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By Keagan Stiefel
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The New England Patriots have very little room for improvement after making it to Super Bowl LX in 2025.
It's win the whole thing or bust.
Eliot Wolf and Mike Vrabel -- entering their third season as executive vice president of player personnel and second season as head coach, respectively -- knew that was the case and repeated the same roster building techniques that led them to an appearance in Santa Clara, California.
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Wolf, just one year after filling up his free agency crop with familiar names to the coaching staff, did it once again with the additions of wide receiver A.J. Brown and safety Kevin Byard. Vrabel, realizing his club needed to add size and physicality, pushed for the additions of offensive lineman Alijah Vera-Tucker, wide receiver Romeo Doubs, and fullback Reggie Gilliam.
If there's one newcomer that could make or break the entire season, however, it is defensive lineman Dre'Mont Jones:
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EDGE Dre'Mont Jones
Height: 6' 3"
Weight: 281lbs
Age: 29
Contract: 3yr, $36.5M
2025: 18 G, 7.0 SK, 7.0 TFL, 43 TKL, 24 QBH
Jones is in an unenviable position.
New England clearly has high expectations for the former third-round pick, which is one thing, but the organization also seems to be leaning on him to lead the way for a group of pass-rushers who either have very little experience or have significant injury issues to overcome.
Harold Landry III, who was put in the same position last season, is currently on the physically unable to perform list and hasn't practiced yet this training camp due to lingering knee issues that have slowed him down significantly in recent seasons. Gabe Jacas, this year's second-round pick, got a late start to training camp and knee issues of his own to keep an eye on. Elijah Ponder and Bradyn Swinson, two sophomores, entered the summer as promising but unproven pass-rush specialists. Jesse Luketa didn't appear in a single game last season.
If you take Landry out of the equation, which might not be so far-fetched, that group of Jacas, Luketa, Ponder, and Swinson have combined for 7.0 total sacks in the NFL.
It's not exactly the most frightening group around.
The Patriots are obviously in decent shape when it comes to the interior defensive line due to the presence of Milton Williams, Christian Barmore, Cory Durden, and Joshua Farmer. Jones will benefit from the depth of that group and some creativity with the scheme, but there's no doubt that he'll be relied upon to produce off the edge.
If he can do that, the sky will be the limit for this defense. If he can't, you won't need to look any further when discussing where things went wrong.
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