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Patriots Have Second-Least Amount Of Salary Cap Space In NFL

BOSTON (CBS) -- March is about to turn to April. The Patriots have added some new faces in free agency but have not made any sort of splash.

Expect that to remain the case.

As all teams -- including, of course, the Patriots -- gear up for the draft on April 23, it's worth taking a look at where the Patriots stand in terms of salary cap space. That quick look shows that the Patriots are about as tight against the cap as possible.

The Chiefs being $177 shy of the salary cap is a rather amazing feat in and of itself, but the Patriots' proximity to Kansas City shows just how little space the Patriots have to work with.

By comparison, the 30th-ranked Falcons have more than eight times as much cap space as the 31st-ranked Patriots.

Various other sources have the numbers varying some, and the team can create some space by reworking some contracts. But the Patriots don't have much cap space at all, any way you slice it. And with 12 picks in their back pocket for the upcoming draft, they're going to need to save space to sign all of their draftees later in the offseason.

Thus far in the offseason, the Patriots have lost free agents Tom Brady, Kyle Van Noy, Jamie Collins, Danny Shelton, Elandon Roberts, Ted Karras, Nate Ebner, and Phillip Dorsett. The team also traded away Duron Harmon and released Stephen Gostkowski. The team has added Adrian Phillips, Dan Vitale, Damiere Byrd, Beau Allen, Cody Davis, Brandon Copeland and Brian Hoyer, while re-sgning Shiique Calhoun and Joe Thuney.

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