FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Patriots announced that they have signed T James Hudson III as a free agent and CB Kindle Vildor as an unrestricted free agent from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Terms of the contracts were not announced. In addition, the Patriots announced that they have released QB Joshua Dobbs. Dobbs was signed by New England as an unrestricted free agent from San Francisco on March 18, 2025.
Hudson, 26, is a veteran of five NFL seasons with the Cleveland Browns (2021-24) and the New York Giants (2025). The 6-foot-5, 313-pounder, originally entered the NFL as a fourth-round draft pick by Cleveland in the 2021 NFL Draft out of Cincinnati. He was signed by the Giants as an unrestricted free agent from Cleveland on March 13, 2025, and was released by the Giants on March 6, 2026. Overall, he has played in 60 games with 19 starts, 14 at right tackle and five at left tackle. Last season with the Giants, Hudson played in 11 games with two starts at left tackle.
Vildor, 28, is a veteran of six NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears (2020-22), Tennessee Titans (2023), Detroit Lions (2023-24) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2025). The 5-foot-11, 190-pounder, originally entered the NFL as a fifth-round draft pick of Chicago in the 2020 NFL Draft out of Georgia Southern. After being released by Chicago at the end of training camp in 2023, he was acquired off waivers by Tennessee. Vildor was released by Tennessee in October. He then spent time on the Philadelphia and Detroit practice squads before being signed to the Detroit 53-man roster in December. Vildor signed with Tampa Bay as a free agent last March. Overall, he has played in 80 games with 27 starts and has registered 135 total tackles, 2 interceptions, 18 passes defensed and 1 forced fumble. He has also played in five postseason games with four starts and has accumulated 20 tackles and 1 pass defensed. Last season in Tampa Bay, Vildor played in 12 games with one start and finished with 16 total tackles, 1 interception and 3 passes defensed.
Dobbs, 31, is a veteran of nine NFL seasons and has spent time with Pittsburgh (2017-19, 2020-21), Jacksonville (2019), Cleveland (2022), Tennessee (2022), Arizona (2023), Minnesota (2023), San Francisco (2024) and New England (2025). He has started games for Tennessee, Arizona and San Francisco.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pounder, originally entered the NFL as a fourth-round draft pick (135th overall) by Pittsburgh in the 2017 NFL Draft out of Tennessee. He has played 27 regular season games with 15 starts and has completed 351-of-559 passes for 3,346 yards with 17 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Dobbs played in four games for the Patriots in 2025 and completed 7-of-10 passes for 65 yards.
