What signing a trio of tryout players means for the Patriots

The Patriots signed three rookie players to their roster, while letting another one go.

With their rookie minicamp in the rear-view mirror, the New England Patriots decided to make a handful of moves. They signed defensive tackles Isaiah Iton and Wilfried Pene as well as guard Mehki Butler to their active roster after tryouts while also letting go of undrafted free agent offensive tackle Cole Birdow.

The transactions are not necessarily of the highest profile, but they are still worth looking at.

Realistic expectation

The fact that they had to go through rookie minicamp tryouts in order to join the Patriots’ roster clearly shows that Iton, Pene and Butler are little more than fill-out-the-roster depth options at the moment. Expectations therefore have to be realistic: the chances of them turning into contributors are not particularly high.

Let’s look at last year’s post-minicamp signings as a reference. The Patriots added four players — RB Terrell Jennings, G Ryan Johnson, ED Jotham Russell, LB Jay Person — but only two of them even made it to training camp: Johnson and Person were released within a month of joining, while Jennings and Russell eventually both ended up on the practice squad.

Russell’s contract was not renewed after the season, while Jennings ended up seeing action in three games. Playing 38 offensive snaps and carrying the ball 13 times for 33 yards as an emergency depth option seems like a best-case outcome for Iton, Pene and Butler as well. Then again, the odds are not necessarily in their favor either.

Moving depth pieces

Signing the trio of tryout players and letting go of Cole Birdow moves some depth pieces around. As a consequence, the Patriots’ roster now looks as follows at the positions involved:

Offensive tackle (6): Will Campbell (66 | LT), Morgan Moses (76 | RT), Vederian Lowe (59), Demontrey Jacobs (75), Caedan Wallace (70), Marcus Bryant (52)

The Patriots are in for an interesting camp competition at offensive tackle. While Will Campbell and Morgan Moses are locked into the starting spots, the rest of the group — now without Cole Birdow — will be competing for what appears to be no more than two backup spots.

Interior offensive line (11): Garrett Bradbury (55), Michael Onwenu (71 | RG), Cole Strange (69), Layden Robinson (63), Jared Wilson (58), Ben Brown (77), Wes Schweitzer (72), Sidy Sow (62), Tyrese Robinson (65), Jack Conley (74), Mehki Butler (63)

An exclusive left guard all three of his seasons at Arkansas State, Butler played a total of 2,554 snaps at the position and last season gave up only a single sack and no additional quarterback hits. Measuring 6-foot-3 and 310 pounds during the pre-draft process, he offers adequate size and athleticism, and as such will compete for practice reps at a position without a set starter at the moment.

Interior defensive line (11*): Christian Barmore (90), Milton Williams (97), Keion White (99), Joshua Farmer (92), Khyiris Tonga (95), Jeremiah Pharms Jr. (98), Jaquelin Roy (94), Eric Johnson (96), Jahvaree Ritzie (93), Isaiah Iton (96), Wilfried Pene (61 | exempt)

The Patriots made some major investments along their interior D-line this offseason, bringing in free agents Milton Williams and Khyiris Tonga, extending Jeremiah Pharms Jr., and drafting Joshua Farmer in the fourth round. Adding Christian Barmore and Keion White to the top of the depth chart, and the limited number of backup spots will be hotly contested.

If they make it to training camp, Iton and Pene will be part of that competition. The former spent 2024 on the Tennessee Titans’ practice squad, after previously serving primarily as an early-down defender at Rutgers, Ole Miss, and Northern Colorado. The latter spent four years at Virginia Tech and is coming off his best season as a pass rusher, registering 28 pressures in 2024.

Salary cap impact

The Patriots signing Butler, Iton and Pene will have no impact on their salary cap at the moment. None of their respective salaries will be high enough to qualify for Top 51 status, while it seems unlikely that any of them received any guarantees in the form of signing bonuses.

They would start counting against the cap if they made it to the active roster or practice squad come the regular season, but for now their financial impact is — for cap purposes — non-existent.

Familiar international territory

Following Monday’s moves, the Patriots are left with 91 players on their roster, one above the 90-man offseason limit. That is possible due to French-born Wilfried Pene receiving an exemption as an international player.

Article 33, Section 1 (b) of the NFL-NFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement defines such a player as follows:

[A]n “international player” is a non-US citizen NFL Rookie player or Veteran player who is, or would be, required to secure a visa or other immigration-related approval to practice and play for the Club, whether under an NFL Player Contract or under a Practice Squad Player Contract.

For the Patriots, having international players on their team is nothing new. Just last year, the aforementioned Jotham Russell, who was born in Australia, carried the same label.

The exemption associated with it can also carry into the regular season. If Pene made the practice squad, he would do so as an exempt 17th players. As long as he is using the international exemption, however, he would not be allowed to play in any games; doing so — either by being signed to the “regular” practice squad or 53-man roster — would mean losing exempt status for the remainder of the 2025 season.