Expect Patriots to Continue Cap Relief Efforts in Near Future

If the Patriots want to have room to sign the players they draft in April - let alone anymore free agents - they need to make more financial moves to free up cap space.

What makes this offseason so difficult for the New England Patriots is the fact that they have very little cap space to work with. When free agency started, they had roughly $29 million. As of Friday, March 27, they have $803,834, according to Boston Sports Journal's Miguel Benzan. 

Based on the standard rookie deal that drafted players are signed to, the Patriots will need between $2-$2.5 million in available cap space just to sign their projected 12 draft picks in April. The chance of them actually drafting 12 players is unlikely, but we are basing it off of what we have for information right now. That also doesn't include making room to acquire more free agents. So, New England should be gearing up to free up more cap space in the coming days so they can add more talent onto their roster and have the room to also sign their draft picks. 

Here are a few different ways they can free up cap space in the near future:

Extend Stephon Gilmore

The biggest cap hit the Patriots have in 2020 is from All-Pro cornerback and Defensive Player of The Year, Stephon Gilmore. Because of his extension last season to create some cap relief for New England, it unfortunately brought along an $18.6 million cap hit for this season. So, one of the most effective ways to clear up the most amount of cap space in one maneuver this offseason would be to extend Gilmore's contract. 

Extend Joe Thuney 

Franchise tagging Joe Thuney keeps an All-Pro caliber player in New England, but it also puts a $14.7 million hit on their salary cap. The Patriots made it clear once they tagged Thuney that it was done with the intention of providing them more time to come to an agreement on an extension with their starting left guard. Since that is their goal, we can assume it will happen eventually (hopefully sometime soon) which will then lower his cap hit for 2020. 

Cut Rex Burkhead

I'm surprised this hasn't happened already. With a backfield that includes Sony Michel, Damien Harris, James White and Rex Burkhead, it makes sense that New England would consider cutting loose with one of their running backs. Burkhead seems like he would be the odd man out, mainly because of his value compared to the other running backs and the cap relief he would provide the team with by being cut, which would be $1.9 million when considering cap savings and dead money. 

Extend Dont'a Hightower

In 2020, Dont’a Hightower's cap hit currently sits at $12.4 million. That's a big number at a position that the Patriots still need to add on to. So, if the Patriots could extend Hightower, it would be one of the best ways for New England to free up some cap space. Since Hightower turned 30 in early March, an extension would likely include void years, similar to the five-year extension the Patriots gave captain Devin McCourty that in reality is just a two-year extension.