Does this Patriots-Cowboys trade making rounds on social media make sense?

The New England Patriots‘ revamped wide receiver room puts N’Keal Harry squarely on the roster bubble as he enters his third season.

After sitting out OTAs, the 2019 first-round pick attended mandatory minicamp and largely worked with the second-team offense. Funny enough, Harry was with the starters for the first offensive rep before he ceded those duties and spent most of camp working with expected third-string quarterback Bailey Zappe.

That paints a clear picture in terms of Harry’s standing on the roster. If nothing else, it further proves the Patriots need to end this relationship as soon as possible. As far as cap savings are concerned, New England would save $600,000 more if they traded him as opposed to cutting him, per Over The Cap.

A proposed trade that’s made the rounds amongst Patriots Twitter? Sending Harry to the Cowboys in exchange for out-of-favor defensive tackle Trysten Hill, who, like Harry, has had trouble catching on in the NFL as a former high draft pick.

Should the Patriots swap N’Keal Harry for Cowboys DT Trysten Hill?

In a vacuum, this trade makes sense for both parties. By swapping the two players, the Patriots and Cowboys would address needs while jettisoning a redundant piece of the roster that’s likely to leave for nothing eventually anyway.

While Christian Barmore, Davon Godchaux and Lawrence Guy form a solid defensive tackle rotation, New England could use Hill so they aren’t forced into deploying sixth-rounder Sam Roberts or journeyman Carl Davis, whom they signed to the veteran minimum this offseason.

Even if Hill doesn’t have a clear-cut path to the Patriots’ 53-man roster, wouldn’t it make sense to give Bill Belichick a potential reclamation project to work with over the next few months instead of running it back with Harry for a fourth year?

Injuries have limited Hill to just 18 games over three seasons. As of this writing, Neville Gallimore, Osa Odighizuwa and Carlos Watkins are the Cowboys’ top defensive tackles. With fifth-round pick John Ridgeway expected to play a major role against the run, Hill could be fifth in the pecking order by the start of training camp.

That doesn’t help anybody. In New England, Hill would get a needed change of scenery (he clashed with Dallas’ coaching staff in 2020), and the opportunity to both learn under Belichick and carve out a role on an elite defense.

Harry, on the other hand, would get the chance to compete for the Cowboys’ fourth receiver spot behind CeeDee Lamb, Michael Gallup and Jalen Tolbert. With so many of Dallas’ WRs, including Gallup, nursing injuries, Harry would seemingly get plenty of reps with Dak Prescott and the first-team offense during camp.

It’s not the sexiest trade you’ll ever see, but it has the potential to pay dividends for both teams in the long run with very little risk involved considering Harry and Hill haven’t amounted to anything in the NFL just yet.

Patriots puzzlingly missed out on trading away N’Keal Harry

The New England Patriots did their due diligence with regards to finding a landing spot for N'Keal Harry, but they just couldn't get a deal done.