{"id":14668,"date":"2025-02-19T22:55:34","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T22:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14668"},"modified":"2025-02-19T22:55:34","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T22:55:34","slug":"breaking-news-patriots-release-veteran-linebacker-sione-takitaki-ahead-of-nfl-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14668","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING NEWS : Patriots release veteran linebacker Sione Takitaki ahead of NFL free agency"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/Xh6Fa5c359fRZyvuub03oMk89vY=\/0x0:4644x3096\/1200x800\/filters:focal(2357x859:3099x1601)\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_image\/image\/73915378\/2191917778.0.jpg\" alt=\"Patriots release linebacker Sione Takitaki after one season - Pats Pulpit\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"xUZbQa\">Eleven months after agreeing to terms in Foxborough, Sione Takitaki will be returning to free agency.<\/p>\n<p id=\"jsqxf8\">The New England Patriots announced the release of the veteran linebacker on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Patriots release LB Sione Takitaki: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3Ff9rAUb2N\">https:\/\/t.co\/3Ff9rAUb2N<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/MPuArm2QOp\">pic.twitter.com\/MPuArm2QOp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; New England Patriots (@Patriots) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Patriots\/status\/1892319313547153807?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 19, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p id=\"0oLco6\">Takitaki, 29, had signed a two-year deal that brought cap charges of $3.355 million and $3.68 million last offseason, per OverTheCap.com. Following a knee scope, the Brigham Young product missed the entirety of training camp and was activated from the physically unable to perform list in October.<\/p>\n<p id=\"IMyu3z\">He went on to appear in 11 games, including four starts. Across 194 snaps on defense and 112 snaps on special teams, 21 tackles were logged before head coach Jerod Mayo\u2019s Patriots became head coach Mike Vrabel\u2019s Patriots.<\/p>\n<p id=\"u9cnGw\">Selected in the third round of the 2019 NFL draft at No. 80 overall, Takitaki began his career with the Cleveland Browns, where he overlapped with past assistant general manager and present executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf.<\/p>\n<p id=\"BLoUop\">The 6-foot-1, 245-pound linebacker appeared in 72 games while in the AFC North, starting 32. His tenure there spanned 268 tackles along with four sacks, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, two interceptions and one touchdown return.<\/p>\n<p id=\"XSJyHU\">Earlier on Wednesday, ESPN\u2019s Dan Graziano reported that the NFL\u2019s 2025 salary cap will fall between $277.5 million and $281.5 million. The new league year officially opens on March 12 at 4 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sione Takitaki landed in Foxborough on a two-year deal last March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-england-patriots"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING NEWS : Patriots release veteran linebacker Sione Takitaki ahead of NFL free agency - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14668\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING NEWS : Patriots release veteran linebacker Sione Takitaki ahead of NFL free agency - 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