{"id":779698,"date":"2026-07-05T02:08:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T02:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/779698\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T02:08:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T02:08:24","slug":"drake-mayes-patriots-saved-22-million-but-now-face-a-glaring-linebacker-depth-problem-ahead-of-the-new-nfl-season-nfl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/779698\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake Maye\u2019s Patriots saved $22 million but now face a glaring linebacker depth problem ahead of the new NFL season | NFL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DrakePatriots Cut $22M From Linebacker Budget, But Depth Questions Loom for 2026 (Getty Images) New England’s linebacker room looks noticeably leaner heading into 2026. The Patriots shed five contributors at or near the position, sideline figures like Anfernee Jennings, Jahlani Tavai, Marte Mapu, Jack Gibbens and K’Lavon Chaisson. In doing so, they cleared or avoided somewhere around $22 million in combined salary obligations. The math makes sense on paper. But with a defense that ranked sixth in rushing yards allowed last season, what New England saved in dollars it may have spent in depth.<\/p>\n

How much cap space did the Patriots create by releasing their linebackers?<\/p>\n

The departures were spread across direct cap relief and avoided future spending. Tavai’s release freed roughly $1.73 million, per Spotrac. Mapu’s trade removed a $1.508 million salary from New England’s books. Jennings’ release cleared about $4 million more.The bigger figures came from players New England chose not to re-sign. Gibbens landed in Arizona on a two-year, $7.5 million deal, with $4.475 million in 2026 cash, per Over The Cap. Chaisson signed with Washington on a one-year deal that carries an $11.47 million cap number, according to Spotrac.Taken together, that is a meaningful sum to step away from. The Patriots were not just trimming fringe players. They moved on from contributors who had real roles in the defense last season, and in most cases let them walk to situations where the money made more sense.That is a legitimate front-office approach. Avoid overpaying for depth, trust your starters, keep cap flexibility. It works right up until someone gets hurt.Robert Spillane is what makes the position still functional. Pro Football Focus gave him a 76.3 overall defensive grade in 2025, 12th among 88 qualified linebackers. His run-defense grade of 87.3 was even more impressive, ranking eighth at the position. For a team that allowed only 99.2 rushing yards per game last season, sixth-best in the NFL, Spillane was a key reason those numbers held.Christian Elliss contributed too, though PFF’s numbers tell a more modest story. His 61.5 overall grade and 61.2 run-defense grade ranked 60th among qualified linebackers. He brings range and quickness, but asking him to anchor a run defense for a sustained stretch is a different ask entirely.<\/p>\n

What happens to the Patriots’ run defense if Spillane gets injured?<\/p>\n

Sports Illustrated recently described New England’s linebacker situation as “slim pickings in the middle” in its 2026 preview, and the depth chart backs that up. ESPN currently lists Spillane and Elliss as the top inside linebackers, with K.J. Britt and Chad Muma behind them.Britt and Muma are not bad players. Muma posted a 70.8 run-defense grade from PFF in 2025. Britt brings physicality as an early-down linebacker. They can handle rotational work. But there is a real difference between rotational snaps in September and being the defensive signal-caller in a November playoff race.The defensive line gives New England a foundation that can compensate. Christian Barmore, Milton Williams, Harold Landry and Dre’Mont Jones form a front with size, experience and edge-setting ability. If that group commands blocks consistently and keeps running backs from reaching the second level cleanly, the linebackers do not have to be perfect.But the margin for error at linebacker is thin. The Patriots went from a position group with multiple capable bodies to one where a single injury to Spillane reshapes what the defense can realistically do. Last season’s run-defense improvement was one of the more surprising defensive developments in the league. Sustaining it with less proven depth behind the starter is the question Mike Vrabel’s staff will have to answer in training camp, and possibly in the middle of the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patriots Cut $22M From Linebacker Budget, But Depth Questions Loom for 2026 (Getty Images) New England’s linebacker room…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,142456,1231,593,369251,369252,369253,369250,85],"class_list":["post-779698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-drake-maye-patriots","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-2026-season-preview","tag-patriots-cap-space","tag-patriots-defensive-line","tag-patriots-linebacker-depth-problem","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}