Patriots Trade Chandler Jones To Cardinals For 2nd Round Pick, G Jonathan Cooper

According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Patriots have traded Chandler Jones to the Cardinals in exchange for a second round pick and guard Jonathan Cooper.

Huge.

This is a huge trade, and I absolutely love it from a Patriots perspective.

Jones was heading into the final year of his rookie contract, and there was absolutely no way the Pats were going to pay him. He will be getting a TON of money from somewhere else, so essentially the Patriots got a second round pick and a guard instead of nothing if they had waited.

This also clears over $5 million in cap space, which hopefully will be used to extend Dont’a Hightower and Jamie Collins, because their contracts both expire after the 2016 season as well. Malcolm Butler and Jabaal Sheard should also be on the list of contract extensions because they are vital to this defense as well.

Look, I’m not going to sit here and pretend Chandler was the worst player ever now that he is gone, but he never really lived up to expectations as a first round pick. His sacks came in bunches and then he would disappear for months. He was never a game-changer, and Sheard was better than him for a majority of the 2015 season.

I’m going to miss Chandler, but this trade was a good move. The Patriots get a guard in Cooper who has a ton of talent, so he could really help out this offensive line, New England clears cap space, and gets another high pick to utilize in this year’s draft. Signing someone like Chris Long and further developing Geneo Grissom and Trey Flowers should be a priority now for the Pats.

Nice work, Belichick.