New England Patriots: 3 bold predictions for the rest of the offseason

New England Patriots bold prediction No. 1: Nelson Agholor gets released

Nelson Agholor had a pretty underwhelming first season with the Patriots. From the sounds of it, he’s ready to go back out and put together a bounce back campaign in 2022. The problem is it might just not come with New England.

Releasing Agholor would save nearly $5 million on the salary cap for the Pats, which they could use towards signing a guy like Bradberry. Letting go of one of their top wideouts may seem foolish, but New England simply may not need Agholor anymore.

Jakobi Meyers and Kendrick Bourne were the Patriots top two wide receivers last season, and now Devante Parker figures to start alongside them on the outside after he was picked up in a trade with the Miami Dolphins. New England also drafted Tyquan Thornton with the 50th overall pick, so there’s a chance he gets playing time right off the bat. (There’s also N’Keal Harry, but he doesn’t really count at this point).

That leaves Agholor on the outside looking in, and given his contract status, it makes sense to look into parting ways and trying to use the money on Bradberry, or someone else, in free agency while you still have time to. Agholor struggled to pick up the offense last season, and with Parker and Thornton presumably taking snaps away from him, there’s no sense in paying him to sit on the bench.

Unless something drastic changes, Agholor is facing an uphill battle to stay on this roster for the start of the 2022 season. Keeping him around seems like a waste at this point given the prior additions they have made this offseason, and they could give themselves some room to manuever with their salary cap by cutting him. Agholor failed in his first season in New England, and that may end up being the only chance he had to pan out here.