Welcome to the Friday Five!
Each week during the NFL regular season, I’ll drop five Patriots-related thoughts on Friday to recap the week that was in Foxboro and look ahead to kickoff.
Ready, set, football.
1. Trade talk
The Patriots will pull their bats out, but I don’t expect them to swing for the fences ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline.
Think bunts and singles. Maybe a double, if they can connect.
Mike Vrabel offered yet another reminder Wednesday he won’t rush his long-term vision for the franchise when asked about trading away players while the Patriots are on a five-game win streak.
“Again, I’ll remind you, we’re eight games into what we feel like is a program that we want to build, and we have to continue to find ways to improve, figure it out and get it right. And that’s all we’re trying to do,” he said. “Whether that’s having success early on in the season, midseason or after the trade deadline, whatever that may be, I think we just have to continue to take that approach.”
Translation: no matter how the season ends, this is still Year 1. The Pats are not pushing all their chips in for the 2025 season, something Vrabel has suggested dating back to the summer.
The front office did add draft capital upon shipping out safety Kyle Dugger and defensive lineman Keion White earlier this week. Adding extra sixth-round picks gives them no reason not to pad their depth at a premium position, like edge defender, or another group that’s lost depth, like running back and safety. But the sense I get is that speculated star additions, such as Eagles receiver A.J. Brown and Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson, are all pie in the sky.
The names to know are lower-level players like Titans defensive end Arden Key, possibly Saints wideout Rashid Shaheed, Giants running back Devin Singletary and others covered in this space a few weeks ago.
As much as I may want the Pats to take a shot at Dolphins edge rushers Bradley Chubb or Jaelan Phillips, and fans might feel their 6-2 start should compel the front office to rush to the negotiating table, the inverse may be true. Exceeding expectations thus far may, in fact, be their leverage, as they see it, when talking with other teams. The Patriots know they are not one player away from becoming perennial contenders, like the Chiefs, Lions and Eagles. But they are one offseason away if they keep all their bullets in the chamber, and hit their targets.
Then again, if a desperate team comes calling in the next few days, or the Saints, say, want to offer Chris Olave for something like a third-round pick, the Pats have to pull the trigger. In the meantime, expect them to sit patiently and wait for a pitch they like inside the zone.
2. The next Patriot traded?
New England Patriots linebacker Anfernee Jennings (33) leaves the field after an NFL preseason football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
New England Patriots linebacker Anfernee Jennings (33) leaves the field after an NFL preseason football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Almost three months ago, I reported the Patriots had made it known safety Kyle Dugger and outside linebacker Anfernee Jennings were available for trade.
Dugger is now gone, shipped to Pittsburgh in a pick-swap deal earlier this week. Jennings could be next.
The 2020 third-round pick is not viewed as an ideal scheme fit in Vrabel’s defense, and has been playing a limited role on that side of the ball. He’s taken just 79 snaps over five game appearances and tallied his first sack of the season in the fourth quarter of last Sunday’s blowout of the Browns. Jennings also has eight tackles.
The 28-year-old opened up about the possibility of getting traded Wednesday, less than 24 hours after Dugger and White, whose old locker was next to Jennings’, were dealt.
“I trust God,” Jennings said. “If I’m here or I’m there, I can’t control that. All I can do is control what I go out there and do, and how I go out and play, and how I interact with the guys on this team. You know, my goal is to win games, and create value for myself and for my teammates. So that’s all I can control.”
3. Unlocking the playbook
Zak Kuhr didn’t hold back.
What does Christian Gonzalez’s return to form do for him as the team’s defensive play-caller?
“A lot,” he said Thursday. “He’s a special guy, very talented, loves the game. You can tell he’s always in tune. And again, when you can get a guy that can really challenge in coverage, you don’t have to (devote) a lot of resources to that side. It kind of opens up your playbook, your call sheet, to get some other things done. He’s a huge value to this defense.”
More specifically, Kuhr confirmed he feels “better” about calling some riskier defenses, like man-blitzes and other pressures. Since Gonzalez returned in Week 4, the Patriots have finished one game with a blitz rate higher than 20%, and their highest topped out at 33% in New Orleans. Could that change Sunday versus Atlanta?
4. Family reunion
New England Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss #53 screams out in celebration during the first half of the pre-season game against the Carolina Panthers at Gillette Stadium. (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)
New England Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss #53 screams out in celebration during the first half of the pre-season game against the Carolina Panthers at Gillette Stadium. (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)
Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss has 11 siblings. One of them will be across the field when kickoff arrives Sunday.
Falcons linebacker Kaden Elliss is one of his three brothers with NFL experience. Kaden entered the league as a seventh-round pick of the Saints in 2019, then Christian went undrafted two years later. In Atlanta, Kaden Elliss has totaled 48 tackles and 1.5 sacks over seven starts. He was recently a topic of conversation in the Patriots’ linebacker room.
“I asked (Christian) today if he was gonna do a jersey swap,” Kuhr said Thursday. “And he said he was.”
In New England, Christian Elliss has rebounded from a slow start to the season thanks to some encouragement from defensive coordinator Terrell Williams, who has stepped away from his regular duties to fight prostate cancer. Christian has 48 tackles, a forced fumble and one pass deflection. His tackling and pass defense have both shown demonstrable improvement in recent weeks, just in time to face an explosive set of Falcons skill-position players.
Christian and Kaden have two other brothers with NFL experience: Jonah, a Broncos linebacker, and Noah, a former Eagles defensive tackle. Their father, Luther, is the defensive tackles coach at the University of Utah.
5. What if …
… the Falcons had hired Bill Belichick two years ago?
Can you imagine the circus we would all be living right now?
Sunday would be the noisiest regular-season game in New England since Tom Brady’s return with the Buccaneers in 2021. Possibly a primetime kickoff, too, knowing how the league loves to maximize its own drama. Belichick’s reception inside the stadium would be utterly fascinating, especially after Brady received a warm welcome pregame and then was properly booed once he took the field for his first drive.
How would Belichick be received? What would he say before and after the game? How many potshots would he take at the Krafts? Would they somehow, some way return fire?
We can only dream. In the meantime, his North Carolina Tar Heels live an almost daily nightmare at 2-5 with an unending stream of gossipy headlines and bad losses in a downtrodden ACC.
If only, if only.