New England Patriots sign LB Namdi Obiazor

Namdi Obiazor's four-year, $4.6M deal earns a C+ Contract Value Index (CVI) — a fair signing at the margins that reads more as roster-depth infrastructure than a meaningful roster upgrade. At a $1.15M AAV, the Patriots are paying at roughly the league minimum tier for a linebacker, which keeps the cap exposure negligible, but the contract structure tells the real story: just $238K in guaranteed money on a four-year deal signals that the front office views Obiazor as a developmental or rotational piece with very little organizational commitment baked in. That ultra-low guarantee is the defining feature here — it's essentially a prove-it arrangement dressed in multi-year clothing, giving New England the flexibility to move on at virtually no cost while giving Obiazor a runway to earn a genuine role. For a team sitting at 14-3 and locked into AFC playoff positioning as the No. 2 seed, this is the kind of below-the-radar transaction that fills out a 53-man roster without disturbing the cap architecture that supports the rest of the roster. The CVI landing at a C+ reflects exactly that balance: the deal doesn't hurt the team financially, but the production ceiling implied by the contract value is firmly in replacement-level to below-average territory. If Obiazor outperforms the salary — as depth linebackers occasionally do on minimum-range deals — there's no downside; if he doesn't, New England walks away clean.