The Patriots’ edge rush is looking like the one part of this defense that can’t be waved away.
New England brings back nine defensive starters from the 2025 season, with K’Lavon Chaisson and Jaylinn Hawkins the only departures. Dre’Mont Jones stepped in for Chaisson, and Hawkins was allowed to leave after Kevin Byard signed.
On paper, that keeps the unit in the conversation as one of the league’s best. On the edge, though, the picture gets messy fast.
Harold Landry has been out of sight for all of training camp after foot surgery that put him on PUP, and it looks incredibly unlikely he’ll be ready for Week 1. The expectation is that he opens the regular season on PUP, which would sideline him for the first four games. That leaves New England trying to piece together a pass rush without its most obvious answer on the outside.
Jones is the next man up, but the résumé only goes so far. He posted a career-best 7.0 sacks last season, including two against the Patriots, yet he has topped 5.5 sacks in only one other year. Banking on him to suddenly become a double-digit sack threat is a stretch.
Behind him, Elijah Ponder has some buzz after four sacks last season in a rotational role, and linebackers coach Mike Smith has praised his elite athleticism. Even so, expecting him to leap all the way into major production feels aggressive. Gabe Jacas, the second-round pick, didn’t get his rookie deal done until late July after contract disputes, and he hasn’t made much of a mark in preseason.
Bradyn Swinson, Jesse Luketa, and Quintayvious Hutchins have each shown enough in preseason to stay in the mix, but they still look more like depth and special teams options than real answers off the edge. If Landry is unavailable and nobody takes a big step forward, the Patriots could be in trouble.
"This is a position...I think it's gotten worse this summer."
That was the blunt read from @_AndrewCallahan and @DanPizzuta as they talked through the Patriots’ edge depth on CLNS.
If Landry does begin the year on PUP, New England’s edge group would likely be Jones, Ponder, Jacas, and Swinson, with Luketa and Hutchins fighting for practice squad spots. Altogether, that group produced 11.0 regular season sacks in 2025, all from Jones and Ponder. Jacas was a rookie, and Swinson barely saw the field, but the lack of juice still jumps off the page.
That’s why the trade chatter earlier in the offseason mattered. Names like Kayvon Thibodeaux and Alex Highsmith were tied to New England in rumors, and while that noise faded over the last couple of months, it may be time to revisit it.
The Patriots no longer have Kayshon Boutte as trade bait, but Highsmith looks like a more realistic target than some others. The Steelers’ edge room already includes T.J.
Watt, Nick Herbig, Jack Sawyer, and former first-round pick Jamin Davis. Herbig got a $100 million deal this offseason, which could leave the former Charlotte 49er out of the team’s long-term plans.
A fourth-round pick might be enough to get Pittsburgh to listen.
Highsmith is under contract for $20.1 million in 2026 and $21.1 million in 2027, and New England would be on the hook for $14.5 million in 2026 if it made the deal. The Patriots could still move on after the season, treating him like a one-year rental.
For a team that needs edge help in the worst way, a player who put up 9.5 sacks last season would change the conversation in a hurry.
In Other News...
Patriots Put One Roster Gamble On Jaylen Reed's Fit
The Patriots sent Kayshon Boutte to Houston and brought back safety Jaylen Reed, along with a 2028 seventh-round pick, in a move that says as much about roster construction as it does about the immediate depth chart. Reed arrives as a former sixth-round pick who has done most of his work on special teams so far, but New England appears to see a player whose profile could translate into a longer-term piece for the secondary.
For a team still sorting out how its defense wants to look on the back end, Reed is the kind of low-cost gamble that can quietly matter if the fit is right. His appeal is tied to the traits that might help him carve out a role beyond coverage units, even if there are still questions about how quickly he can handle a bigger defensive assignment. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Face A Tough Roster Call After Unexpected QB Rise
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Vrabel has already pointed to the club's thin areas elsewhere, which is why Mortons rise matters so much. Keeping him around could mean tough calls on the back end of the roster, especially with a third quarterback who likely would not see the field unless something goes wrong. That is the kind of decision teams usually try to avoid, but Morton has played well enough to make the Patriots sit with it a little longer. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Face Growing Pressure To Finish Christian Gonzalez Deal
Christian Gonzalez is back on the field and back in the middle of the Patriots long-term plans, which is exactly where New England wants him to stay. Eliot Wolf made it clear the team hopes to lock up the young cornerback for the long haul and is prepared to put a record-breaking contract on the table, a sign of how highly the organization values him as it tries to build around its top defensive pieces.
Gonzalez has acknowledged some frustration with how slowly things have moved, but he has kept his focus on getting ready for the season after an injury cost him several practices and preseason games. For the Patriots, the issue is no longer whether he fits their future. The real question is how long they can let the talks linger before the pressure around a deal becomes harder to ignore. [Read more 🡒]