What trading Joshua Uche to the Chiefs means for the Patriots

The Patriots parted ways with the former second-round draft pick ahead of the NFL trade deadline.

One day after making him a surprise healthy scratch, the New England Patriots have decided to trade outside linebacker Joshua Uche. The former second-round draft pick is headed to the Kansas City Chiefs in return for a 2026 sixth-round selection.

What does the move mean for the Patriots from a big picture perspective, though? Let’s assess.

Edge depth takes a hit

With Uche as the latest domino to fall, the Patriots’ outside linebacker group continues what is quite the transformation over the last three months. In fact, of the position’s projected core at the start of training camp only Anfernee Jennings remains on New England’s active roster.

The other three top edges, meanwhile, are all off the 53-man squad. Matthew Judon was traded to the Atlanta Falcons in October, followed by Uche to the Chiefs on Monday. Additionally, Oshane Ximines suffered a torn ACL in early September and is out for the rest of the 2024 season.

As a result of those departures, Jennings is now the top pure edge left on the team. The Patriots do have two more players on their practice squad — elevation candidate Ochaun Mathis and recently-signed Keshawn Banks — but they might actually try to take advantage of their personnel’s versatility to fill the void created by moving Uche.

Three players in particular stand out when it comes to bolstering the depth on the edge. Defensive linemen Keion White and Deatrich Wise Jr. have shown in the past that they can move around and kick out to the edge if need be; White in particular looks like a strong replacement for Uche given his pass rush abilities. In addition, off-ball linebackers Jahlani Tavai and Christian Elliss might also factor into the mix.

Ochaun Mathis a name to watch

The aforementioned Ochaun Mathis has become a factor along the Patriots’ edge over the last few weeks. A practice squad pickup in late August, the former Los Angeles Rams sixth-round draft pick has been elevated to the game day roster on three occasions so far — exhausting his elevation opportunities.

Mathis getting signed to the 53-man squad in light of the Uche trade would make sense for the Patriots.

Pass rush will look different

From a statistical perspective, Uche was in the middle of a relatively quiet 2024 season. Despite primarily serving as a designated pass rush specialist, he registered only two sacks in his seven in-game appearances so far.

However, that number does not quite tell the full story. For starters, he still ranked second on the team in sacks behind Keion White’s four, and also was second through seven games with 13 total quarterback pressures. Furthermore, he led New England in pass rush win rate (17.2%) among players with at least 20 rush attempts.

While replacing those numbers is not a monumental task, the fact is that New England’s pass rush already was at times nonexistent with Uche in the fold. With him now gone, things will likely not get much better unless somebody else — player or play caller — steps up.

Increased draft portfolio

As noted above, the Patriots received a sixth-round selection in the 2026 NFL Draft as compensation for Uche. While that is not a massive haul for a former second-round draft pick, it does give his now-former club more capital to work with.

The Patriots now own eight picks in the 2026 draft — their originally-slotted seven plus the Chiefs’ — plus nine in next year’s. Only seven of those selections are premium picks in the first three rounds, New England has some ammunition to either manipulate the board or add some quality players to a roster in serious need of them.

The Uche trade does not put New England in a position to suddenly make a big move; the draft is a crapshoot in all rounds but the odds of finding premier talent in the sixth are not great, to say the least. Still, more picks means more capital means more potential to invest either directly or indirectly.

Salary cap savings, for now

With Uche now off the Patriots’ roster, he also is off their books: Kansas City will absorb the remainder of his contract as part of the trade. This means New England stands to add some salary cap space.

All in all, the team will add just under $1 million to its books, according to salary cap expert Miguel Benzan: the rest of Uche’s $1.3 million base salary — $722,222.22 — plus eight likely-to-be-earned active roster bonuses totaling $240,000 will transfer to the Chiefs.

Obviously, though, those savings are fluid in nature. With Uche gone, the Patriots have an open roster spot to fill, which means another financial commitment.

Reduced 2020 draft class

Including Uche (2-60), the Patriots selected a total of 10 players in the 2020 NFL Draft. Of those, only three are left: safety Kyle Dugger (2-37), outside linebacker Anfernee Jennings (3-87), and offensive lineman Michael Onwenu (6-182) are the lone representatives of that draft class now.

All three are core members of the team and signed multi-year contract extensions in the offseason. They can definitively be classified as “hits” in that year’s draft — something that is not true for Uche and the other six ex-Patriots on that list.

Tight end Dalton Keene (3-101) and offensive tackle Justin Herron (6-195) are with the Houston Texans and New Orleans Saints now, respectively. Tight end Devin Asiasi (3-91), kicker Justin Rohrwasser (5-159), and linebacker Cassh Maluia (6-204) are all unsigned. Center Dustin Woodard (7-230), meanwhile, announced his retirement less than four months after getting drafted and his comeback attempt in 2021 was short-lived.

Open for business

Shipping Uche to Kansas City at the very least signals that the Patriots are open for business. And with the NFL trade deadline not coming up until Tuesday, Nov. 5 — clearly the biggest event on the calendar that day — there is still plenty of time for moves to be made.

Will any take place, though? That depends on multiple factors, but there is no denying the team has some potential candidates under contract.

Players such as wide receivers Kendrick Bourne, K.J. Osborn and Tyquan Thornton all could be moved, as could be defensive lineman Deatrich Wise Jr. or cornerback Jonathan Jones. At this point in time, they all remain with the Patriots, but nothing can be ruled out either.