In a year where the team doesn’t have a first-round pick, the New England Patriots are making up for it by signing and trading for a nice little collection of former first round picks. At the same time they’ve made their normal weird trades of players in their prime that would make no sense for any team besides the Patriots. It’s how they do business.
The biggest move so far is trading defensive end Chandler Jones. Jones was due to make $7.79 million this season, which is nothing for a pass-rushing defensive end in the modern NFL. Jones is coming off his best season, a 44 tackle, 12.5 sack season where he forced four fumbles, picked off a pass and defended two passes. Yes, it was going to cost real money to keep Jones, just in his fifth year out of Syracuse, but it seems like his value at less than $8 million would have been worth riding out the season. Not for Bill Belichick and the Patriots.
https://twitter.com/Chan95Jones/status/709833721805938688
The Pats traded Jones to the Arizona Cardinals for guard Jonathan Cooper and a second round pick. You could argue that the Pats needed the pick as they were forced to forfeit their first-rounder for DeflateGate. That’s true, but what are the chances that either of their second-round picks will be as good as Jones, their best pass rusher since Andre Tippett.
The Patriots made the move then signed former St. Louis Rams defensive end Chris Long to a one-year deal. He can deliver the same kind of production as Jones if he can stay healthy. He’s not been able to for the last two seasons.
https://twitter.com/JOEL9ONE/status/709918638816550912
Not content to make one major trade, the Patriots and Bears worked a deal Wednesday that would tight end Martellus Bennett and a sixth-round pick to New England in exchange for the Patriots fourth-round pick. A deal that seems completely ridiculous on its face.
.@MartysaurusRex paired up with @RobGronkowski?
Oh, man. That's a scary good TE duo. https://t.co/XwyH37k0oD
— NFL (@NFL) March 17, 2016
Bennett must have burned some real bridges in Chicago because this deal makes no sense for the Bears at all. As for the Patriots, well, the deal they made with the devil is ironclad.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BDCdwPFvcrM/?taken-by=martellusb
Bennett played in 11 games last season, caught 53 passes for 439 yards and scored three touchdowns.
Yesterday I wrote about potential replacements for retired middle linebacker Jerod Mayo and the Patriots must have been paying attention. Just today they signed Shea McClellin away from the Chicago Bears. McClellin played in 12 games last season, recorded 81 tackles, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and one pass defended. McClellin doesn’t seem like a significant upgrade over Jonathan Freeney, the guy they had penciled in as their starting middle linebacker before Thursday. They’ll likely split time as the Patriots develop a rookie.
McClellin, Long and Cooper are all former first-round draft picks. McClellin was supposed to be a defensive end when the Bears drafted him at No. 19 out of Boise State in 2012, but that never worked out. He was an outright bust until the Vic Fangio moved him to inside linebacker last season. Cooper has been a decent starter, but far from irreplaceable as far as the Cardinals go. Long, of course, was one of the most hotly pursued free agents of this class over the prospect that he could return to his 2010-2013 form.
Jon Bostic, Martellus Bennett and now Shea McClellin. #Bears are becoming the #Patriots farm team
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) March 17, 2016
The arrival of Chris Hogan at wide receiver may eventually spell the end of Danny Amendola’s tenure with the team. New England signed Hogan away from the Buffalo Bills with a three-year, $12 million deal. Hogan was a restricted free agent, but the Bills chose not to match the Pats’ offer.
Hogan isn’t the New England prototype of a little, shifty white guy. He’s 6-foot-1, 220 pounds and will have a bigger presence on the outside. Hogan has been productive for the Bills in his three seasons in spite of never playing with a real, NFL quarterback. Last year he caught 36 passes for 450 yards and two touchdowns.
Bills decline to match Pats offer | 3yr $12M | via @RapSheet
Chris Hogan will be catching passes from TB12 next yr. pic.twitter.com/JzLSIP9hQ1
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) March 11, 2016
While not as significant a move as these others, the Pats added some linebacker depth by signing Ramon Humber away from the New Orleans Saints for a one-year deal woth $950,000. Last year Humber recorded 47 tackles, one sack and one pass defense for New Orleans.
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