New England Patriots: Trade for top wide receiver is key to offseason

A New England Patriots trade for a top-flight wide receiver is the key to the rest of the offseason being as successful as the earlier part.

There has been loads of talk and speculation about the Patriots considering a trade for Julio Jones the All-World wide receiver from Atlanta.

This space has written that such a trade makes perfect sense for this New England team at this time, in this particular offseason, and that opinion has not changed one iota.

Yet, before getting to that, let’s just say that it could be the great Jones or maybe it could be another top receiver, the keyword is a “top” receiver. Any trade by New England for that level of receiver is what is being discussed and what is being proposed here.

If it’s Jones, that’s terrific and the cost in draft picks, etc. should not be a prohibitive factor for New England on this one. If not Jones, the team should go elsewhere to the team that may have drafted one or two receivers and who may be willing to part with a top receiver to accumulate assets for the future.

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This team has moved super-aggressively in free agency to add pieces that were missing in last season’s deficient squad. That included deficiencies on offense and defense.

Worse was perhaps the offense, which put Cam Newton in a totally untenable position. It needed the infusion there the most. It got it, but that did not include a top wide receiver.

Two pretty good ones were brought in but not a No. 1 receiver.

The 2020 version of the New England Patriots is obviously built to win, now. If it takes a number one pick to get the missing piece, a top wide receiver, it’s worth the cost. Just do it.

The New England Patriots should take a cue from Buffalo last offseason

Anyone who doesn’t think a trade like that can be effective needn’t look very far for a terrific example. Look to the Buffalo Bills in 2020. Buffalo was and is still a team on the rise.

They are now very, very good and the best in the AFC East as they have displaced the Patriots who had a virtual lock on that top spot for almost two decades.

Prior to the 2020 season, a good Buffalo team took a major step to become a much better team by trading for a top wide receiver. It was a very, very good trade, In fact, it was a super trade.

That receiver from Minnesota was Stefon Diggs. He was in his prime at 26 years old and had had two seasons in his five in Minnesota where he went for more than 1,000 yards.

That’s a top receiver. The Bills paid the price to get him. Here’s what it cost,

"In March 2020, the Bills acquired wide receiver Stefon Diggs in a trade with the Minnesota Vikings.The Bills gave up first-, fifth- and sixth-round picks in last year’s draft and a fourth-round pick in this year’s draft. The Bills also got a seventh-round pick last year that they used to select Pittsburgh defensive back Dane Jackson."

It cost that first-round pick plus and was worth all of it. Here’s what the Bills got in return for those picks. Diggs racked up 1,535 yards on 127 receptions. He added eight touchdowns to those amazing totals.

The result? Buffalo went from a good team to a very, very good team and a division winner which dethroned New England from that top spot in the AFC East and hosted a playoff game.

Ironically, the Patriots had been linked to Diggs as they have now been to Jones and to others over the years, but, evidently, if the cost was high, they passed. Those were big mistakes.

They were even worse mistakes when they had the greatest quarterback who has ever played the game and they are still mistakes now when they have a good quarterback and a team perhaps ready to get back to winning ways.

Yet, that was then and this is now. It says here that the Patriots should put on the table whatever it takes to either get Jones or another top receiver. Send out a first-round pick plus, whatever.

That might just be enough to get this franchise back to relevance and competitiveness. It seems clear that the massive expenditure of Bob Kraft’s cash in free agency points to that objective and so does a draft that actually made sense for a change.