New England Patriots coach Jerod Mayo called the trade deadline a “bunch of hype” during an appearance on “The Greg Hill Show” on Monday.
It would seem as if those comments were a strong foreboding of what was to come because the trade deadline came and went without so much as a peep from the Patriots.
There was an early report that multiple teams had called about veteran wide receiver K.J. Osborn, but a move never came to fruition. Osborn and Tyquan Thornton were widely viewed as the players most likely to be traded in New England, and both remain on the roster post-trade deadline.
The only move by the Patriots was shipping linebacker Joshua Uche off to the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for a 2026 sixth-round draft pick last week.
Outside of Uche, the Patriots weren’t buyers or sellers at the deadline. But that also doesn’t mean they were sitting on their thumbs and not looking for an opportunity to make a move.
It takes two to tango in a trade, and the Patriots might have been in a situation where the right players didn’t come available. As Mayo alluded to in his interview, it isn’t like teams are lining up looking to trade away their starting left tackle.
Players like that are hard to come by, and the Patriots will likely have to wait until free agency or the 2025 NFL draft to address that position. That doesn’t mean they can’t sign a current free agent, such as former Arizona Cardinals Pro Bowler D.J. Humphries, to help out in the present.
The Patriots are a rebuilding football team that should leave no stone unturned in their efforts to get better today. However, it’s also clear that the real legwork of the rebuild will come in the 2025 offseason.