Here are five realistic trade options for the Patriots.
We could be hours, minutes or even seconds away from finding out if the New England Patriots will be buyers or sellers by the 4 p.m. ET trade deadline on Tuesday.
There’s obviously a greater chance of the team selling considering there is no likely path for them to the playoffs this season. They’ve been ravaged with injuries in arguably the toughest division in football.
The Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills and New York Jets could all be vying for a spot in the playoffs, while the Patriots look on with a pitiful 2-6 record. But don’t sleep on the possibility of them becoming buyers, either.
Coach Bill Belichick isn’t the type to tank an entire season away, and he’ll be looking to rack up as many wins as possible before the curtain closes on 2023.
Here are five realistic trade options for the Patriots by the deadline:
The trade deadline is next Tuesday, Halloween, at 4 p.m. EST. It is a time when a few players get to recharge their careers elsewhere and leave opportunities behind for someone else. Most of the moves are not fantasy-relevant but a few can be. Mecole Hardman is back at the Chiefs, though his prospects aren’t any better than the first time he was there.
Chase Claypool was sent to the Dolphins, and… No. I don’t know why, either. He was essentially free with the cost of swapping a sixth-round pick for a seventh. Cam Akers lands on the Vikings, where he’s probably going just to limit Alexander Mattison. Van Jefferson was sent to Atlanta, which is marginally better than being buried on the Rams depth chart.
What to watch on Sunday is for any different usage of a player – particularly under-using them to keep them healthy for a trade. It is time for bad teams to get some value for players who likely won’t be there next year.
Here are the Top-6 trade candidates I’d like to see moved.
Derrick Henry – This appears to be a lock according to most pundits and every anonymous poster on X-Twitter. He won’t be back in Tennessee next year, and they could get something for him. The Titans are 2-4 and looking worse. 2024 will be a rebuilding year anyway. Henry turns 30 next year, and while he’s only been injured once of note, there are a lot of miles on those tires. He’s a perfect fit for a playoff-bound offense lacking talent in the backfield. The Ravens are expected to be interested, but the Bills and Buccaneers could use a boost when they run.
Saquon Barkley – He says he won’t move, and the Giants said they won’t move him. He is never going to play in a Superbowl for the Giants, and he turns 27 next year. Barkley has one more good contract left (probably), but he isn’t driving up his value by staying. He signed a one-year $10M to stay this year, but the Giants will not commit to him long-term anyway. I’d guess he’ll stay, but he would be a difference-maker. Imagine the Bills with the dual-threat Barkley. Or the Cowboys or Eagles.
Darnell Mooney – He is in the final year of his rookie contract, and what little passing the Bears ends up with DJ Moore or Cole Kmet. At 5-11 and 173 pounds, he was miscast as a primary wideout in the past but makes a speedy complement (4.38 40-time). He turned in an 81-1055-4 stat line in 2021. The Chargers are a possibility since losing Mike Williams. The Chiefs would have been before taking Mecole Hardman back, and maybe are still a possibility since Mooney played with the Chiefs’ OC Matt Nagy. His fantasy value would skyrocket, swapping Justin Fields for Patrick Mahomes.
Marquise Brown – It would seem a surprise to get rid of the Cardinals’ No. 1 wideout right when Kyler Murray is getting nearer to return. But the 1-6 Cardinals are already done, and the rebuild should be in full force next season. The Cardinals may not move him though, and his departure strips the receivers of talent for the rest of the year. But if the right deal were offered, Arizona would have to consider it. And there’s speculation that the Cards might end up with a new franchise quarterback from the 2024 NFL draft because they are headed to a very early pick – if not the No. 1 pick.
Hunter Renfrow – The Raider slot receiver posted 103 catches for 1,038 yards and nine scores in 2021 when the Raiders ran out of receivers. For the two seasons with HC Josh McDaniels, Renfrow sees minimal use. But he’s only 27, and there is an out in his contract next year anyway. His relationship with McDaniels is described as “fractured.” One potential landing spot is with the Saints, where he could reunite with Derek Carr. He could also end up with the Bears as a replacement for Darnell Mooney if he was traded. Renfrow is too good and too young to waste away on a roster.
Jerry Jeudy – He’s been rumored to be traded since the start of last summer, and the 2-5 Broncos will not be busy in January. The former first-round pick could net the Broncos a middle-round pick for a team that needs to refresh their roster. He’s rumored to be another possible add by the Chiefs, but several NFL teams could be willing to upgrade their receivers because Jeudy needs a change of scenery and system. The Broncos will accept less for him than last summer.
