The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks have a lot on their minds right now.
They're preparing to face off in Super Bowl XLIX this weekend amidst a seemingly endless flurry of media reports and rumors pertaining to the Pats DeflateGate scandal that has shared, if not outright stolen, NFL headlines this week.
Many assume that after the game is over, win or lose, Pats head coach Bill Belichick and his front office team will breathe a sigh of relief and ease gently into their postseason slumbers, slouched in their faded Nautical Blue and New Century Silver armchairs, while Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and his crew will go for an invigorating, week-long kayak trip off Shilshole Bay.
But that's probably not the case.
With 11 pending unrestricted free agents, and cornerback Darrelle Revis' looming $20 million option bonus, the Patriots have a number of difficult decisions ahead.
For the Seahawks, 16 unrestricted free agents are slated to hit the market.
It's a hard NFL truth that no team looks the same from year to year, but it seems that the two Super Bowl entrants may look just as, if not much, different than most teams next season, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.
For the Pats, Revis' situation is the most pressing. As Schefter notes, the team can either pick up his option - which they almost assuredly won't, despite recent reports to the contrary - let him walk in free agency, or, the most likely scenario, resign him to a new deal.
Beyond Revis, underrated safety Devin McCourty is a priority and would like to remain in New England, per Schefter, but "business is business."
The remaining Pats unrestricted free agents include guard Dan Connolly, kicker Stephen Gostkowski, running backs Shane Vereen and Stevan Ridley and linebackers Akeem Ayers and Jonathan Casillas.
Gostkowski isn't going anywhere, but the rest are very much up in the air. Connolly started 13 games this season, but he's 32 and possibly nearing the tail end of his career, though he's only been in the league for nine seasons.
Vereen and Ridley are both talented, but Vereen has a fairly lengthy injury history and has never carried the load the way a former second-round pick should, while Ridley has ball control issues and is currently rehabbing an injury of his own.
The Seahawks, as Schefter notes, have done a good job of retaining their own players in the past, and while Carroll and GM John Schneider would, no doubt, prefer to continue that tradition this offseason, it's looking increasingly likely that they'll lose a handful of key pieces.
Running back Marshawn Lynch is still under contract, but his current situation with the team seems untenable. It remains to be seen what comes of it.
Cornerback Byron Maxwell is probably gone, considering the money the team already has invested in the rest of the secondary. Guard James Carpenter has started 13 games this season but hasn't come close to meeting his first-round expectations.
Linebackers Malcolm Smith - the reigning Super Bowl MVP - and O'Brien Schofield are set to hit the market as well and could end up elsewhere.
With quarterback Russell Wilson's next contract the offseason's top priority for Seattle, the rest of the team's free agents may simply be out of luck, or forced to wait their turn.
