Patriots Rumors: Trades, Deflategate, Workouts

As the Nov. 3 trade deadline nears, the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin examines some veterans floundering teams should be looking to deal.

Mentioning Steve Smith, Haloti Ngata, Anquan Boldin and Chad Henne among those who would generate value, Volin focused on some players who’d further strengthen the Patriots.

Chiefs cornerback Sean Smith‘s in a contract year and one of several of the team’s defensive stalwarts, such as Tamba Hali, Derrick Johnson and Eric Berry, under that circumstance.

Volin insists the Pats should “do whatever they can” to acquire Smith from Kansas City, pointing to the former Dolphin’s talent, the Pats’ penchant for coaxing strong play out of players deemed character risks and the Chiefs saving $2.25MM by moving Smith early. The 28-year-old corner missed three games this season due to a DUI-induced suspension.

The Buccaneers would also make a convenient trading partner for the Pats, and Volin notes Logan Mankins — who the team traded away for since-jettisoned Tim Wright last year — has only $3.5MM remaining on his deal for the rest of this season and would help repair the team’s injury-plagued offensive front.

Here are some more items from New England:

• The NFL hired former United States solicitor general Paul Clement to aid in its appeal of Judge Richard Berman’s Deflategate ruling, and it indicates an enhanced effort to win the latest saga that’s pitted the league against the NFLPA, Volin writes. Per the New York Times, Clement will be a likely supreme court nominee if a republican wins the White House in 2016, so it represents another expensive example of the lengths both sides will go to win this case. “Stripped of all of the surrounding stuff, this case is still about the commissioner’s authority, not about deflated footballs. It certainly explains why they called in the heavy artillery,” Suffolk University law professor and arbitrator Mark Greenbaum told Volin.
• The Patriots worked out tight ends Bear Pascoe and Steve Maneri, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (on Twitter). The duo has a combined 10 years of experience, with Pascoe, a 29-year-old blocking tight end/fullback, having started 34 games for the Giants and Falcons from 2009-14. The 27-year-old Maneri’s started 10 games since 2011 and made a single-game appearance for the Patriots last season.