While players and coaches welcomed more than 200 fourth- and fifth-grade students to Gillette Stadium for the annual Community Day, the New England Patriots’ front office was busy working. A minor tweak to the backend of the roster was processed.
The Patriots signed undrafted rookie defensive tackle Travis Shaw and placed recent long snapper addition Niko Lalos on waivers. Let’s analyze what those moves mean from a big picture perspective.
Long snapper competition over
May 20, 2026, a day that will live in infamy for the special teams sickos who were glamorizing a long snapper competition in this year’s training camp.
The Patriots entered the offseason with incumbent Julian Ashby, a seventh-round selection in last year’s draft, as their only long snapper. Ashby had appeared in all 21 of his team’s games as a rookie and looked solid doing so, but the club nonetheless decided to add Lalos in mid-March on a one-year, $1.01 million contract.
The thought at the time was that the experienced Lalos might push the 23-year-old for a spot on the roster. Alas, he was let go again just two months after arriving in Foxborough. While additional moves at the position are always a possibility, Ashby is now firmly locked into the spot.
Run game depth
The Patriots lost nose tackle Khyiris Tonga in free agency, but they opted not to sign any veteran replacement back in March nor to address the position in the draft. They have, however, added two undrafted free agents since: David Blay Jr, who was part of New England’s initial wave of UFDA pickups, as well as now Travis Shaw.
As a consequence, their interior D-line is now nine players deep:
Interior defensive line (9): Milton Williams (97), Christian Barmore (90), Cory Durden (94), Joshua Farmer (92), Leonard Taylor III (93), Eric Gregory (95), Jeremiah Pharms Jr. (98), David Blay Jr. (96), Travis Shaw (—)
Where the 6-foot-5, 327-pound Shaw projects to help most is precisely where Tonga shined: as a big-bodied run-lane clogger in the middle of the defensive line. That was a big part of the role he played during his college career at North Carolina and Texas, and this is precisely where he should also see most of his action in New England.
How exactly the Patriots will construct the depth chart behind starters Milton Williams and Christian Barmore, particularly in regards to their run defense, remains to be seen. Shaw at the very least adds another body to the mix.
UDFA flier
A five-star recruit out of high school, Shaw failed to live up to that billing in college. While he did appear in 50 career games, he started only one of them and in total played just 810 snaps over a four-year span.
He did show some gradual improvement up to his junior campaign at North Carolina, but after transferring to Texas in 2025 saw a drop in production and opportunity. Whether that was caused by the change of scenery or any other factors is difficult to discern.
Part of it, however, might have been the fact that — from an athletic point of view — Shaw lacks any true standout traits beyond his size:
A seemingly underwhelming athletic profile is not necessarily a disqualifier in the NFL, but paired with lackluster production gives an insight into why Shaw went undrafted and remained unsigned for nearly a month. That said, the Patriots apparently see something in him worth working with.
Time will tell whether their instincts prove to be correct.
No cap impact
When the Patriots signed Niko Lalos to his one-year, $1.01 million contract in March, they did so without attaching any guarantees to the deal. Releasing him therefore has no impact on the club’s salary cap: with no guarantees and his salary not high enough for Top 51 status, he simply gets removed from the roster.
Likewise, signing Shaw is also not expected to make any dent in the team’s available resources. His $885,000 base salary also falls below the Top 51 threshold, while it seems unlikely New England gave him any guaranteed money as well.
As a consequence, the Patriots’ salary cap space remains at roughly $35 million, according to calculations by salary cap expert Miguel Benzan.