Sione Takitaki was on the field for just 17 percent of the New England Patriots' defensive snaps last season. So, why does the Patriots' release of the veteran linebacker on Wednesday warrant further discussion?
For starters, Takitaki was under contract for the 2025 season after the team signed him to a two-year, $6.6 million contract in 2024 free agency. By releasing him with a year left on his deal, the Patriots are clearly signaling that they didn't view Takitaki as having a role on the 2025 squad.
More notably, though, it's worth noting who was leading New England's personnel department when Takitaki was signed -- de facto general manager Eliot Wolf -- compared to now.
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Patriots Insider Phil Perry broke it all down on the latest episode of the Next Pats Podcast.
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"The first thing that I think of is that Sione Takitaki was somebody that Eliot Wolf went out of his way to bring in (during) Year 1 of this new Patriots regime in 2024," Perry said. "(Then-head coach) Jerod Mayo and Eliot Wolf, they needed a little bit of linebacker depth, they wanted somebody that had experience, somebody that Eliot Wolf clearly has respected going back to his time in college, when Eliot Wolf was a huge proponent of drafting Sione Takitaki to the Cleveland Browns.
"So if they are now releasing somebody that Eliot Wolf has this connection to, what does that tell us? Well, it tells me what we already knew and what we had already inferred by this point in the offseason, which is, Mike Vrabel is running the show."
Wolf was the Browns' assistant general manager in 2018 and scouted Takitaki personally coming out of BYU, leading Cleveland to take the linebacker in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft. So, Wolf's connection with Takitaki clearly played a role in the Patriots signing him last offseason.
As follows, Takitaki's release on Wednesday is another sign that new head coach Mike Vrabel is dictating the Patriots' personnel moves.
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"If everything was up to Eliot Wolf when it came to personnel, then you might see Eliot Wolf give Sione Takitaki another shot here," Perry said. "This is not about salary cap. This is not about how much they were paying this guy. They have plenty of salary cap space.
"This is about Mike Vrabel looking at his team -- maybe wanting to do a guy a solid, quite frankly -- and looking at a player like Takitaki and understanding that this particular player at this particular position is just not going to have a spot for us.
"So, to me, that's a statement. As small a move as this may be, this is Mike Vrabel putting his stamp on his team. And you're going to continue to see moves like this."
Of the nine free agents the Patriots brought in last offseason under Wolf, five are no longer with the team -- K.J. Osborn, Takitaki, Nick Leverett, Armon Watts and Chukwuma Okorafor -- and another is likely to join that list in quarterback Jacoby Brissett. Running back Antonio Gibson, tight end Austin Hooper and safety Jaylinn Hawkins seem like the only realistic candidates to stay with the Patriots in 2025 after being brought in by Wolf in 2024.
Put another way, Vrabel is conducting a roster overhaul, and we could see more high-profile names get released closer to free agency as he reshapes the roster in his image.
Also in this episode:
- Phil reacts to the new NFL salary cap and what it means for the Patriots' offseason plans.
- Reports are Chris Godwin might be off the market... who should New England look to add now as a high-profile receiver?
- Jerome Bettis breaks down why old school running backs are making a comeback in the league.
- Former offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz explains why it can take years to build a great offensive line and shares the type of skill set New England should be looking for when drafting linemen.