Image courtesy of The New England Patriots

Mike Vrabel said this would be the case. After all, he lived it.

New England – and the rest of the NFL – is always looking to get younger and faster at every position, even after a Super Bowl run. On Monday just about an hour ahead of the ‘legal tampering period’ ahead of NFL free agency, Albert Breer reported the Pats are releasing linebacker Jahlani Tavai. It’s a move that signals the team plans on getting a bit younger there as well.

The locker room rallied around Tavai this season after he and his family went through some serious stuff. Tavai has been in New England since the 2021 season and was a model teammate, even if he did have a little brush fire that he needed to put out with the media during a tumultious 2024 season.

Tavai’s Patriots career comes to an end with 76 games played (51 starts), three forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, 3.5 sacks, 350 tackles (187 solo), 19 tackles for loss and 10 quarterback hits.

Tavai will be 30 in September and despite being a fantastic teammate both on and off the field, it’s clear Vrabel, Eliot Wolf and Ryan Cowden are re-adopting the ‘one year too earlier rather than one year too late’ theory.