The Patriots can’t afford to let Dont’a Hightower go
There’s only one place to go to know exactly what the Patriots plan to do this offseason. It’s a place more mystical and inscrutable than Stonehenge. It’s a dome more sacred and wondrous than that of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. It’s one of the wonders of the modern world. It’s the mind of Patriots coach Bill Belichick.
Tuesday was the start of the NFL’s legal free agent tampering period, and Thursday marks the start of free agency. Only Belichick knows exactly how the Patriots plan to proceed in an offseason with a lot of moving pieces — and pieces of a Super Bowl champion that could be moving on from Fort Foxborough.
Let’s hope that plan includes backing up the Brink’s truck to retain linebacker Dont’a Hightower. If there is one unrestricted free agent the Patriots have to bring back, it’s Hightower, a hero of Super Bowls LI and XLIX, the linchpin of the linebacking corps, and the only truly must-sign free agent the Patriots have.
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