About last night…
Credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports
Buccaneers 18, Bills 24
The Buccaneers played tougher than expected, but the Bills also failed at the goal line in the first half and left with no points. Baker Mayfield ended with 237 yards and two scores between Chris Godwin (5-54, TD) and Mike Evans (3-39, TD), who caught his touchdown with only 2:44 left to play to salvage what had been an invisible game. Rachaad White didn’t score, but he ran for 39 yards on nine carries and led the receivers with seven catches for 70 yards in his best showing of the season. The Bucs still ended up with a Hail Mary pass into the end zone that somehow landed there without anyone touching it. Chris Godwin was the closest.
If the Buccaneers were to end up with Derrick Henry or another running back before the trade deadline, White would at least retain the third-down role. The 3-4 Buccaneers head to Houston for Week 9.
It was a standard night for Josh Allen. He ran for 41 yards and a touchdown on his seven rushes. He passed for 324 yards and two scores between Greg Davis (9-87, TD) and Dalton Kincaid (5-65, TD). Khalil Shakir almost doubled his 2023 stats when he led the team with 92 yards on six catches. Stefon Diggs started slowly but ended up with nine catches for 70 yards. The Bills never trailed, but the Bucs tied the score 10-10 in the second quarter before the Bills pulled away. They rise to 5-3 and head to Cincinnati for next week’s Sunday night game.
Not too long ago, Carolina Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer was reportedly “on the phone every single day” in search of a wideout. Well, that phone may not be as busy now.
ESPN senior NFL insider Jeremy Fowler just dished out quite a few new nuggets about the feel of this year’s trade deadline. Among the chirping is the seemingly active market for the receiver position, which Fitterer and the Panthers may have dipped out on.
Fowler writes:
Wide receiver is a buzz-worthy position entering the deadline. People I’ve talked to believe the Colts, Packers, Panthers and Chiefs have at least monitored the receiver market in recent weeks, though Carolina, sitting at 0-6, might be out, and the Chiefs got their man in Hardman.
Some wideouts who may be available include Las Vegas’ Hunter Renfrow and Denver’s Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy. The Panthers were recently linked to Jeudy, as Benjamin Allbright of KOA Colorado reported that they were “sniffing around” on the former first-rounder.
But with little hope for a playoff push and little draft capital to play around with, Carolina probably won’t be buyers over the next week and a half.
If the Steelers are buying at the trade deadline, here are several interesting options.
With less than two weeks to the NFL trade deadline, rumors are starting to heat up about which players could be available as teams look to dump salary while others hope to add pieces for a playoff push.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are somewhere in between. Sitting at 3-2, the team is definitely in the mix to make the playoffs. In 2019, when all seemed lost after Ben Roethlisberger went down with a season-ending injury, Pittsburgh worked a huge trade for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick that worked out great.
Despite the struggles this team has had through five games, I firmly believe head coach Mike Tomlin and the front office feel like this is a competitive squad capable of winning the AFC North. This is why we believe the team will be buyers when the time comes. Especially if the team can find a way to beat the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday and improve to 4-2.
If the Steelers should go out and look to add a player or two, here are six potential options with Denver Broncos star cornerback Patrick Surtain II being the Fitzpatrick of this group.
Could the #Chiefs target any of these 11 receivers at the trade deadline?
The Kansas City Chiefs have a clear need to add another wide receiver to their roster, even after trading for two-time Super Bowl champion Mecole Hardman earlier this week.
Hardman is likely to be utilized as a gadget player, taking jet sweeps and quick screens in Andy Reid’s innovative offense. His value in the passing game will lie in his ability to be a field-stretcher that keeps opposing defenses honest and opens up room for guys like Travis Kelce and Skyy Moore over the middle.
While Kansas City may be content with their move for Hardman, the possibilities for additions at wide receiver may prove to be too enticing for Brett Veach to pass up on as he looks to shepherd the Chiefs to another Super Bowl victory.
Here are a few options that Veach could explore bringing in for Patrick Mahomes before The NFL trade deadline passes on October 31:
Raiders expected to trade WR Hunter Renfrow before deadline?
It wasn’t that long ago that Hunter Renfrow was one of the best slot receivers in the NFL. During the 2021 season, Renfrow caught 100 passes for over 1,000 yards as he helped lead the Raiders to the playoffs.
But through six games in 2023, Renfrow has just six catches for 59 yards. Against the Patriots, Renfrow didn’t even see a single target in the passing game. His lone contribution in the game was recovering the free kick by the Patriots to seal the game. At this point, it feels like a divorce is imminent.
In a recent article by Brad Spielberger of Pro Football Focus, he wrote about 15 players that could be traded before the deadline later this month. That list included Renfrow, who just doesn’t have a big role at all right now in Las Vegas. Here is a snippet of what Spielberger had to say about Renfrow and the potential of a midseason trade:
The Las Vegas Raiders have had phone calls centered on wide receiver Hunter Renfrow this season, and it’d be somewhat of a surprise if he isn’t moved before the Oct. 31 trade deadline.
