The New England Patriots seemingly fooled the Green Bay Packers.
The Patriots and Packers were in discussions about a trade Thursday night during the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, former NFL general manager and NESN NFL analyst Michael Lombardi reported on his podcast, “The GM Shuffle.” Lombardi believes the Packers thought the Patriots were going to take Utah State quarterback Jordan Love at 23rd overall. Instead, the Patriots traded that pick to the Los Angeles Chargers for the 37th and 71st overall selections. The Packers wound up trading their 30th and 136th overall picks to the Miami Dolphins for the 26th selection to take Love.
“I think that once New England was on the phone with Green Bay talking about trading down, and then Green Bay pulled out at the last minute,” Lombardi said. “And because of that, I think that Green Bay kind of thought they were going to take Love, and New England wound up trading that pick to the Chargers who typically never trade anyway. And that’s when Green Bay got back onto it.”
It’s possible the Patriots wound up trading with the Chargers instead because they had a better offer on the table. The Packers could have offered the 30th overall pick, but adding in No. 94 overall probably wouldn’t have been enough to get the deal done. Receiving early second- and third-round picks makes a better offer on the trade value chart.
New England could still wind up taking a quarterback in the second or third round of the draft with five Day 2 picks.
