Patriots: FA signings and excess of draft picks could foreshadow big trade

Who would’ve thought that the New England Patriots would have a seemingly playoff-ready roster just a week into free agency? While fans expected the front office to push the envelope this offseason, we’re not sure anybody anticipated them to spend over $270 million already.

Well, seeing as though Bill Belichick is always two or three steps ahead of the rest of the league, it’s worth pondering if this spending spree is setting the table for something even bigger, like a blockbuster trade.

The Patriots have made 12 signings in free agency thus far, with more to be expected in the coming days and weeks, to go with re-signing six of their own players. Those guys will fill a whopping 18 roster spots.

On top of that, New England now owns 10 draft selections this year after receiving their due compensatory picks heading into the weekend. We’re no experts in this department, but the Patriots can’t possibly add another 10 players to their roster, right?

Could a blockbuster trade be in the Patriots’ future now that we know how many draft picks they have this year?

If you throw the undrafted free agent pool into the mix, which Belichick is almost always active in, some semblance of a trade has to be on the horizon, no? After all, the Patriots could get their hands on another second-rounder if an opposing team comes forward and signs cornerback JC Jackson, an unrestricted free agent, to an offer sheet and they decline to match it.

That’s highly unlikely to happen, but it just reiterates the notion that the Patriots will have to make a slew of cuts in training camp if they maintain all of these signings and draft capital.

After the departure of Tom Brady and the well-documented draft misses in recent years, could the Patriots package picks and perhaps a player (Stephon Gilmore?) in a trade to acquire another star player or to move into the top-10 of the NFL Draft? It seems like a real possibility!

If you couple Belichick’s revenge tour with the fact that the NFL has a cutoff in terms of how many players a team can roster at one time, and we certainly wouldn’t be surprised if the Patriots were involved in a trade (or two) down the road.

Whether they package young assets and picks for Deshaun Watson — if he’s exonerated from his sexual misconduct allegations, of course — or pull off a deal for a superstar wide receiver, fans shouldn’t put anything past Belichick and the Patriots after their unprecedented spending spree.

Should Patriots still be eyeing Deshaun Watson trade after slew of troubling allegations?

Should the New England Patriots still be eyeing a trade for Deshaun Watson amid his slew of sexual misconduct allegations?