Patriots, Jerod Mayo ‘ready to burn some cash’ to help with rebuild،
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Patriots are ready to back the Brinks truck under new head coach Jerod Mayo in hopes of returning the franchise to prominence.
“We're recruiting 1,000 percent talent,” Mayo said Monday with a touch of humor on sports radio WEEI. “We have plenty of cap space and liquidity. We're willing to spend money!”
The Patriots have a projected salary cap hit of $65 million, according to ESPN's Roster Management System. It's a smooth total that currently ranks fourth in the NFL.
The team is coming off a 4-13 season, which led to a parting ways with coach Bill Belichick after 24 seasons. Mayo was quickly chosen as his successor, and owner Robert Kraft said last week that the plan was to give Mayo and the existing staff — headlined by director of player personnel Matt Groh and director of scouting Eliot Wolf – rebuilding the team.
Spending has been a hot topic among the Patriots in recent years, with Kraft previously saying he did not set limits on Belichick, who had final say on all personnel and budget decisions.
The Patriots ranked 30th out of 32 NFL teams in cash spending last season, $188 million, according to Roster Management System, which analyzes every NFL contract. The Cleveland Browns were No. 1 with $282 million.
The Patriots were in third place in 2021, when a then-record spree of unrestricted free agency resulted in spending totaling $222 million. But they were ranked 31st twice in the last decade – in 2020 and 2014.
Over the past 10 years, the Patriots ranked last in the NFL in cash spending at $1.62 billion, according to Roster Management System. The Philadelphia Eagles, with $1.92 billion, led this period.
Mayo's remarks during Monday's radio interview foreshadow critical personnel decisions to come for the Patriots, with safety Kyle Dugger, guard/offensive tackle Mike Onwenu, pass rusher Josh Uche, tight end tight end Hunter Henry and wide receiver Kendrick Bourne among their top players slated for unrestricted release. agency.
The Patriots also own the third overall pick in the NFL Draft – their highest pick in Kraft's 30 years of ownership.
“We're going to take the best player available to meet the team's biggest needs: offensive line, receiver, quarterback – pick your [choice]” Mayo said in the radio interview.
The draft remains the lifeblood of what Kraft considers the best way to build a championship team.
“At the end of the day, to be good in this league, you have to draft well,” Kraft said last March at the NFL annual meeting. “Because given the salary cap and the value of the people you bring in, rather than signing them as free agents, that's where your biggest return comes from.
“If you look at when we won the Super Bowl, we always seemed to have 12 or 15 players that were really products of the draft. When you put them on their rookie contracts, when you're dealing with the salary cap, it allows you to 'be competitive. better.'
