K’Lavon Chaisson bet on himself and his new team last spring. Coming off the best season of his career, the former first-round draft pick joined the New England Patriots on a one-year, $3 million contract.
The hopes for the partnership were clear from the get-go: help the Patriots get back on track in Year 1 under head coach Mike Vrabel and simultaneously set himself up nicely for another trip to free agency in 2026. Chaisson managed to achieve both of those goals.
Now headed to the open market with some momentum, a return seems to be far from a certainty. However, the 26-year-old has expressed confidence that a new deal can be reached with the Patriots.
“I feel like it can,” Chaisson said before officially heading into the offseason. “I have true faith in the organization, in the guys upstairs. Just everything that we had going on this year, I trust in the process, for sure.”
He also stated a desire to keep building on what he and the Patriots started in 2025.
“Appreciate all the good that that happened throughout this year,” he said. “Overall, you look back at it, we only lost four times this year. We lost in the biggest game of the season, you don’t take that lightly. You want to continue to build on that. But 17 wins and four losses is a good record. Appreciate the journey. Appreciate all the good things that came with it. And looking forward to build off of it.”
Chaisson’s trust in the process allowed him to play the best football of his career upon joining the Patriots last March.
Appearing in a combined 20 regular season and playoff games with 12 total starts, he registered a career-best 10.5 sacks — more than doubling his career output in his sixth season a pro. He also forced three fumbles and scored a touchdown on a fumble recovery.
For maybe the first time in his career, he looked like the player the Jaguars hoped they would get when they drafted him 20th overall in 2020. And even though he had his ups and downs as well, he seemingly put himself in a position for a big payday.
Whether it will come in New England or elsewhere remains to be seen.