3 Patriots Who Will Be Cut by the End of October

3. Raekwon McMillan, LB

A torn Achilles forced veteran linebacker Raekwon McMillan to miss the entirety of the 2023 NFL season. However, the Patriots wanted to allow him to make a comeback attempt, resulting in their signing him to a one-year contract extension for the current campaign.

While McMillan, 27, has already amassed 18 solo tackles through five games, it hasn't all been perfect so far.

The former Ohio State defender is currently PFF's worst-ranked linebacker out of 75 eligible players with an overall defense grade of 36.1. He's also the worst-graded player at his position in terms of run defense (28.8), which has likely played a role in the Patriots surrendering an average of 158.0 rushing yards across their last three games — third-worst in the NFL during that stretch.

McMillan is also missing 13.9% of his tackling attempts while allowing eight receptions on as many targets for 95 receiving yards and a 116.1 passer rating. In other words, it's hard to find anything impressive about his performance other than his tackle total, which has more to do with how frequently the Patriots' defense is forced to be on the field.

The Patriots can save $1 million by cutting McMillan and even though that isn't a massive financial amount, that money can be used on a player who isn't one of the worst at his position. Addition by subtraction, right?

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