The Las Vegas Raiders are remaking their linebacker room with the losses of Divine Deablo and Robert Spillane in free agency. The team signed Elandon Roberts already and was trying to bring in Christian Elliss.
The New England Patriots linebacker was a restricted free agent so when the Raiders made him an offer, the Patriots had the right to match that offer. That's exactly what happened as New England matched the offer on Monday and now Elliss is returning to the Patriots.
It wasn't clear what Las Vegas was offering until now. According to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, the Raiders were willing to give Elliss a multi-year contract.
New England Patriots LB Christian Elliss.
Eric Canha-Imagn Images
"Linebacker Christian Elliss’ new deal with the Patriots is for $13.5M over two years, per sources," Fowler wrote on X. "This was the Raiders’ offer sheet that [New] England matched. Elliss was due $3.263M on a restricted tender and [now] gets a substantial raise annually."
That was a sizable contract offer the Raiders were making Elliss. It's clear that they saw him as a starting linebacker going forward. It was significantly more than the $3 million contract Las Vegas gave Roberts.
The Patriots didn't need another linebacker after poaching Spillane and signing Jack Gibbens but they had money to spend and didn't want to see Elliss walk out the door.
