The New England Patriots spent over $163 million in free agency last offseason.
New England brought in the best tight ends available in Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry, while securing a slew of other players on large contracts. Matthew Judon, Nelson Agholor, Kendrick Bourne, Jalen Mills and Davon Godchaux are some of the other names.
Bourne had a career-high 55 catches for 800 yards and five touchdowns, while Judon tallied a career-high 12.5 sacks. Henry had a career-high nine touchdowns and was Mac Jones’ most reliable target.
On the flip side — Agholor was the team’s highest-paid receiver by far and he only had 37 catches for 473 yards and three touchdowns. Godchaux didn’t nearly have the impact that was expected and Mills proved he wasn’t the lockdown player the Patriots needed.
In an interview with The Athletic’s Jeff Howe, Robert Kraft discussed the free agent class and laid out his expectations for the 2022 season.
“I hope that some of the free agents who we brought in who didn’t perform as high as we would have liked last year will (produce) this year because they’ve adjusted to the system,” Kraft said. “And we’re making changes to take advantage of what they do best. We have a lot of talent that hasn’t been tapped into yet in my opinion.”
Kraft continued and discussed the future of Jones, who led the Patriots to an 10-7 record in his rookie season.
“This year will be very telling,” Kraft said. “To come into something as new as this, as established, I think he got beat up pretty bad, and he kept coming back and getting up and really doing some great stuff. Just the way he handles himself, he took some real beatings and hopped up. He has developed a good relationship with the whole cadre of receivers. I’m very happy with what I’ve seen. But this is a big year, the second year.”
The Patriots, unlike last year, have moved extremely slow in free agency due to the lack of funds.
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