5:14pm: The teams have agreed to a revised trade. The Rams are sending the Patriots a 2022 sixth-round pick and a 2023 fourth-rounder for Michel, The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue tweets. This certainly makes for a less complicated trade package, and the Rams could end up netting a compensatory pick — depending on Michel’s potential free agency path next year.
8:53am: The Patriots have agreed to trade running back Sony Michel to the Rams in exchange for two late-round conditional draft picks (Twitter link via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com). The Patriots will get a fifth-rounder and sixth-rounder that combines and converts to a fourth-rounder when/if the Rams get a fourth-round compensatory pick (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). 
In essence, it’s Michel — a former-first round pick — in exchange for a fourth round selection. As New England’s 2018 first-rounder (No. 31 overall), Michel showed promise in his rookie year. He collected 981 yards from scrimmage and six touchdowns in 13 regular season games, and he added another six scores during the Patriots’ run to a championship. Michel’s overall stats went up a bit in 2019 thanks to him appearing in three more games, but his yards per carry dropped from 4.5 (2018) to 3.7 (2019). Michel spent much of the 2020 campaign on the IR and COVID list, finishing with a career-low 563 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns.
The Patriots declined his fifth-year option, so he’s on course for free agency in 2022. Now, the Rams get Michel — who is still only 26 years old — in a prove-it year. It’s hard to see Michel as a three-down back in the NFL, but the Rams see ample upside here, especially with Cam Akers sidelined for the year.
The Pats, meanwhile, will move forward with 2019 third-rounder Damien Harris as their starter, James White as their pass-catching specialist, and new rookie Rhamondre Stevenson in support. J.J. Taylor and veteran special teams player Brandon Bolden are also vying for time and the Patriots weren’t going to carry more than five RBs.
Michel will earn $1.79MM this year as he looks to reinvent himself in Los Angeles. For now, he’ll likely slot in behind Darrell Henderson Jr. as the Rams’ RB1 with support from youngster Xavier Jones and rookie Jake Funk.
Didn’t see this coming
Literally everyone in Boston did.
Saw this tweet on BR. Helps to have a HoF QB masks those problems. Wonder why Tom was getting frustrated up there?
‘Patriots now have five homegrown first-round picks left on their roster: S Devin McCourty, LB Dont’a Hightower, WR N’Keal Harry, OL Isaiah Wynn and QB Mac Jones.
That’s just 3 from the last 9 draft classes.
How frustrating it must have been to win 6 SBs and have a roster that was perennially set up to make a run. Tom is the man but he doesn’t have that level of consistency without Bill’s philosophy. I’m glad Tom is winning in Tampa but that franchise is mortgaging its future for success in ‘20 and ‘21. Bill has always planned for present and future in a way no one else ever could/did.
I’m a Patriots fan, and what you wrote makes no sense. Bill can’t draft, plain and simple. If he could, there wouldn’t have been the huge drop off after Brady that there has been. Kraft even said it after they spent all the money this off-season. He said if they had drafted better then they wouldn’t have had to spend that money.
Bill can’t draft? Maybe not in the first or second. But his later round picks are better than most. It’s a bit premature to say that.
They went 7-9 last year with one of the worst offenses in the league, which was expected because of the salary cap crunch they were in at the end of 2019 and not having Brady anymore. You talk like they went 2-14 or something.
Joe Thuney, Jerod Mayo, Edelman, Gronk, Nate Solder, Hightower, Collins, James White, Trey Flowers and I could keep going
He should have a list of good picks for all the drafts hes done. All coaches have some
It also significantly helped to have a top tier QB that didn’t demand to take up the vast majority of their cap.
That was a HUGE REASON the Patriots were ALWAYS able to fill in any positions that Bill saw them lacking. It also helped with the style of players Bill always brought in, bringing in players that could either be used in a variety of ways using their versatility, and/or he’d bring in lesser known guys that weren’t necessarily great all-around players, and he’d mix and match his personnel using their best strengths to his advantage!!
Agree with the fact the TB12 left money in the table so Bill could fill out the roster.
I’ll take the bet that Tom has a better record than Bill this year (again). Up for it?
Negative. But the Pats will have a better record over the next three years than the Bucs will. More playoff wins over the next 5 and as many or more Super Bowls over those 5 years.
