The trade deadline comes Tuesday, and a guy who typically doesn’t have much to say about anything said plenty on Monday about the topic of trades.
Ultimately, however, Patriots coach Bill Belichick didn’t really say anything.
“I think this is a lot different than at the end of preseason when you’re coming into the 53 cut time,” Belichick told reporters on Monday regarding the possibility of trades. “You’re focused on your opening game, but you’re also focused on your roster and [so] is every other team. There’s a lot of player movement at that time, as there is, I’d say through the first few weeks of the season on every team. Whether it’s practice squad or roster moves or trades or signings or however it turns out.”
Eight weeks later, things have changed.
“You’re less inclined to give away guys that you have at this time of year than maybe what you are at the beginning of the year when you can’t keep them all and that type of situation,” Belichick said.
But that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.
“If the opportunity is right and there are some conversations at this time of year about that, if the circumstances are such that a team does have depth or there’s another reason they think they can help their team by making a move then -- I would just say those situations, those opportunities are a lot fewer than they were at the beginning of the year. It’s just a lot different than that,” Belichick said.
Still, the man who has made a few deadline deals in the past didn’t rule out the possibility of making one now.
“We’re focused on getting ready for Denver,” Belichick said. “Nick Caserio and his staff on the personnel end of it, if something comes along and it’s something that we think would be worth considering, then we’d talk about it, but I wouldn’t say that there’s real heavy back and forth communication throughout the league on big trades. I’d be surprised if that took place on any team. It’s just not that common this time of year. Could it happen? Yeah, there could be a couple trades. But it’s a lot different than what it is at the end of training camp.”
Belichick didn’t address the report that his team is looking for a running back, but that’s indeed the case. It remains possible, even if it’s not likely, that the Patriots will bolster their depth chart in the next 26 hours as the season inevitably approaches the stretch run.