New England Patriots - NESN.com
Tuesday was a pretty normal day in the NFL, unless you were the New England Patriots. After signing Marcus Jones to a three-year, $36 million contract extension, the Pats followed that up by trading Keion White to the San Francisco 49ers and Kyle Dugger to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Seeing New England sell off two depth pieces on defense, even though they are 6-2, was a bit jarring. However, neither guy seemed set to be a part of Mike Vrabel’s plans moving forward, which led to the team swinging these deals. With both these trades in the books, let’s check out three big takeaways from the Pats’ surprising moves.
As noted above, both White and Dugger had fallen out of favor with Vrabel this season. And yet, when needed, they both have managed to suit up in a pinch to help keep things moving for Vrabel’s defense. While getting draft capital is nice, it’s fair to wonder whether these deals will come back and bite New England later this season.
Heading into Week 9, the team is largely healthy, so White and Dugger aren’t essential right now. However, if injuries flare up, that could create problems now that these guys aren’t in town. As a result, this will be a storyline worth closely monitoring over the next few weeks.
Ever since taking over as the team’s head coach this season, Vrabel has made it clear he wants to do things his way. Part of that involves having his players in town, and it’s resulted in almost an exodus of sorts when it comes to players the legendary Bill Belichick brought to town during his final few years in charge of the team.
Belichick’s last couple of drafts with the Patriots were awful to put it lightly, and Vrabel has had no problem cutting his losses and moving on from guys who simply have not panned out for the team. White and Dugger are the two latest examples of this train of thought, and it’s fair to wonder if anyone else on the team will suffer a similar fate.
It’d be a surprise if these were the only two trades the Pats made before the trade deadline given, how well they have played this season. With a 6-2 record, they currently hold the No. 2 seed in the AFC, and they are armed with loads of cap space and an abundance of draft picks.
For as good as New England has been, it has needs on both sides of the ball that could be addressed at the deadline. It could opt to replace some of the depth they just lost, or it could take a big swing for a star-caliber player. Whatever the case may be, after selling off some spare parts, look for the Patriots to bring some new faces to town over the...
