FOXBORO — Mandatory minicamp is when [contract holdouts](https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/nfl-minicamp-holdouts-tj-watt-terry-mclaurin-trey-hendrickson-james-cook-kirk-cousins) become official across the NFL.
The Patriots don’t have any players unhappy enough with their contracts to skip mandatory minicamp, but the front office is at least monitoring other situations across the league.
“I think that we have to,” head coach Mike Vrabel said Tuesday. “It would go for the ability to acquire good players, good people that feel like they can help us at any position. I don’t know what those situations are throughout the league, but I’m all for trying to make the roster better any chance that we can.”
Two premier pass rushers, the Bengals’ Trey Hendrickson and the Steelers’ T.J. Watt, and Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin are skipping mandatory minicamp as they seek new contracts. Dolphins tight end Jonnu Smith and cornerback Jalen Ramsey also aren’t in attendance for mandatory minicamp.
The Patriots still have the highest salary cap space in the NFL at $60,435,177, per OverTheCap.com. Vrabel wasn’t ruling out the idea of seeking help across the roster.
“I think that should go for every position on a roster,” Vrabel said when asked if the team would still be interested in adding competition or depth. “We would always want to do that, I think. Trying to always continually make the roster more competitive and trying to find everybody that can continually help us from now until the end of the season. I think that just has to go on. That has to happen. Whether that does or not, I don’t know. It’s not going to keep us from looking, trying to bring up ideas or players, or how we acquire players between now and the end of the season.”
The Patriots added edge defenders Harold Landry and K’Lavon Chaisson, wide receiver Stefon Diggs and cornerback Carlton Davis this offseason, and they re-signed tight end Austin Hooper, but there’s always more room for talented players on the roster, especially if Watt, Hendrickson, McLaurin or Ramsey become realistic possibilities. Vrabel and co. could certainly use more help at wide receiver and on the edge.
The Patriots have additional fourth-, sixth- and seventh-round picks in the 2026 NFL Draft via trades.
If the Patriots don’t use their cap space, then it will roll over into next season when they might be set up to be more competitive. With their current roster, their current win total over/under is 8.5 on sportsbooks.