The New England Patriots did a fair amount of wheeling and dealing both before and during the 2019 NFL season.
The most noteworthy Patriots trade probably was for Mohamed Sanu, who failed to live up to expectations upon coming over from the Atlanta Falcons. Not to be outdone, New England traded up in the 2019 draft to select punter Jake Bailey, who put together a fine rookie season, highlighted by a pair of Special Teams Player of the Week Awards. The Patriots also cut bait with tight end Jacob Hollister, who went on to become an important piece of the Seattle Seahawks offense in the second half.
There was one Patriots deal, however, that came and went without much recognition or impact. As such, ESPN is labeling the forgotten trade as the “most useless” of the 2019 season.
“The most useless trade of the season was when the Patriots acquired Russell Bodine from the Bills for a sixth-round pick,” Bill Barnwell writes. “He was cut after just seven days and didn’t land on another team in 2019.”
It’s tough to totally knock the Patriots for the Bodine deal, as it came less than a week after it was revealed starting center David Andrews would miss the entire season with a health issue. New England at the time had minimal depth at the position, and it would have been tough to predict Ted Karras filling in as well as he did.
The Patriots acted fast and it didn’t pan out. Such is life in professional sports.
