The New England Patriots made a business decision Tuesday, and it’s the kind of deal that shows why they’re consistently the best in the business.
The Patriots traded defensive end Chandler Jones to the Arizona Cardinals for a 2016 second-round draft pick and guard Jonathan Cooper, a former first-round selection.
The writing that Jones might not receive a second Patriots contract was on the wall last April, when New England selected pass rushers Geneo Grissom and Trey Flowers in the third and fourth rounds of the 2015 NFL Draft. Jones, linebackers Dont’a Hightower and Jamie Collins, cornerbacks Malcolm Butler and Logan Ryan and pass rushers Jabaal Sheard and Rob Ninkovich all will be free agents after the 2016 season, and it would be impossible to re-sign all of those defenders under the NFL salary cap.
Pass rushers — especially ones with double-digit sacks such as Jones — command much higher contracts than linebackers, so the Patriots likely knew they wouldn’t be able to extend him at a reasonable salary after this upcoming season. Hightower and Collins also are more valuable to the team than Jones. Sheard had fewer sacks than Jones in 2015, but he was more disruptive.
Jones had 12.5 sacks in 2015, but 10.5 of those came in his first nine games. Jones was productive, but he also was inconsistent.
It became even more obvious that the Patriots wouldn’t be able to extend Jones when they saw former Miami Dolphins pass rusher Olivier Vernon land a five-year, $85 million contract with the New York Giants this offseason. The cap is set to grow again next season, so Jones was likely due an even bigger contract.
The Patriots had two options: Let Jones play out his contract and receive a compensatory third-round pick in the 2018 draft, or trade him now and receive a second-round selection and a former first-round pick.
Regardless of how Jones plays for the Cardinals, if Cooper can stay healthy (it’s been an issue in the past) or whom the Patriots select with their second-round pick, this is a deal that makes sense. The Patriots were going to lose Jones eventually, and by doing so one year earlier, they moved up more than 30 spots in the draft. Now they’ll pick back-to-back at Nos. 60 and 61 overall next month.
The Patriots aren’t overly shallow at pass rusher for now, either. They have Sheard and Ninkovich to start and Grissom, Flowers, Rufus Johnson and Eric Martin as reserves. They also were scheduled to bring in veteran Chris Long for a workout and visit earlier this week, so they could look to add another pass rusher through free agency or the draft. The Patriots freed up over $5 million in cap space by pulling off the trade.
Jones was a talented player, but unless his 2016 season was an utter disaster, he likely would leave anyway. The Patriots were smart to let him go now rather than wait and receive lesser compensation.
Thumbnail photo via Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images
