It has been just over a month since the New England Patriots fell just shy of winning their second straight Super Bowl. There has been much change to the roster in the weeks that have followed, especially during the NFL free agency period.

Throughout much of the last few years, one of the areas of weakness has been the lack of a consistent pass rush. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Patriots have added another asset in that regard to the mix by signing former Atlanta Falcons defensive end Adrian Clayborn.

Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network has added that it is a two-year, $12 million deal that Clayborn has garnered from New England. The 29-year-old is coming off his most productive campaign recording a career-high 9.5 sacks along with 21 total tackles, two forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries. This included him getting a career-best 6.0 sacks against the Dallas Cowboys on Nov. 12 that set a Falcons' franchise record. It also made him one of four players who has notched six sacks in a single game in league history since the sack officially became a recorded stat in 1982.

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Patriots Eliot Wolf and Jerod Mayo on the left, Eagles A.J. Brown in the middle, Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni on the right.

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Patriots' Eliot Wolf with Eagles' AJ Brown

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Eliot Wolf and Jerod Mayo with NFL Draft logo in middle

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The single-game sack mark aside, Clayborn has become a more effective pass-rusher over the last three seasons in Atlanta recording 17.0 of his 30.0 career sacks over that span. Prior to that, he spent his first four years in the league with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where he had at least 5.5 sacks twice while he missed 28 games combined in the 2012 and 2014 seasons.

His addition to the Patriots' defensive front should see him become a primary asset as the team had no player rack up more than 6.5 sacks in the 2017 season despite them finishing seventh in the league with 42 sacks behind a collective effort.New England is also likely to bring back veteran outside linebacker James Harrison on a new deal as he proved to be an effective pass rusher in a racking up 2.0 sacks with eight total tackles in four games played. The front office could look to further address this aspect of the defense in free agency or the upcoming draft.