NFL free agency is almost set to begin, and we're keeping track of every major signing, trade and release of the 2025 offseason, with analysis from our NFL Nation reporters and grades from our experts. The new league year begins March 12 at 4 p.m. ET, and free agent signings can then become official. The first round of the 2025 NFL draft begins April 24 on ESPN.
Before the free agency period began, the Patriots re-signed tight end Austin Hooper to a one-year, $5 million deal, a source told ESPN's Schefter.
Here's a breakdown of every 2025 NFL free agent signing by the New England Patriots and how each will impact the upcoming season:
Harold Landry III, LB
Landry agreed to a three-year, $43.5 million deal with the Patriots that includes $26 million guaranteed.
What it means: The Patriots ranked last in the NFL with 28 sacks in 2024, and now under new head coach Mike Vrabel and defensive coordinator Terrell Williams, they are hoping to become a more attacking unit that plays on the opposite side of the line of scrimmage. That's Landry's game (50.5 career sacks over seven seasons).
Familiarity also is a notable part of the signing, as Landry played under Vrabel and Williams in Tennessee from 2018-2023. Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf had said that the coaching staff's experience with other teams would ideally be a benefit to the Patriots in free agency because of their intimate knowledge of personnel. The team pounced quickly on Landry, who was released by the Titans on March 7.
What's the risk: Landry tore the ACL in his right knee in September of 2022, and while he's totaled 19.5 sacks since his return, some observers have questioned if he still has the same burst. The Titans could have kept him in 2025 at a base salary of $17.5 million but instead released him. Landry enters his eighth NFL season and turns 29 in June.