LOL
If the insulation with that last comment is that the Patriots have bombed on 6 of those 9 1st round picks, it’s important to note that in 4 of those drafts they didn’t have a 1st round pick. So in actuality, they still have 3 of 5 first round picks from the last 9 years on their roster
*insinuation
3 out of 6 if we’re counting the last 9 draft classes as 2013-2021 (Wynn, Harry, Mac Jones). 3 out of 7 if we’re counting the last 9 draft classes as 2012-2020 (Hightower, Wynn and Harry, but it should be noted that Chandler Jones was a hell of a #1 that they traded).
Another fantastic Belichick selection……
Pats probably don’t win the SB in 2019 without him but who cares about history when you can make a negative comment based on your prerogative right?
LOL you’re telling me a running back who was gona after three seasons is a good pick? What next is Nkeal Harry good too?
No, soxfan1’s only telling you that without Michel gaining 336 yards and six TD’s on the ground over three playoff games, including the Super Bowl, the Patriots probably don’t win SB LIII. That’s all. Not that Michel was a good pick, just that he put together a hell of a playoff run that got the Pats their 6th Lombardi Trophy.
I bet you’ve never heard of Chuck Mercein. Most football fans haven’t. Mercein was a 3rd round draft pick by the Giants, the 31st overall selection, in the 1965 draft, and he ended up gaining only 531 rushing yards and 4 rushing TD’s over five years as a pro. Failed draft pick, right? Except on the final game-winning drive of the famous Ice Bowl between the Packers and the Cowboys that would send the Pack to the first Super Bowl, Chuck Mercein picked up half of the Packers yards, and he ended up being the unsung hero of the game, and mainly remembered for it.
Sony Michel is a modern-day Chuck Mercein, except he was the guy for three games, not one drive. A failed draft pick who stepped up for a crucial playoff run.
I watched that game, I was 8. That drive was destiny. It was so cold and field was so frozen Packers hadn’t done anything in second half. That game led to Packers installing the heat coils under field.
They got a couple of productive years out of him. Remember, the Pats aren’t running a single back back there. For the last few seasons, they’ve had at least three players (sometimes four) see significant carries in a season (for instance, Michel, Burkhead, Harris, and White). I’m not saying that Michel was a great pick.
I though it was off that the Patriots took an at best above average back who was never a starter and tried to make him a between the tackles starter as a pro. But even with all that, you won’t see the Pats with a thousand yard bellcow for a while at least. Michel’s totals aren’t really the story, because the Pats run a platoon. Was he a good pick? No. Was he a bust? I wouldn’t say that.
Sony is a decent back. They can’t all be Henry, Cook or Kamara.
You can do a lot worse than Sony Micheal.
Nick Chubb was his running mate in Georgia and was drafted in the 2nd round. He’s better
Still waiting for the Browns to win something.
Don’t worry, they won’t.
How many Super Bowls has he been integral to? That’s kind of all that matters. Michelle carried them in that playoff run and scored the only TD in the Super Bowl. But hey, Chubb is racking up 1400 yard seasons on the Browns who are still not going to win anything because their defense is mediocre.
First pick in second round. Chubb would have been a top ten pick but he had a knee injury coming out of college.
Seahawks drafted R Penny before both and he has been a bust.
“You can do a lot worse than Sony Micheal”.
You mean like leaving Lamar Jackson on the board?
Who didn’t pass on Lamar? (32nd pick)
I’m surprised Rams had picks left to trade. Rams going all in to win a SB. If not who get fired?
How many rings do Lamar and Chubb have combined? How about Sony?
Y’all can’t pretend that either are mutually exclusive. What matters is this: did you do your job when you were supposed to? Michel did, in getting them to a championship. Chubb certainly did by running for great totals. Chubb is very probably individually better. But Michel came through in a clutch time, so he deserves credit. We can recognize the individual merits of their accomplishments.
One thing we really need to consider is that the players would probably not be the same having gone somewhere else. Lamar Jackson went to a team that was willing to hire a specific offensive coordinator and draft pieces and sign others to completely change their team to build around him. Would NE have done that? Or Cleveland? Or anyone else? Draft hindsight is never, ever helpful.
Once again Belichick the GM does little to help Belichick the head coach.
Even better than Phillips Edwad or RCA Willam.
The Rams need to run the ball to be an effective offense. when you get pass happy it causes losses even with the better teams. My Research pretty much proves it unless you have certain guys at QB who can overcome that. Every team Stafford played on in Detroit was pretty much pass happy 60% or more pass plays a game. The Rams did have at one time Todd Gurley who also went to Georgia.