I spent more than a few words during the 2023 season wondering if/when the Patriots were going to re-sign their own pending free agents.
Part of that was because pondering what might happen was often more interesting than what was happening during a dull and dismal 4-13 season, which of course ended up being the last of Bill Belichick’s mostly extraordinary 24-year run.
But it also struck me as ideal if not downright essential to keep many of them — almost all of them, actually — given their capabilities, the scarcity of high-end talent on the roster (at least on offense), and the flea-market pickings at many of their particular positions in free agency.