Pats Pulpit
The Patriots parted ways with the former second-round draft pick ahead of the NFL trade deadline.
One day after making him a surprise healthy scratch, the New England Patriots have decided to trade outside linebacker Joshua Uche. The former second-round draft pick is headed to the Kansas City Chiefs in return for a 2026 sixth-round selection.
What does the move mean for the Patriots from a big picture perspective, though? Let’s assess.
With Uche as the latest domino to fall, the Patriots’ outside linebacker group continues what is quite the transformation over the last three months. In fact, of the position’s projected core at the start of training camp only Anfernee Jennings remains on New England’s active roster.
The other three top edges, meanwhile, are all off the 53-man squad. Matthew Judon was traded to the Atlanta Falcons in October, followed by Uche to the Chiefs on Monday. Additionally, Oshane Ximines suffered a torn ACL in early September and is out for the rest of the 2024 season.
As a result of those departures, Jennings is now the top pure edge left on the team. The Patriots do have two more players on their practice squad — elevation candidate Ochaun Mathis and recently-signed Keshawn Banks — but they might actually try to take advantage of their personnel’s versatility to fill the void created by moving Uche.
Three players in particular stand out when it comes to bolstering the depth on the edge. Defensive linemen Keion White and Deatrich Wise Jr. have shown in the past that they can move around and kick out to the edge if need be; White in particular looks like a strong replacement for Uche given his pass rush abilities. In addition, off-ball linebackers Jahlani Tavai and Christian Elliss might also factor into the mix.
The aforementioned Ochaun Mathis has become a factor along the Patriots’ edge over the last few weeks. A practice squad pickup in late August, the former Los Angeles Rams sixth-round draft pick has been elevated to the game day roster on three occasions so far — exhausting his elevation opportunities.
Mathis getting signed to the 53-man squad in light of the Uche trade would make sense for the Patriots.
From a statistical perspective, Uche was in the middle of a relatively quiet 2024 season. Despite primarily serving as a designated pass rush specialist, he registered only two sacks in his seven in-game appearances so far.
However, that number does not quite tell the full story. For starters, he still ranked second on the team in sacks behind Keion White’s four, and also was second through seven games with 13 total quarterback pressures. Furthermore, he led New England in pass rush win rate (17.2%) among players with at least 20 rush attempts.
While replacing those numbers is not a monumental task, the fact is that New England’s pass rush already was at times...
