Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the Patriots are releasing veteran DL Lawrence Guy and S Adrian Phillips on Monday.
Pelissero notes that the Patriots are clearly looking to younger on defense in the post-Bill Belichick era under new HC Jerod Mayo.
According to OverTheCap.com, releasing Guy frees up $3 million of cap savings while creating $500,000 of dead money. The cap savings for Phillips comes out to $3 million of cap room and $1,187,500 of dead money.
Guy, 33, is a former seventh-round pick of the Packers back in 2011. He bounced around with a few teams including the Colts and Chargers after brief stints with the Packers before eventually catching on with the Ravens in 2014.
The Patriots signed Guy to a four-year, $13.4 million contract that included $4.9 million guaranteed back in 2017. He re-signed on another four-year deal in 2021 that was worth $11.5 million.
In 2023, Guy appeared in all 17 games for the Patriots and recorded 38 tackles, no sacks, and a pass defense.
Phillips, 31, wound up signing on with the Chargers as an undrafted free agent out of Texas back in May of 2014. He was on and off of the Chargers’ practice squad before returning to Los Angeles on back-to-back one-year contracts.
After several seasons with the Chargers, Phillips signed a two-year, $6 million deal with the Patriots back in 2019. From there, he returned to the Patriots on a three-year extension worth $12.75 million in 2022.
In 2023, Phillips appeared in all 17 games for the Patriots and recorded 17 tackles and no interceptions.
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