The New England Patriots are dissembling their offensive line in the early days of free agency. Not only did they let right guard Ted Karras walk in free agency, but they also traded away right guard Shaq Mason.
Tackle Trent Brown is a pending free agent, and if he follows Karras and Mason out the door, the Patriots will have three openings to fill on the offensive line. Of course, guard Michael Onwenu is almost a sure thing to fill one of those openings. But past that, the Patriots don’t have any proven starters to jump into the lineup.
The Patriots are certainly better equipped to retain Brown with Mason’s departure freeing up about $7 million in cap space. And ultimately, that’s why the Patriots made this trade. They were over the salary cap after re-signing a handful of veterans: Devin McCourty, James White, Nick Folk, Brian Hoyer. New England needed to start freeing up salary-cap space. Mason was an easy player to create that space.
