Patriots opt to stand pat at NFL trade deadline
The Patriots' lone move ahead of the trade deadline was dealing Joshua Uche to Kansas City last week.
After weeks of speculation, Eliot Wolf and the Patriots’ top brass opted to stand pat ahead of the NFL’s trade deadline at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
New England’s lone move ahead of the deadline was struck last week, with the Patriots sending pass rusher Joshua Uche to the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for a 2026 sixth-round pick.
But with New England mired at the bottom of the AFC with a 2-7 record this season — and a long rebuild ahead — several reports tabbed the Patriots as aggressive sellers even after the Uche deal.
Shortly after the clock struck 4 p.m., The Athletic’s Dianna Russini posted on X that New England was “receiving calls” on other roster veterans, including Davon Godchaux, Kendrick Bourne, Kyle Dugger, and K.J. Osborn.
Earlier on Tuesday, FOX Sports’ Jordan Schultz also tabbed Osborn as a player who “has been involved in trade talks over the past couple of weeks.”
Ultimately, New England avoided any more deals that would shed more veterans from a rebuilding roster.
Even if stockpiling draft capital would be a prudent move for a Patriots team staring at an uphill climb toward contention, it remains to be seen just how many top draft picks New England would realistically be able to pry from teams for players like Osborn or other rumored trade possibilities like Tyquan Thornton.
Speaking earlier this week, Jerod Mayo chose to temper expectations regarding any major moves struck by New England before Tuesday’s deadline.
“I think first, this isn’t baseball. In baseball, you have big-name players going to other teams,” Mayo told WEEI on Monday. “I would say, historically, even as a player and now as a coach, the trade deadline is a bunch of hype.
“Who’s going to move a starting quarterback to another team right now? Who’s going to move a starting left tackle? I mean, it rarely happens.”
There was also a report from longtime NFL insider Josina Anderson last week that New England was looking to “add talent at WR, DT, or T positions” after the team’s Week 8 win over the Jets.
Adding at the deadline for a team with New England’s record might seem counterintuitive, but the case can be made that the Patriots were looking to take advantage of a buyer’s market — especially if the Pats landed a player who could help shore up critical deficiencies in 2024 and beyond.
But be it the lack of a willing trade partner or New England not wanting to give up valuable draft picks, Wolf and his staff opted to sit out any last-minute bidding wars for talent.
The lone moves for New England on Tuesday were the team signing guard Tyrese Robinson off Minnesota’s practice squad and releasing OL Zachary Thomas. Down on the practice squad, the Patriots also signed linebacker Monty Rice and cut center Bryan Hudson.
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