What Bill Belichick Said About Patriots’ Trade Deadline Approach
Bill Belichick was unsurprisingly tight-lipped when asked how the Patriots plan to approach Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline.
New England’s head coach fielded questions about the looming deadline during his Monday morning appearance on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” and a subsequent video conference with reporters.
“I don’t know, we just got back from the game last night,” Belichick said on WEEI. “We’ll regroup here today and see where things are at. …
“Every situation’s different. It takes two people to make a trade. It would have to work out for both teams, whichever teams those are.”
Sitting at 2-6 after Sunday’s road loss to the Miami Dolphins, it would be logical for the Patriots to be deadline sellers, flipping players for draft capital as they begin to shift their focus to 2024.
Possible internal trade candidates include linebacker Josh Uche, safety Kyle Dugger, offensive linemen Mike Onwenu and Trent Brown, tight ends Mike Gesicki and Hunter Henry, running back Ezekiel Elliott and safety Jalen Mills, all of whom are in contract years. Wide receiver Kendrick Bourne also looked like a potential trade before he tore his ACL on Sunday.
Belichick did say he “absolutely” would like Dugger would like to stay with the Patriots long-term, but that comment didn’t rule out the possibility of a trade.
“I’ll talk to our guys in the personnel department and see if there’s anything to talk about,” said Belichick, who has final say on all Patriots personnel matters as the team’s de facto general manager. “I don’t know if there is or isn’t. We’ll see how it goes.”
The trade deadline is Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET.