Patriots left ‘jaded’ by rival backing out of draft day trade

The Patriots were close to completing a trade with the Buffalo Bills that would have allowed New England to move back into the first round of the draft, according to NFL Media’s Cameron Wolfe.

The Patriots reportedly had their eyes on a pair of receivers, according to Wolfe, who recently appeared on CLNS Media’s Patriots Daily podcast.

“They tried to get back into the first round,” Wolfe said. “They were trying, they made calls for a few different picks and they thought they had something at No. 32 with the Bills. The Bills had just traded back with the Chiefs from 28 to 32 and they wanted to get to 32.

“They had Xavier Legette and Keon Coleman graded pretty similarly on their board,” Wolfe added. “I don’t know exactly which one they would have taken at 32, but those were their top two receivers on the board at that time.”

Buffalo ended up trading the pick, but not to the Patriots. The Bills picked the Panthers as a trade partner instead, receiving No. 33 overall as well as a fifth and a sixth-rounder from Carolina.

This did not go over well with the Patriots, according to Wolfe.

“I talked to someone with the Patriots who felt a little jaded,” Wolfe said. “Because they thought that they had a sort of, on paper, close to agreement with the Bills, and they believe that agreement was kind of shopped to the Panthers.”

Wolfe said these kinds of things happen all the time and that it shouldn’t be taken as a slight against the Patriots.

He mentioned the relationship between Panthers GM Dan Morgan and Bills GM Brandon Beane. Beane had spent nearly two decades with Carolina, and Morgan played for the team before stepping into the front office. Morgan also worked with Beane in Buffalo as a director of player personnel.

The Bills also got to pull off the trade without helping out a division rival, Wolfe said.

“You hear all the time, ‘Hey, we got the guy we wanted, he was going to be our pick no matter what,’” Wolfe said. “That wasn’t the case here. The Patriots would have loved to have Keon Coleman or Xavier Legette and it did not work that way.”

The Patriots ended up trading back before selecting Ja’Lynn Polk, who was the next receiver on their board, Wolfe said. Then they used the additional fourth-rounder they gained to select Javon Baker.

“They essentially double-dipped,” Wolfe explained. “Getting Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker for what it would have cost to get Xavier Legette or a Keon Coleman. So, as you track this for the years to come, it’s going to be Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker versus one of those two receivers. Is the combined effort of those two players more valuable for that?”