriots have seen their offensive tackle depth diminish this offseason. Backup left tackle Vederian Lowe, who started four games last season in place of Will Campbell, departed in free agency to the San Francisco 49ers. Right tackle Thayer Munford remains unsigned after undergoing offseason surgery. That left just 2025 seventh-round draft pick Marcus Bryant and practice squad players Lorenz Metz and Sebastian Gutierrez on the depth chart.<\/p>\n
Hudson now joins the group behind Campbell and veteran Morgan Moses with 60 games of experience (19 starts) in the NFL. Those have come at both tackle spots as his addition provides New England a true backup swing tackle.<\/p>\n
Minimal commitment: Signing in the third week of free agency, Hudson\u2019s one-year contract is a veteran salary benefit deal that reduces his salary-cap hit to a salary typically around $1 million. That highlights how Hudson\u2019s roster spot is no guarantee, especially as the Patriots will likely continue to target the tackle position in the NFL Draft next month, perhaps with the goal of finding a potential long-term successor to 35-year old Morgan Moses.<\/p>\n
More familiarity: In a reoccurring theme this offseason, New England\u2019s coaching staff and front office has previous familiarity with Hudson. Mike Vrabel worked closely with the offensive tackle during his year as a consultant with the Cleveland Browns in 2024. Hudson played the first four years of his career in Cleveland after being selected in the fourth-round out of the University of Cincinnati \u2014 where he was coached by Vrabel\u2019s close friend Luke Fickell.<\/p>\n
QB Joshua Dobbs: Released<\/p>\n
DeVito\u2019s elevation: After being claimed off of waivers during last year\u2019s roster cutdown day, Tommy DeVito went on to serve as New England\u2019s emergency third quarterback behind Drake Maye and Dobbs all of last season. DeVito, who re-signed on a two-year, $7.4 million this offseason, is now thrusted into the primary backup role entering 2026 behind Maye.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot [of growth]. I think that\u2019s a tough proposition to have, is just coming in at the end of training camp and trying to get acclimated offensively,\u201d head coach Mike Vrabel said of DeVito near the end of the season. \u201cTo his credit, he\u2019s done a really nice job, works with guys and receivers on Mondays, maybe guys that are on the practice squad or that didn\u2019t play in the game\u2026 I have enjoyed the time here with Tommy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cap calculation: Dobbs was set to enter the final season of the two-year contract he signed in free agency last offseason \u2014 which carried no remaining guaranteed money. That made the release not a complete surprise. Making the move frees up roughly $3 million in cap space for the Patriots while avoiding Dobbs\u2019 $3.7 million cash payout.<\/p>\n
In comparison, Dobbs\u2019 cap hit for 2025 was set to be $4.75 million while DeVito\u2019s will be $1.55 million.<\/p>\n
New 3rd QB: With just Maye and DeVito on the depth chart, it should be expected the Patriots add a third arm to the mix at least through training camp. It would not be a surprise if that addition is a rookie through either the draft or undrafted free agency, as Executive Vice President of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf comes from a Packers\u2019 franchise that routinely drafted the position every other season to keep the pipeline fresh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s break down what the moves mean for the team from a big-picture perspective. OT James Hudson III:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":830163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,52640,57412,728,13788,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-830162","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-england-patriots-analysis","10":"tag-new-england-patriots-free-agency","11":"tag-new-england-patriots-roster","12":"tag-new-england-patriots-salary-cap","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116281678472091137","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830162","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=830162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}