The Patriots are fortunate to enter the 2026 offseason without many glaring needs at the top of their depth chart.
Most starters are set to return from the 2025 season, when they earned a Super Bowl berth. The only two starters from last season’s squad set to hit free agency are edge defender K’Lavon Chaisson and safety Jaylinn Hawkins.
If Hawkins, whom the Patriots have interest in retaining, does not return, then safety becomes one of the team’s biggest needs.
Per sources, the Patriots feel it’s a deep group of free-agent safeties. The Patriots, under head coach Mike Vrabel and assistants Zak Kuhr, Terrell Williams and Scott Booker, prefer versatile safeties with the range to play the deep half of the field. Rather than having a free safety and strong safety on the roster, they prefer to simply play their safeties on the right and left side of the field.
They had a nice setup last season with Hawkins and rookie Craig Woodson. Bringing back Hawkins would be the simplest way to fill the safety need, but it’s also possible that the Patriots could upgrade the position with a younger player with higher upside.
Here are the names to know, with contract projections courtesy of Pro Football Focus.
Top targets
Bryan Cook
Ht/Wt: 6-1, 206
Age: 26
Projected contract: $12 million per year
Maybe not the biggest name, Cook is regarded as the top safety in this year’s free-agent class. The Chiefs impending free agent was selected in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft out of Cincinnati. He’s helped the Chiefs win two Super Bowls while primarily playing as a deep safety.
Cook earned an 83.5 PFF grade last season in a breakout year. He has three interceptions, 238 tackles, four tackles for loss and 15 pass breakups in 62 career games with 47 starts.
Coby Bryant
Ht/Wt: 6-1, 193
Age: 26
Projected contract: $10 million per year
A converted cornerback, Bryant was part of the Seahawks’ Super Bowl LX roster that beat the Patriots. Bryant was also selected in the 2022 NFL Draft out of Cincinnati, but he was taken in the fourth round. He’s spent the last two seasons of his career as a safety, playing in 32 games with 26 starts, registering seven interceptions, 13 pass breakups and 139 tackles.
Bryant has earned PFF grades over 70 in each of his seasons as a safety. Like Cook, he’s spent most of his time as a deep safety.
Jalen Thompson
Ht/Wt: 5-11, 190
Age: 27
Projected contract: $10 million per year
Thompson was a supplemental fifth-round pick out of Washington State and has played his entire career with the Cardinals. He’s now set to play on his third NFL contract after signing a three-year, $36 million deal in 2022.
A versatile safety, Thompson hasn’t registered a PFF grade under 65 since his rookie season. He has nine interceptions, 37 pass breakups, 578 tackles, 14 tackles for loss and nine QB hits in 99 career games with 87 starts.
Kamren Curl
Ht/Wt: 6-2, 207
Age: 26
Projected contract: $9 million per year
Patriots vice president of football operations and strategy John Streicher spent the 2024 season with the Rams, where Curl has played since 2024. The impending free agent was originally selected by Washington in the seventh round of the 2020 NFL Draft out of Arkansas.
Curl intercepted two passes with five pass breakups, two sacks, 122 tackles, two tackles for loss and two QB hits last season while earning a 77.8 PFF grade.
Kevin Byard
Ht/Wt: 5-11, 218
Age: 32
Projected contract: $9 million per year
A three-time first-team All-Pro and three-time Pro Bowl selection, Byard was selected in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft out of Middle Tennessee by the Titans. He played under Vrabel from 2018 to 2023, when he was traded to the Eagles.
He’s spent the last two seasons with the Bears and has continued his high level of play. Though he’s older than most of the players on this list, a reunion with Vrabel and his former Titans assistant coaches could make some sense on a short-term deal. Byard earned Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro honors last season with seven interceptions.
Mid-level veterans
Jaylinn Hawkins
Ht/Wt: 6-1, 208
Age: 28
Projected contract: $6 million per year
Hawkins had a breakout season last year with the Patriots while starting 15 games. It was only the second season of his career in which he spent most of the season as a starter.
Hawkins rewarded the Patriots with four interceptions, six pass breakups, one forced fumble and 1.5 sacks. Some around the NFL still don’t consider Hawkins as a starting-level defender, which could lower his value, allowing the Patriots to sign him to a lower-level deal. Hawkins expressed a desire to return to the Patriots following Super Bowl LX.
Reed Blankenship
Ht/Wt: 6-1, 203
Age: 27
Projected contract: $6 million per year
Blankenship, a 2022 undrafted free agent out of Middle Tennessee, is coming off of a career-worst season with the Eagles, earning a 42.6 PFF grade in 2025. His previous season marks were 78.9 in 2022, 73.4 in 2023 and 69.5 in 2024, so a bounce back in a new defense is certainly not out of the question.
Dane Belton
Ht/Wt: 6-1, 190
Age: 25
Projected contract: $5 million per year
A fourth-round pick out of Iowa in 2022, Belton, who’s spent his entire career with the Giants, is the youngest player on this list. He’s historically split his time between free safety and the box.
Belton has six interceptions, 16 pass breakups, four forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries, four sacks, 240 tackles, eight tackles for loss and six QB hits in four NFL seasons.
Bargain bin
Xavier Woods
Ht/Wt: 5-11, 200
Age: 30
Projected contract: $4 million per year
Woods has bounced around the league since entering the NFL as a sixth-round pick out of Louisiana Tech in 2017, playing for the Cowboys, Vikings, Panthers and Titans. He played in 11 games, starting 10, in 2025 with two interceptions, three pass breakups, one sack and 39 tackles.
If he signed with the Patriots, he could be used as competition with Dell Pettus for the third safety role.