New England Patriots Face Tough Decisions in 2015 Offseason

No rest for the winners. 

The New England Patriots have a long offseason ahead of them if they want to keep their championship-caliber roster intact. There are decisions to be made on big salary-cap hits for a couple of key players, impending free agency for a couple of other players and a pair of 2012 first-round draft picks with fifth-year options that need to be exercised.

With less than a month remaining until the 2015 league year kicks off, signaling the start of free agency and the decision day for a fat roster bonus for Darrelle Revis, the Patriots don't have much time to mull over their options before they have to start putting pen to paper and making moves.

Here's a look at some of the biggest decisions facing the Patriots this offseason.

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Big Salary-Cap Hits for Vince Wilfork and Jerod Mayo

Vince Wilfork is slated to count $8,933,333 against the salary cap, according to sports contracts website Spotrac. The Patriots would obviously rather keep Wilfork in the fold, but they could save $8,066,665 by releasing him. Their relative lack of depth at defensive tackle makes it difficult to release Wilfork without having some kind of contingency plan in place.

But Wilfork's cap hit isn't the only one that needs to be addressed. Jerod Mayo's cap hit is set to be $10.6 million for the 2015 season. The Patriots could cut him to save $4.6 million of that money, but it's more likely that they will restructure his contract in some way. At 28 years old, he still has some good football left in him.

The same could be said for Wilfork, however, who earned nearly every penny of his contract, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.

Cutting both would save the Patriots upward of $12.6 million on the salary cap. It would also be risky. The Patriots' best bet is to try to restructure both contracts to get both players back at a lower number, but that may not necessarily be palatable. Wilfork was reportedly upset about his contract situation last offseason, and he may not be happy if the Patriots try to take money off the table again.

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Devin McCourty and Darrelle Revis Could Hit Open Market

Unless the Patriots strike an agreement with safety Devin McCourty before March 10, McCourty will become a free agent and can sign with any team that offers him a deal. The Patriots could use the franchise tag for McCourty, which would pay him around $9.53 million. 

The same cannot be said for Darrelle Revis, however. The veteran cornerback is due a $12 million roster bonus on March 10, which the Patriots can give him if they want to keep him without restriction. If they do so, however, they would be resigning themselves to a $25 million cap hit for his services in 2015.

There's a possibility that the two sides could work out a long-term deal, as team president Jonathan Kraft has openly stated on WEEI's Dennis & Callahan (via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com) that Revis' contract for 2015 was a "placeholder" and that the team would like to get an extension done in the coming weeks. 

McCourty's been through the ringer, moving from cornerback to safety, back to cornerback and back to safety, but his play over the past two years as a safety has put him in the discussion among the best in the league, according to Pete Damilatis of ProFootballFocus.com. 

Revis has become a hit man for hire at $16 million per year, and while his first taste of Super Bowl success may have changed his flavor palate a bit, the Patriots should be prepared to pay top dollar for his services once again.

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Fifth-Year Options for Chandler Jones and Dont'a Hightower

The Patriots made a rare splash in the 2012 NFL draft when they traded up—not once, but twice—to grab two key players they had their eyes on in the first round. Defensive end Chandler Jones and outside linebacker Dont'a Hightower have been fixtures in the front seven ever since, and both men have developed into solid players at their multiple positions.

It seems like only yesterday these two men were added to the roster, but it was three years ago. And before they play one snap of their fourth season, the Patriots must decide whether to keep them for a fifth. 

When the new collective bargaining agreement was inked, so was a rule that allows teams to exercise a fifth-year option in the contract of their first-round draft choices. That option must be either picked up or declined by the May 2 deadline. 

According to Andrew Brandt of TheMMQB.com, the fifth-year option is dependent on where the player was picked. For players picked 1-10, it is the equivalent of the transition tag for their position in their fourth year. For players picked 11-32, it is the equivalent of the average salary of players ranked third through 25th at their position.

Jones and Hightower would both fall into the latter distinction, and the Patriots would be wise to pick up both options, as the salary-cap ramifications would be minimal for both men.