I think somebody is going to see Hightower as more of an edge player (an elephant or the rush end/linebacker in the ravens 3-4 for example) and that's going to put his numbers through the roof.Maybe I'm just being optimistic, but I think Hightower may be worth more to us than to the rest of the league and may not have a crazy market. He doesn't make a lot of splash plays (career 2 FF and 0 INTs), he isn't a tackling machine, and he isn't going to be your primary coverage backer. I'm not convinced other teams are going to be lining up to give him a huge contract and he seems to love the Patriots so I think there is a good chance we can work something out before free agency hits.
I think he's actually a perfect franchise candidate--basically overpay him for one year and move on.