Michael Bennett reportedly soon headed to New England
The Philadelphia Eagles will reportedly trade defensive end Michael Bennett and a seventh-round draft pick to New England in exchange for a fifth-round pick.
According to multiple news media outlets, the New England Patriots are expected to trade a 2020 fifth-round draft pick to the Philadelphia Eagles for a 2020 seventh-round draft pick and defensive end Michael Bennett. The move can’t be finalized officially until Wednesday when the new league year begins, but it appears at least as of now that the deal is complete in earnest.
The Eagles supposedly wanted to try and retain Bennett, but the three-time Pro Bowler refused to take a pay cut when the team asked him to reduce his salary. Philadelphia stands to save about $7.2 million in salary cap space after the move; the Eagles currently rank in the bottom half of the league in terms of available space and funds to spend. With Bennett off the books, the team can continue to explore other ways to save money while remaining competitive personnel-wise.
New England has been linked to Bennett before. Bill Belichick reportedly offered the Seattle Seahawks more than the Eagles did a year ago to try and bring him to Foxborough, but the offer came in too late and the Eagles ended up acquiring him instead.
Interestingly enough, part of the reason behind that failed attempt (besides Bennett just being a phenomenal player and New England having a real need at edge rusher) supposedly had something to do with Michael Bennett’s desire to play alongside his brother Martellus – then a tight end with the Patriots.
Martellus Bennett eventually ended up retiring during the offseason last year; but per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, a source claims that he might have interest in coming out of retirement and re-joining the Patriots, now that the opportunity once again exists to play professional football on the same team as his brother, Michael.
Michael and Martellus Bennett always have wanted to play together. Now that the Patriots are trading for Michael, Martellus is interested in coming out of retirement to join his brother in New England, per a source. Then would be the McCourty and Bennett Bros. in New England.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 8, 2019
As Schefter notes in the above tweet, the prospect of having two sets of brothers playing on the same NFL franchise is a very real one in 2019 with the Patriots, especially with Michael Bennett coming to town, Jason McCourty expressing his desire to remain in New England, and Devin McCourty confirming he changed his mind about retirement.
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Now it’s just a matter of Martellus Bennett deciding whether he wants to return to football and come back to the Patriots. Especially with Rob Gronkowski’s future with the team uncertain – and with news breaking that free agent Dwayne Allen has signed with the Miami Dolphins – the timing sure seems ideal for Bennett to come back and bolster the New England tight end corps.