Patriots re-signing safety Jabrill Peppers

BOSTON -- With the free agency tampering period opening Monday, the Patriots have spent most of their time retaining their own players. That continued on Tuesday night, when the team agreed to a deal with safety Jabrill Peppers.

Adam Schefter first reported that deal, noting that Peppers re-signed in New England for two years.

Peppers, 27, signed with the Patriots last season after playing the previous three years with the New York Giants. Originally a first-round pick by Cleveland in 2017, he was traded to the Giants in the Odell Beckham Jr. trade in March of 2019.

Peppers played in all 17 games for New England last year, taking 35 percent of the team's defensive snaps and 59 percent of the team's special teams snaps. He recorded 60 total tackles, including two for a loss, while recovering one fumble.

Though longtime captain Devin McCourty retired this offseason, the Patriots remain fairly well-stocked at safety, with Peppers, Kyle Dugger, and Adrian Phillips under contract.

In addition to Peppers, the Patriots have retained Jonathan Jones, Raekwon McMillian, James Ferentz, Conor McDermott, Carl Davis and Matthew Slater.