Renfrow has two years remaining on the extension he signed in 2022 but no guarantees beyond this season. An acquiring team would take on a $3.61 million salary for the remainder of 2023 if they add Renfrow right before the deadline, which is a reasonable number.
If the Raiders do trade Renfrow, it won’t be for a lot. It’ll likely be a late-round pick swap that ends up being pretty meaningless. The Raiders just don’t have a role for Renfrow in the offense, especially since Tre Tucker is starting to play more snaps. It feels like Renfrow might only be on the roster for another game or two before he eventually gets moved.
With several NFL teams looking to sell before the trade deadline, these are the best landing spots for a select handful of potential trade targets.
It’s the middle of October, which means it is spooky season- for some teams more than others. With poor records and offensive production scarier than any Michael Myers or Jason Vorhees flick, multiple teams will be looking to sell at the October 31 trade deadline while potential contenders look to buy and make an even stronger run at a championship.
The following players are likely to get dealt, and I have the perfect spot for each of them.
Raiders WR Hunter Renfrow saw season-low 7 snaps Sunday with no targets
Early this season when Hunter Renfrow was seeing only a few snaps and not getting targeted much, it seemed like maybe he would eventually get more as he and Jimmy Garoppolo got used to each other. Or maybe the Josh McDaniels would suddenly realize he had a Pro Bowl slot receiver that he wasn’t utilizing.
That hasn’t happened.
In fact, Renfrow’s snaps have gone the other direction of late, leading to a season-low in snaps Sunday against McDaniels’s former team. You know, the one that had Pro Bowl slot receivers Wes Welker and Julian Edelman.
Renfrow’s snaps over the past five weeks have gone successively gone down. Beginning in Week 2 his snaps looked like this: 26 (65%), 37 (51%), 33 (45%). 19 (30%), and 7 (10%). And this week he was not targeted for the first time since the season opener.
Since Josh McDaniels is probably not going anywhere anytime soon, it’s probably time to trade Renfrow so he doesn’t just continue wasting away in McDaniels’s offense.
Could Raiders trade Pro Bowl WR Hunter Renfrow to Patriots?
The Raiders have added quite a few former Patriots to their roster over the last two years, including Jimmy Garoppolo, Brandon Bolden, and Jakobi Meyers. The list goes on and on with players like Duron Harmon, Chandler Jones, and Phillip Dorsett all spending time with the team.
But could there be a player for the Raiders who could eventually make the switch and go to the Patriots?
In a recent article by ESPN, Bill Barnwell suggested 15 trades that should get done before the NFL trade deadline. One move that he pondered was Pro Bowl slot receiver Hunter Renfrow heading to New England. Here is a snippet of why he believes a trade would make for both sides:
Renfrow appeared like the sort of player the Patriots could target when he entered the league, and after years of whiffing on wide receiver additions, they desperately need someone who can beat man coverage and give quarterback Mac Jones a reliable safety valve. Meyers was that player for the Pats in years past.
It does feel like a trade is possible as Renfrow has just six catches for 59 yards through five games. He is too good of a player to have a limited role like that and there are teams around the league that could use his services.
The Patriots will get a good look at Renfrow this weekend and with the two sides being so familiar with one another, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a trade eventually get worked out sooner rather than later.
PFF analyst Brad Spielberger named five ‘realistic’ trade targets for the WR-needy Panthers.
What the Carolina Panthers reportedly want at the wideout position and what they can realistically get may be two very different things. So, Pro Football Focus salary cap analyst Brad Spielberger tried to sort it all out.
Amidst talks of the Panthers potentially seeking out a swap for a “top-tier” receiver, Spielberger dished out some names who could be possible (and conceivable) trade targets. Putting aside the lofty ambitions for the likes of Tee Higgins, Brandon Aiyuk and Michael Pittman Jr., he named five “realistic” options—with Denver’s Jerry Jeudy at the top of the list.
Oh, and he also threw around the idea of using outside linebacker Brian Burns in a deal—opining that if the Panthers can’t come to an extension with the two-time Pro Bowler, then they might as well sell:
This is our pick for the most realistic and mutually beneficial trade option for all parties if Carolina wants to truly make a splash, while also perhaps adding draft capital instead of losing it, but that’s not to say we expect it. Jeudy has a very manageable $12.987 million 2024 fifth-year option, and Carolina would have the ability to either extend him off a strong half-season or see things through for another year.
Spielberger also named Jeudy’s teammate Courtland Sutton, Las Vegas’ Hunter Renfrow, Chicago’s Darnell Mooney and Arizona’s Marquise Brown.
