New England Patriots: Why Marcus Cannon trade looks poor in retrospect

The New England Patriots traded right tackle Marcus Cannon for a fifth-round pick. In light of neglecting to draft a legitimate tackle, it could backfire.

In a “brilliant article” a month or so ago, this writer suggested it was a good idea. Now after the draft, it doesn’t look quite so good after all.

In fact, it could turn out to be a disaster. Here’s a blurb from that babble,

In addition to the swapping of picks, another ancillary and very positive outcome of the trade will be to free up an additional $6.3M or so on the cap for New England. The Pats already has lots of cap space to spend on free agents if they are so inclined. This adds to that total.

The big problem with this is that New England neglected to add a top young offensive tackle either in free agency or in the draft, though that suggestion went unwritten in that missive.

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It was a mistake by this writer and the Patriots. The writer would have so drafted. The Patriots passed.

Now Cannon was a very steady and reliable player for New England for almost a decade. And yes, the Patriots did glean that $6M plus in trading him. Fair point.

New England used that fifth-round pick to draft Cameron Mcgrone from Michigan an outside linebacker. As Bob Ryan would say, he may turn out to be “a nice player”.

One draft publication surprisingly had him graded as a second-round pick. He’s a typically “non-Patriots” outside backer who is smaller and probably faster. A change of direction, for certain.

But he ain’t a young offensive tackle. And that’s wherein the problem lies. In fact, the New England Patriots neglected to draft a true tackle at all in the draft.

They had a golden opportunity to snag the same in the second round of the draft. Excellent prospects were available. Instead, they traded up for a defensive tackle, Christian Barmore.

New England Patriots second-round pick Christian Barmore maybe not so good a pick and very costly

Now Christian Barmore is seemingly quite a good player who can ostensibly provide an inside pass rush that frankly didn’t exist on the New England squad last season. OK.

Yet, the fact of the matter is the Patriots did not need another defensive tackle and their draft picks at that position have been truly woeful.

Really bad. In addition, they loaded up on that same position in free agency. Questionable, for sure.

So, the Barmore pick, while potentially a very good one was not a need at all. It didn’t make very much sense whatsoever from an overall team construction viewpoint.

In addition, the Patriots sent two fourth-round picks along with their own 46th pick to move up only eight spots to take Barmore. Trey Flowers, a Super Bowl hero was a fourth-round pick.

If this was a “best player available” pick, it shows why that approach is faulty except very late in the draft. Patriots fans have to hope that Barmore is more Vince Wilfork than Dominique Easley.

If not, it’s another wasted three picks. And, it will have left them dangerously thin at offensive left tackle.

And that is a much more important and significant position on the Patriots and for that matter on any other NFL team than defensive tackle unless your name is Aaron Donald.

Now that previous article postulated that with the trade for Trent Brown and the presence of Isaiah Wynn and last year’s right tackle rookie phenom and starter, Michael Onwenu, that Cannon was essentially expendable. He wasn’t.

The fact is that both Brown (who is a great personal favorite) and Wynn are both susceptible to injury if not injury-prone. The likelihood of injury to either or both is way up there on the scale.

Wynn only played 10 games for New England last season. Brown had much worse availability. He only played five games for Las Vegas last season.

In light of this fragility, it was imperative that the Patriots select a young tackle of sufficient quality that he could step right into the starting lineup. Yet, they punted.

The New England Patriots had a clear imperative to go early and often for both a young tackle (and guard, as well. Remember, Joe Thuney has flown the coup.).

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So now, barring a trade(s) for any unwanted or redundant player(s) at a loaded position for someone else’s similar player(s) who happens to be a young offensive tackle (and guard), the Patriots are in a precarious position.

The most important unit on the team is flawed. If injuries occur, and they always seem to, they could once again be out-to-lunch with Cam Newton scrambling for his safety like last season.

What looked like a reasonable and sensible trade a month ago, in light of free agency and the draft, doesn’t look so wonderful now. That’s how fast things can change in the NFL.

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