At 4-4, the New England Patriots are still in the AFC playoff chase. Nevertheless, they elected to stand pat before yesterday’s trade deadline.
The Patriots were not one of the teams who swung big during an unusually active deadline day. At the same time, they also didn’t unload any of the players already on their roster who were mentioned in trade rumors.
Asked on Wednesday how “close” his team was to making a deal, Bill Belichick gave one of his classic answers.
“I don’t even know what close means. What does that mean?” Belichick said, via ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “…I’ve had conversations that have gone on for months and nothing happened. I’ve had conversations for 6-10 minutes and a trade gets done.”
Elsewhere in the AFC East, the Dolphins and Bills loaded up at the trade deadline, while the Jets chose to hold steady, save for a minor move.
Belichick doesn’t appear to be dwelling on what anyone else did though.
“We’re done,” Belichick told reporters Wednesday. “Trade deadline’s over. That’s done. So, moving on.”
The Patriots only have around $2 million in salary cap space available, which probably played a role in preventing them from making any major trades.
They will now look to allocate that money for practice squad promotions and waiver moves.