The New England Patriots will have opportunities to improve this offseason in several areas of player acquisition. One is free agency, where they are well-situated (assuming any players consider Foxborough a destination) with $126M or so in cap space. Wisely used, this can deliver three or maybe four top players to a team in dire need of an infusion of top-echelon NFL talent.
The other major area, of course, is the draft. If the Patriots, near the top of the draft in each round, use their picks prudently, they can add maybe three or four good or better players to the squad. Added to well-spent free agency cash, seven or eight top players can be incoming. They'd make a clear-cut difference in the team's 2025 outlook.
A third major area can be through trades. Most NFL trades involve one player for a draft pick or two or a higher pick for several lower picks. Player-for-player(s) trades in the NFL aren't common, but they can happen. Here, we'll talk about how the Patriots can maximize trades generally as a far-reaching component of their offseason strategy. The sole objective is simple: to improve.
The Patriots have solid players to trade for other players or draft picks
Several solid Patriots players should be shopped to other NFL teams. Higher-paid players who are traded may save cap space to be used elsewhere. Candidates include Rhamondre Stevenson and Mike Onwenu on offense, as well as Kyle Dugger and Davon Godchaux on defense, among others. Reports already indicate the Pats have allowed Godchaux to seek a trade.
The objective in trading any or all of these players, and maybe others, is to secure better ones. A two-for-one deal of these players for a top player at a position of need, e.g., wide receiver, left tackle, edge, or defensive tackle, is more than acceptable. The Patriots need better players. Trying to trade solid but high-salaried, disappointing players plus draft picks for better ones is one way to go.
Another option is just to trade these players for draft picks, any picks. If their cap savings are meaningful, take any picks you can to get them off the books. Then, sign maybe one or two better free agents in positions of need with the added cap space.
Patriots can trade UP in the draft to get better
Analysts love to advise the Patriots to trade down to garner more picks, that more is better. It's a faulty strategy, especially in the top two rounds. Specifically, the Patriots pick No. 4 in the first round is virtually guaranteed to deliver a top starter with Pro Bowl or better potential. He'll immediately start in that position. Shipping out this high of a pick is rarely a good idea.
Unless you can trade down a pick or two, still get the very best player at one of those need positions, and garner an additional second-rounder in the process, it's a losing proposition. Great NFL teams are comprised of great players. The Pats have maybe four: Drake Maye (will be) on offense, Christian Gonzalez, Christian Barmore, and, if correctly used, Keion White are on defense. They need lots more.
Loading up on lower draft picks gets you more camp bodies, but not any better. The Patriots' strategy is to trade their solid players for better players or draft picks. Those picks should then be packaged, maybe with a Patriots' pick or picks, to move up in the draft. More lower draft picks are not going to deliver better players. Getting fewer but higher picks might do so, and it is the way to go.
What about the positions that may be vacated? The solution is good old-fashioned scouting, something the Patriots lack in abundance. Witness the truly dismal 2024 offseason when free agency was a flop, and the draft, absent Drake Maye, was even worse. Most of that same grouping is still in place. If they and not Vrabel have the proverbial "final say", the outlook will remain bleak.
Regardless, those are a few trade thoughts for the dreadful 4-13, 2024 Patriots as Mike Vrabel and his team work to reconstruct a bottom-of-the-barrel NFL roster. Few players on this roster should be sacrosanct. Almost anyone can and should be traded for solid compensation. The advice to Mike Vrabel is simple: Be bold, daring, and innovative. Things can't get any worse than last place.