After enduring a horrific 2024 campaign, the Patriots knew they needed to spend big as free agency got underway. For the most part, they focused on fixing up their defense, bringing in Landry, defensive tackle Milton Williams, cornerback Carlton Davis, and linebacker Robert Spillane as their biggest signings. When all was said and done, New England had spent over $280 million on the first day of free agency.

Pats fans have seen this story before, as the team took a similar approach in 2021, using their abundance of cap space to sign seemingly every player available. And while there may be some concerns that the front office is doing the exact same thing that eventually burned them in 2021, it’s clear right off the bat that this spending spree from the Patriots is different.

The difference between Patriots 2021 and 2025 free agent spending sprees

Before taking a closer look at New England’s early work in free agency, it’s important to look back at 2021 and see what the team did, and where they went wrong. Bill Belichick seemed intent on throwing money at every player available, regardless of whether or not they fit his scheme. Some moves paid off, but most did not.

Guys like Matthew Judon, Hunter Henry, and Kendrick Bourne were successful signings who panned out for the team. But the guys who didn’t, like Nelson Agholor and Jonnu Smith, burned them. Between those two guys combined, the Patriots dished out $76 million, and neither of them made any sort of notable impact for the team.

In the short term, Belichick looked like a genius for these moves, as New England immediately found their way to the playoffs in the first year of the Mac Jones era. But as we know now, everything unraveled pretty quickly. The vast majority of these signings flamed out, to the point where Henry, Bourne, and David Andrews (who was re-signed by the team) are the only folks from this free agent class left with the team.

That leads us to 2025, where the spending is once again quite high. New England is dishing out money to get their guys, and in some cases, they are going way over the expected market value for these guys. Williams (four years, $104 million) and Davis (three years, $60 million) both likely earned way more money than they were expecting to, and even some of the lower-level guys such as Josh Dobbs (two years, $8 million) and Mack Hollins (two years, $8.4 million) were minor overpays.

There are a pair of key differences that separate this free agent strategy from 2021, though. The first is simply a byproduct of where New England finds themselves. Coming off a 4-13 season where their first-year head coach, Jerod Mayo, got fired an hour after their season finale, the Patriots simply aren’t a very good team. That means if they want to land these top guys like Williams and Davis, they are going to have to pay more than other teams.

In concept, that’s OK because of the team’s cap situation. New head coach Mike Vrabel made it clear that if the team felt they had to pay more to land one of their top targets, they would do it. That’s precisely how they landed Williams, who seemed set to sign with the Carolina Panthers. The Patriots stayed aggressive, offered him more money, and ended up getting his signature.

Did they overpay to land Williams? Almost certainly, and it’s a bit of a gamble since his 2024 stats (24 tackles, five sacks) don’t exactly jump off the page. The same can be said for Davis, especially considering his old team, the Detroit Lions, replaced him with D.J. Reed, who got a three-year, $48 million deal, despite him arguably being a better all-around player. But the Lions are a good team, so they don’t necessarily have to wave their checkbook in these players’ faces in order to get them to sign with them.

So if that’s the case, what makes this so different from four years ago? The answer to that is simple; the Patriots are investing in players who (a) fit their system, and (b) have familiarity with their coaching staff. Every single player New England has signed to this point has some sort of tie to Vrabel or a member of his coaching staff. Beyond that, it’s not too hard to see what their plan is with these moves.

After an ugly campaign defensively in 2024, Vrabel is overhauling the unit’s front seven. The goal is to get more aggressive and consistently win at the line of scrimmage. That’s precisely what Williams, Spillane, and Landry excel at doing. It’s also why the team traded away starting defensive tackle Davon Godchaux, who was primarily a two-down run stuffer. He didn’t fit Vrabel’s scheme, so they flipped him to the New Orleans Saints for a seventh-round draft pick.

The signing of Davis shows that the secondary is going to shift from a zone-based scheme to playing more straight up man coverage. Davis is one of the best man corners in the game, giving the team an elite cornerback duo, with Christian Gonzalez manning the other side of the field. If they can hold up in one-on-one coverage, that opens up what the rest of the defense can do.

There’s still a lot of work to be done, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. The addition of Morgan Moses, who signed a three-year, $24 million deal, might just be their best move so far, but more help on the offensive line is needed, and fans are still waiting for the arrival of a de facto number one target in the passing game for Drake Maye.

The early returns are encouraging, and while there’s a natural fear of spending too much in free agency, the Patriots strategy this time around should prove to be more fruitful. Rather than prioritizing immediate winning, Vrabel is putting his plan into place, and should a few more key additions come to town, New England could end up surprising a lot of people in 2025.