The world champion New England Patriots will have some busy weeks ahead: 24 of the players on the team’s 2018 pay roll — either on the active roster or a reserve list — will enter free agency in about a month, with 19 of them set to hit the unrestricted market. One of the position groups that could see significant turnover soon is the defensive line: players like Trey Flowers, Malcom Brown and Danny Shelton all will see their contracts expire soon.
And even though there is certainly a chance that all or at least some of them return or get extended before that happens, New England might look drastically different in the defensive trenches next season.