New England Patriots sign LB Quintayvious Hutchins

Hutchins earns a fair-deal Contract Value Index (CVI) grade at $1.1M AAV — a seventh-round rookie contract that carries essentially no financial risk for New England, even if the player never develops beyond a special teams contributor. The $4.5M total value spread across a standard rookie deal structure is precisely what you'd expect from the Patriots investing late-round draft capital at linebacker, a position where depth is accumulated cheaply and developed over time. With just $122K guaranteed, the contract structure places virtually all downside risk on the player rather than the organization — if Hutchins doesn't earn his roster spot, New England can move on without meaningful cap consequence. That near-zero guaranteed figure is standard for late-round picks and reflects the front office treating this as a high-upside, low-cost developmental bet rather than a committed roster piece. Where the CVI picture gets complicated is off the field: the assault and battery charges filed against Hutchins in mid-May introduce a non-contract risk that no AAV calculation can fully account for, and the team's overall sentiment grade has cratered in the 14 days since that news broke. The Patriots are sitting at 14-3 and holding a top-two AFC seed, which means any off-field distraction — especially one this serious — carries heightened reputational weight for an organization with no room for noise at this stage of the season. On pure contract math, this is a reasonable flier; factoring in everything surrounding it, the CVI holding steady at C+ feels about right.