With the 2024 season in the books, MassLive will look at each position group on the Patriots, analyzing how the team performed and where it might be heading in the future. This is an important offseason for new Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel and owner Robert Kraft. This series continues with linebackers.
Linebackers: Ja’Whaun Bentley, Jahlani Tavai, Anfernee Jennings, Sione Takitaki, Christian Elliss, Oshane Ximines, Monty Rice, Curtis Jacobs, Titus Leo, Andrew Parker Jr.
Contract situation: The Patriots have numbers at this position, but a handful of players are in contract years.
Bentley, 28, has one more year left on his contract. He’ll have a cap hit of $6.433 million this season. Only his prorated signing bonus ($1.833 million) is guaranteed. Takitaki also enters this season in a contract year. He has a cap hit of $3.68 million with $ 1 million guarantees.
The Patriots have three players signed beyond next fall.
Jennings, 27, is signed through 2026. Next season, he has a $5.3 million cap hit. Tavai is signed through 2027. Next season is the start of his 3-year extension and he’ll have a cap hit of $5.193 million. Jacobs is signed through 2026 with a cap hit of $960,000 this fall.
The Patriots have three depth pieces signed through 2025 with Rice ($1.17), Leo ($960,000), and Parker ($840,000)
2024 review: It wasn’t great.
The Patriots lost their best linebacker and defensive leader when Bentley suffered a season-ending injury in Week 2. The group never recovered and the defense wasn’t the same.
Tavai took over as the lead linebacker and led the Patriots with 115 tackles. Pro Football Focus ranked him 70 out of 84 players at his position. Tavai also caused controversy when he called out Patriots fans for booing.
The Patriots lost Mack Wilson in free agency and replaced him with Takitaki. An offseason injury, however, set the veteran linebacker back. In 11 games, Takitaki finished with 21 tackles. Wilson had a career year in Arizona, finishing with 75 tackles, three sacks, and seven quarterback hits.
In the wake of Bentley and Takitaki’s injuries, Elliss stepped up for the defense. The young linebacker finished with a career-high 80 tackles with five passes defended and five quarterback hits. He graded out well with PFF, ranking 20 out of 84 linebackers.
The best of the group was Jennings, who played an outside linebacker role for the defense. He had the best season of his career, finishing with 78 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and seven tackles for loss. Jennings excelled against the run.
The future: Massive changes could be coming to this position group.
In Tennessee, Mike Vrabel utilized smaller, more athletic linebackers in his defense. With Terrell Williams coming in as the Patriots new defensive coordinator, we’re about to see a change in scheme and that means a change in the size of linebackers.
In Vrabel’s last year, the Titans linebackers were Jack Gibbens (6-2, 242 pounds) and Azeez Al-Shaair (6-2, 228 pounds) with outside linebacker Harold Landry (6-2, 252 pounds). Linebackers such as David Long (225 pounds) and Rashaan Evans (232 pounds) also started in previous years for Vrabel.
Bentley (250 pounds), Tavai (255 pounds), and Takitaki (245 pounds) are heavier than prototypical Titans inside linebackers. Elliss (231 pounds) fits the mold. Other young linebackers on the Patriots roster could receive a look – Jacobs (241 pounds), Parker (226 pounds), and Rice (233 pounds), who played for Vrabel in Tennessee.
The Patriots should look to add veteran linebackers who fit Vrabel’s mold. Dre Greenlaw (230 pounds) is arguably the best linebacker available. This free agent class is loaded with linebackers who are the ideal size for Vrabel’s system: Nick Bolton (237 pounds), Bobby Wagner (241 pounds), Zach Baun (225 pounds), Jamien Sherwood (216 pounds), and Lavonte David (233 pounds), and Kyzir White (234 pounds).
The Patriots should bring one (or two) in.
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