Patriots linebacker Anfernee Jennings started 16 games last season and enjoyed a 79% snap share, both career-high marks. However, he may not be with the team in 2025.
As ESPN’s Mike Reiss observes, Jennings was playing late in the fourth quarter of New England’s first preseason game on Friday, which is not the typical milieu for an established player. In Reiss’ estimation, that is reflective of Jennings’ precarious spot on the roster.
Now entering the second year of the three-year, $12MM contract he signed in March 2024, Jennings has failed to make much of an impact as a pass rusher but has proven himself to be a stout defender against the run. He earned a stellar 85.9 run defense grade from Pro Football Focus in 2023, and though his grade slipped to 73.0 in 2024, he still turned in a solid showing.
While former head coaches Bill Belichick and Jerod Mayo valued Jennings’ contributions as an edge-setter, new HC Mike Vrabel favors a more aggressive, penetrating style of play. Reiss says Jennings is firmly behind new acquisitions Harold Landry and K’Lavon Chaisson on the depth chart, and the sixth-year pro is competing with younger talents like Truman Jones, Bradyn Swinson, and Elijah Ponder.
New England would have to eat $3.35MM in dead money if it were to move on from Jennings and would realize cap savings of just under $2MM. Mike Giardi of the Boston Sports Journal agrees with Reiss’ assessment of the situation and points out that Jennings has been “looking up at the depth chart” since spring practices began. Giardi suggests the Pats will indeed part ways with their 2020 third-rounder at some point.
Another 2020 draftee and stalwart on the Patriots’ defense, Kyle Dugger, could also be a release/trade candidate, per Ben Volin of the Boston Globe. While Dugger’s status in that regard could be more speculation than anything else at this point, Volin does say the 29-year-old has had a quiet camp and may only be on the roster because of his fully-guaranteed 2025 salary of $9.75MM (part of the four-year, $58MM deal he signed last April).
That said, if another team is willing to absorb some money, Volin believes Dugger could be traded. But no other club produced an offer sheet after the Patriots put the transition tag on Dugger last year — though he did attract some interest at the trade deadline — and the Lenoir-Rhyne product’s frequent struggles in coverage continued in 2024. He allowed a massive 137.4 QB rating as the nearest defender, and PFF placed him near the very bottom of the league in terms of coverage grades.
In Sunday’s training camp practice, Dugger was running with the second-team, while rookie Craig Woodson took his place on the first-team unit (via Volin).