New England Patriots: 3 players who need their contracts reworked in 2022

It’s safe to say that the New England Patriots have an important offseason lurking in front of them. After a strong 2021 offseason, the Patriots managed to make it back to the playoffs after just a one season hiatus. Another strong offseason could help New England make even more strides forward.

Unfortunately, that’s going to be easier said than done. The Patriots have a number of key contributors set to hit free agency, and it’s safe to assume they are going to lose some of those players. They also have a limited amount of cap space to bring back their own players and make other signings in free agency.

As of right now, New England only has a little bit over $7 million in salary cap space. Simply put, that’s enough to get much of anything done. Considering how one of the Pats top free agents, J.C. Jackson, is probably looking for a deal worth $20 million a year, it’s obvious that the Patriots need to create some cap space if they want to have any shot of putting together a solid offseason.

But what can be done to create that space? The Patriots could cut players, but often times that results in dead money that comes back to haunt you down the line. A more team friendly option would be restructuring some of the more costly contracts on the roster. Let’s take a look at three players on the Patriots roster who are in need of a restructured deal, and what a realistic deal could look like.