Patriots: The return of Hightower, Chung and Cannon could help the Patriots assuming they are on the roster

Posted By on February 27, 2021

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported yesterday that linebacker Dont’a Hightower, safety Patrick Chung and offensive tackle Marcus Cannon all plan on playing in 2021.

On the surface, that is great news as the Patriots clearly missed all three last season as well as some of the other COVID opt outs. Now the question is, will all three be on the roster?

It depends. The Patriots have over $60 million dollars in cap space heading into free agency next month but the team could create even more cap space if they decide to approach certain players about restructuring their contracts or cut them. Miguel from the Twitter handle 2021 Cap Space breaks down the current Patriots cap situation masterfully in this tweet.

Of the three, Hightower is the most likely restructure candidate and Cannon is the most likely to get cut with with emergence of rookies Michael Onwenu and Justin Herron last season.

Hightower is scheduled to make $12.4 million dollars in the final year of his contract. He will be 31 when the season starts. Given his cap hit, you might think he is a potential cap casualty but the Patriots struggled mightily at linebacker last season so it is a good bet they restructure his deal and keep him.

Cannon on the other hand is scheduled to make $4.7 million dollars in base salary but with incentives, that number could escalate to $9.6 million. That’s big money for a right tackle. So a decision will have to be made on Cannon’s future with the team. He had two years remaining on his current contract.

Bill Belichick will have a lot of options this off-season as he attempts to rebuild the Patriots roster. He has never been afraid to make the difficult decision in order to do what is right for the team. Getting these players back helps but they have to fit into Belichick’s vision for the future otherwise they could be playing elsewhere next season.