The NFL will officially close the book on its 2024 season on Wednesday.
While the season runs from September to early February, the league year actually is 365 (or 366) days long and traditionally starts in mid-March. And today is the day: the clocks are being turned to 2025.
The new league year begins at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 12. At that point, player contracts running only through 2024 will expire to mark the start of free agency. In addition, all teams need to be under the salary cap, and the trading window opens as well.
What does that mean, though? And how are the New England Patriots impacted by all of that? Let’s find out.
What is free agency?
Free agency is the signing period for players who are without an NFL contract. There are several categories of free agents depending on their previous experience in the NFL and the contracts they had last signed, but basically speaking there is a distinction between unrestricted, restricted, and exclusive rights free agents.
Unrestricted free agents were already allowed to speak to other teams the last two days during the so-called legal tampering period. However, they are not allowed to officially sign any deals until after hitting the open market at the start of the 2025 league year and free agency.
Teams also have tools at their disposal to prevent free agents from hitting the market even if they are not signed to extensions beforehand: the franchise and transition tags are one-year contracts applied in that case. The Patriots decided against using them this offseason.
Restricted and exclusive-rights free agents, meanwhile, will enter the market as well if they have not received appropriate tenders by their previous clubs at that point. Starting at 4 p.m. on Wednesday those untendered players also will be free to negotiate and sign with any club, neither of which they were allowed to do beforehand.
Which Patriots players are set to enter free agency?
The Patriots entered the offseason with 17 players headed for free agency. Through a series of transactions, that number has been reduced to seven (excluding Lester Cotton, who will not be tendered as a restricted free agent).
They are as follows, with their respective free agency statuses in parentheses:
As soon as the clock strikes 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, all of them will be free to sign with any team in the league (including back in New England).
What is the compensatory draft picks formula?
While there are a few exceptions each year, a vast majority of unrestricted free agents is also eligible to become compensatory FAs. In basic terms, if a team loses more and higher-value free agents than it signs it is entitled to draft pick compensation.
There is a catch, though. Only 32 such selections are handed out each year, and no club can get awarded more than four apiece. The Patriots, for example, did not receive any this year and are also not expected to qualify in 2026.
The formula to calculate those compensatory picks is regulated through the Collective Bargaining Agreement. What this means in practice is best illustrated over at Over the Cap, where a regularly updated compensatory selection projection can be found.
The period for players to qualify for compensation runs through the Monday after the NFL draft, which is April 28 this year. From that point on, signings will no longer be factored into the NFL’s calculations.
What is the salary cap?
One critical part of the NFL’s strategy to secure parity and prevent a few clubs from dominating year-in and year-out, is the salary cap. Essentially a spending ceiling all teams need to be under, it is set depending on league revenue.
For the 2025 season, the salary cap is set at $279.2 million. The Patriots have $94.3 million available at the moment, according to cap expert Miguel Benzan.
What is the Top 51 rule?
During the offseason, when teams are allowed to have up to 90 players on their active rosters, not every contract is counted against the salary cap. In fact, only the 51 biggest cap hits do. This Top 51 rule will remain in place until after roster cutdown day and shortly before the start of the 2025 regular season in September. At that point, all 53 active players plus additional expenses will hit the cap.
What is the NFL trading window?
While teams can agree to trading players throughout the offseason, they only can officially facilitate those trades by the start of the new league year. The Patriots have never been afraid of being active on the trade market, and this year (and regime) is no exception.
In fact, they have already made one trade so far already:
The Patriots will reportedly get a seventh-round draft pick in 2027 back for the veteran defensive lineman. Again, though, the terms of the trade will not become official until after the new league year has begun.
Where can I find all of the Patriots’ moves?
Good question, and here’s the answer
Our 2025 Patriots Free Agency Tracker will be updated regularly and can be seen as your gateway to all things New England free agency: not only do we have all the latest news and rumors in there, but also links to dozens of follow-up articles dissecting every move, player, and contract.
In addition, we also encourage you to visit our Patriots Up-To-Date Roster for an updated look at New England’s depth chart as well as the team’s list of free agents.