Breaking development: The Patriots roster is going to look different next week.
“We’re going to continually try to strengthen the roster every way we can,” head coach Mike Vrabel said after New England suffered a 42-10 loss to the Giants in its preseason finale Thursday night. “There’s a couple options, right? You can try to trade for players. You can try to claim some players next week. So, again, we’re always going to be trying to strengthen the roster and that’s what we’ll try to do here over the course of the next 10 days.”
Patriots insider Phil Perry believes that could mean some “high-profile trades,” especially when it comes to players departing New England. On a “busy” scale of 1-10, Perry believes Eliot Wolf and company will check in at eight.
“I think they’re going to be busy,” Perry said on the Patriots Talk podcast. “I think you’re going to see a couple of high-profile trades of players out.
“And I could see, potentially, who knows, got some big-name guys out there still looking for contracts,” Perry continued. “I’ve been saying I would do all the big-ticket items. I mean, obviously, you can’t do them all. But sure, be interested in them. Make those calls, have those conversations.”
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Patriots defenders Anfernee Jennings and Kyle Dugger are the most popular names in trade speculation. They reportedly are known to be available in deals.
Perry strongly believes Jennings should bring back value to the Patriots. The 2020 third-round pick is more than capable of playing in the league, but would benefit from a better scheme fit. The fact Jennings did not play in the preseason finale after playing deep into the second preseason contest seems to indicate the franchise is trying to trade him.
“To me, you should be able to get some value back there,” Perry said of the soon-to-be 28-year-old, who started 30 games the last two seasons.
New England also should consider taking on some of Dugger’s salary in an effort to land an asset.
“Could you end up with a fifth-round pick by eating a few million bucks and sending Kyle Dugger somewhere? I think that should be in the cards,” Perry said.
As far as others names to be involved in external speculation, Cincinnati Bengals’ Trey Hendrickson, Washington Commanders’ Terry McLaurin and Dallas Cowboys’ Micah Parsons all continue to go around and around the rumor carousel. All three players have held out this preseason due to disagreements stemming from their respective contacts.
It would take a draft-heavy haul in order to acquire any of them, but New England has the finances. And based on what the second- and third-stringers showed at MetLife Stadium, it also could use an influx of talent.
Also in this episode:
- How will Patriots improve their roster before Week 1?
- Is Keion White in trouble?
- Which position group improved most throughout camp?
