Patriots Trade Rumors: Latest On New England’s Deadline Plans

With the Oct. 31 NFL trade deadline under a week away, we still have no idea what the Patriots will do. And they might not know, either.

Will New England, at 2-5, accept reality and sell off assets to kick-start a rebuild? Or did last Sunday’s win over the Buffalo Bills convince Bill Belichick his team still could be a contender? Could the Patriots thread the deadline needle as both a buyer and a seller?

Ultimately, that can likely will be kicked to next week, when the Patriots either will be 3-5 or 2-6 after a road game against the Miami Dolphins.

Nevertheless, The Athletic’s Jeff Howe on Thursday offered new reported insight into New England’s deadline plans.

“The 2-5 New England Patriots are a wild card,” Howe wrote. “Based on their activity with other teams, opposing executives can’t figure out if they’re tilting more in the direction of buyers or sellers. But it does appear the Patriots are laying the groundwork to do … something.”

If the Patriots decide to sell, they have a crop of talented, pending free agents who could be appealing to other teams.

Kendrick Bourne, Mike Onwenu, Josh Uche, Jalen Mills and Kyle Dugger all come to mind. Some people even think a Mac Jones trade could be possible.

The good news is we don’t have to wait much longer to find out how Belichick and New England’s top decision-makers truly feel about the state of the franchise.