Mike Reiss, ESPN Staff Writer January 22, 2024, 10:51 a.m. ET
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- Mike Reiss is an NFL reporter for ESPN covering the New England Patriots. Reiss has covered the Patriots since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2009. In 2019, he was named Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. You can follow Reiss on Twitter at @MikeReiss.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Patriots are ready to join the Brinks truck under new head coach Jerod Mayo in hopes of returning the franchise to prominence.
“We bring in talent 1,000 percent,” Mayo said on Monday with a touch of humor on sports radio WEEI. “We have a lot of space and cash. We’re ready to burn some cash!”
According to ESPN's Roster Management System, the Patriots are projected to have a salary cap hit of $65 million. It's a fluid total that currently ranks fourth in the NFL.
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The team is coming off a 4-13 season, which led to parting ways with coach Bill Belichick after 24 seasons. Mayo was quickly selected as his successor, and owner Robert Kraft said last week that the plan was to empower Mayo and the existing personnel team — led by player personnel director Matt Groh and scouting director Eliot Wolf — to rebuild the team.
Spending has been a hot topic with the Patriots in recent years, with Kraft previously saying he placed no limits on Belichick, who had final say on all personnel and budget decisions.
According to the Roster Management System, which analyzes every NFL contract, the Patriots ranked 30th among the 32 NFL teams at $188 million last season. The Cleveland Browns were No. 1 with $282 million.
The Patriots were even third in 2021, when a then-record rush to unrestricted free agency resulted in a total of $222 million in spending. However, in the last decade they were only ranked 31st twice – in 2020 and 2014.
According to the Roster Management System, the Patriots ranked last in the NFL in cash expenditures over the last 10 years with $1.62 billion. The Philadelphia Eagles led the way with $1.92 billion during that time.
Mayo's comments in Monday's radio interview hint at important personnel decisions ahead for the Patriots. Top players who are unrestricted free agency include starting safety Kyle Dugger, starting offensive guard/tackle Mike Onwenu, pass rusher Josh Uche, tight end Hunter Henry and receiver Kendrick Bourne.
The Patriots also own the third pick in the NFL Draft – their highest selection in the 30 years Kraft has been owned.
“We will take the best player available for the greatest need on the team: offensive line, receiver, quarterback – pick yours.” [choice]”Mayo said in the radio interview.
The draft remains the lifeblood of what Kraft sees as the best path to building a championship team.
“At the end of the day, to be good in this league, you have to draft well,” Kraft said at the NFL’s annual meeting last March. “Because given the salary cap and the value of the people you're recruiting rather than hiring them as free agents, that's where your biggest gain comes from.”
“If you look at the time when we won Super Bowls, it seemed like we always had 12 or 15 players that were truly products of the draft. If you put them on their rookie contracts and it's about the salary cap, you can compete better.”