The Patriots swung a trade with the Eagles for Michael Bennett over the weekend, and that looks like a savvy move. Bennett will be with his third team the last three years, but it's mostly due to cap concerns that the Seahawks and now Eagles made him available (and maybe personality). But he fits a need for New England.
The Patriots will let pass rusher Trey Flowers walk in free agency, not inclined to pay him the big money some team will give him. That's long been their approach, trading away Chandler Jones a couple of years ago rather than pay him big bucks. It hasn't hurt their teams success, but even while winning two of the last three Super Bowls, they've struggled to find a pass rush.
Bennett is 33, but has at least 8.5 sacks in each of the last two seasons -- five of seven, as well. New England the last three years has averaged 35 sacks; bottom 3 a year ago and below average in two of those seasons.
TEAM SACKS, 2016-2018 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Team | '16 | '17 | '18 | Tot |
Pittsburgh | 38 | 56 | 52 | 146 |
Arizona | 48 | 37 | 49 | 134 |
Carolina | 47 | 50 | 35 | 132 |
Chicago | 37 | 42 | 50 | 129 |
Minnesota | 41 | 37 | 50 | 128 |
Washington | 38 | 42 | 46 | 126 |
Jacksonville | 33 | 55 | 37 | 125 |
Seattle | 42 | 39 | 43 | 124 |
Tennessee | 40 | 43 | 39 | 122 |
New Orleans | 30 | 42 | 49 | 121 |
Green Bay | 40 | 37 | 44 | 121 |
LA Rams | 31 | 48 | 41 | 120 |
Denver | 42 | 33 | 44 | 119 |
LA Chargers | 35 | 43 | 38 | 116 |
Philadelphia | 34 | 38 | 44 | 116 |
Baltimore | 31 | 41 | 43 | 115 |
Dallas | 36 | 38 | 39 | 113 |
Kansas City | 28 | 31 | 52 | 111 |
Atlanta | 34 | 39 | 37 | 110 |
Cincinnati | 33 | 41 | 34 | 108 |
Houston | 31 | 32 | 43 | 106 |
New England | 34 | 42 | 30 | 106 |
Detroit | 26 | 35 | 43 | 104 |
Buffalo | 39 | 27 | 36 | 102 |
San Francisco | 33 | 30 | 37 | 100 |
Tampa Bay | 38 | 22 | 38 | 98 |
Cleveland | 26 | 34 | 37 | 97 |
Indianapolis | 33 | 25 | 38 | 96 |
Miami | 33 | 30 | 31 | 94 |
NY Jets | 27 | 28 | 39 | 94 |
NY Giants | 35 | 27 | 30 | 92 |
Oakland | 25 | 31 | 13 | 69 |
I saw a comment after the trade that looked at it as New England adding a piece to make one last Super Bowl run. Last? No, this is what they do every year -- add pieces for cheap that will help them go to another Super Bowl. They'll do it with Bennett in 2019, and somebody else, most likely, in 2020.
--Andy Richardson