New England Patriots executive vice president of player personnel, Eliot Wolf, said the team would be willing to give up a first- or second-round pick in trades if it meant improving the team.
“Sure—just doing what’s best for the team,” he told reporters Monday. “If there’s a player out there that we feel like can help us and it costs that, then we would consider doing that.”
The quote comes as a number of big names around the NFL have uncertain futures with their current teams due to contract stand-offs.
Washington Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin, for one, has requested a trade. And the Cincinnati Bengals have made it clear they are willing to entertain offers for defensive end Trey Hendrickson as extension talks have yet again stalled.
The Patriots could use upgrades at both positions, though whether they are at the place in their rebuild to be giving up significant draft capital for the 29-year-old McLaurin or the 30-year-old Hendrickson is another question entirely.
There’s little doubt that quarterback Drake Maye would appreciate adding McLaurin to a receivers room that currently features Stefon Diggs, Mack Hollins and DeMario Douglas. And Hendrickson would immediately provide an upgrade off the edge.
Neither move, however, would suddenly turn the Patriots into a contender, and in the long term, drafting a young player in the early rounds who could be with the team for over a decade would probably be more beneficial than having McLaurin or Hendrickson during the latter stages of their primes.
So Wolf may be willing to give up a first- or second-round pick if it’s the right move for the organization, but that doesn’t mean that he would consider a deal for McLaurin or Hendrickson the right move.
It would be a different story entirely, however, if the Dallas Cowboys decided to trade 26-year-old Micah Parsons amidst very public extension negotiations. That would take quite a few early-round picks to get done, but Parsons is firmly in his prime years and the sort of ascendant superstar that every team would love to roster.
It would be easier to justify giving up major draft capital for another six or seven years of high-end play from Parsons than potentially only a handful from McLaurin or Hendrickson. But those will be decisions for Wolf to make.
