It involved birthday confections and visits with multiple teams, but the Dont’a Hightower saga is apparently over. The free-agent linebacker was allowed to test the market but has opted to return to the New England Patriots, via his agency.
— SportsTrust Advisors (@_SportsTrust) March 15, 2017
Most anticlimactic ending since Bill dying at the end of the “Kill Bill” movies? We’d say so. At least this was the expected outcome for most of the time, even with Hightower — a hero in the Patriots’ past two Super Bowl victories — flirting with the rival New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers. Some felt he never wanted to leave but was leveraging more money by taking outside visits.
Hightower figured to have premium value, but the market didn’t quite turn out to be what he or his reps suspected, we believe. Hightower’s injury history likely played into that, and it certainly was one reason for the Patriots to hesitate shelling out big money right away.
Still, the idea of leaving the Patriots for the Jets — who gifted him cupcakes while meeting with him on his birthday over the weekend — was tough to swallow, even if the Jets offered more money as the metaphorical frosting on top.
— Eric Edholm (@Eric_Edholm) March 15, 2017
The Steelers seemed to sense that Hightower wasn’t going anywhere in the end, and you’d have to think the Jets figured this out eventually, too. Which is why Hightower returning to New England felt like a coup d’etat to many keeping tabs on the situation. But then again, they still had to pay up.
Patriots LB Dont'a Hightower's deal, per @_SportsTrust: Four years, $43.5 million with $19 million guaranteed.— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) March 15, 2017
Nearly $11 million per year is no slouch of a deal at all. The team reportedly offered him an extension a year ago in the $10 million-per-year range, so they certainly don’t think less of him. Perhaps Hightower sniffing around two known enemies also got the Patriots to up their deal in the final hours.
This is a good situation for Hightower and the Patriots, who have had a mostly brilliant offseason, with the lingering Malcolm Butler situation notwithstanding. Hightower returns as one of the key pieces on a defense that improved dramatically last season, and its second-half play was an underrated aspect of the comeback victory in Super Bowl LI over the Atlanta Falcons.
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