New England Patriots Rumors: 2 recently released LB’s who could help out

The New England Patriots offseason proceedings are beginning to pick up. They began their salary cap work with the release of Kyle Van Noy, and ended up not using their franchise tag on star cornerback J.C. Jackson, allowing him to hit the open market for the first time in his career.

Around the rest of the NFL, there have been a ton of big moves, particularly in the quarterback market, that have rocked the league. The trade market has been on absolute fire recently, and it appeared the Pats were lurking in the wide receiver market, at least until Atlanta Falcons wideout Calvin Ridley was suspended for the upcoming season. There is still time for some moves to be made before free agency begins though.

With the the new league year just a week away now, teams around the league are beginning to get their salary cap situations under control. This typically leads to some pretty decent players becoming “cap casualties”, meaning they get cut because of their bad contract rather than their bad play. That’s the main reason we saw Van Noy get cut earlier this week.

And while the Patriots probably aren’t done with their salary cap work, they should keep a close eye on the players getting released from teams around the league. The free agent market has definitely changed a lot over the past 24 hours or so, and that has led to a few more linebackers, a top position of need for New England, hitting the market. Let’s take a look at two linebackers who were recently released that could end up becoming free agent targets for the Pats.