The New England Patriots have been highly active in the NFL offseason, which was expected given their significant cap space of over $120 million\u2014the largest in the league. With this flexibility, the Patriots have been aggressive in improving their defense, and on Monday, they continued that effort by re-signing one of their own players.<\/p>\n
While the Patriots didn’t have a large group of free agents this year, Deatrich Wise Jr. and Jonathan Jones were the most notable. Both players ultimately signed with the Washington Commanders, and it appeared another key player might leave when the Las Vegas Raiders extended an offer sheet to linebacker Christian Elliss, a restricted free agent. However, New England decided to match the Raiders’ offer, keeping Elliss on a two-year contract.<\/p>\n
\u201cSources say the Patriots plan to match the Raiders\u2019 offer sheet for restricted free-agent LB Christian Elliss, locking him in on a 2-year deal through 2026,\u201d reported Mike Reiss of ESPN.<\/p>\n
Patriots strengthen defense by keeping Christian Elliss<\/p>\n
With the addition of free agents like Robert Spillane and Jack Gibbens, the Patriots’ linebacker group is growing, but the decision to retain Elliss speaks volumes. After joining the team late in 2023, Elliss secured a larger role in 2024, playing in 16 games and recording 80 tackles, 1.5 sacks, five passes defended, one interception, and one forced fumble.<\/p>\n
Elliss now joins Milton Williams, Calton Davis, and Harold Landry as part of the defensive reinforcements for New England. The details of how the Patriots\u2019 linebacker rotation will evolve remain uncertain, but it\u2019s evident that they have a clear plan for Elliss after preventing the Raiders from signing him.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The New England Patriots have been highly active in the NFL offseason, which was expected given their significant cap space of over $120 million\u2014the largest in the league. With this flexibility, the Patriots have been aggressive in improving their defense, and on Monday, they continued that effort by re-signing one of their own players. While […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[397],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-las-vegas-raiders"],"yoast_head":"\n