The New England Patriots don’t have many holes on their roster. They have the greatest quarterback of all-time in Tom Brady, five starting-caliber linebackers, a star-studded secondary, and a deep group of edge rushers. However, they could use some help at left tackle. Isaiah Wynn and Yodny Cajuste are both coming off serious injuries, and the Patriots could add some insurance by trading for Trent Williams.
Williams is holding out from training camp and publicly stated that no amount of money will make him come back to Washington. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Williams is furious with the training staff over the handling of a cancer scare in 2018. If Williams is true to his word, Washington will eventually have to trade him, and the Patriots would be a perfect fit.
Trent Williams, New England Patriots A Perfect Match
The Blindside Problem
For the second year in a row, the Patriots lost their left tackle to a record-setting contract in free agency. After Nate Solder departed following the 2017 season, the Patriots traded for Trent Brown as a one-year stopgap. Brown did his job, starting all 19 games for the Super Bowl champions. While he wasn’t David Bakhtiari, Brown provided consistent protection for New England’s 41-year old quarterback. The Oakland Raiders rewarded Brown’s season with a record-setting contract, leaving New England looking for a blindside protector for the second straight year.
The Patriots have two interesting options in Isaiah Wynn and Yodny Cajuste. New England took Wynn in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft to be the left tackle of the future. While he’s relatively undersized for the position, he played tackle at a high level in college against top competition. Cajuste, meanwhile, looked like one of the top tackle prospects in the nation when healthy. However, Cajuste battled a variety of injuries during his collegiate tenure, causing his draft stock to plummet.
In a perfect world, these two would represent a perfect solution at left tackle. However, neither player has played an NFL snap and both are coming off serious injuries. Wynn tore his Achilles in the 2018 preseason and is still building up to full strength. Cajuste, meanwhile, suffered a quad injury prior to the NFL Draft and is currently on the Non-Football Injury list. Both players carry a significant amount of risk, which is bad news when they’re responsible for protecting a 42-year-old quarterback.
How Trent Williams Fits With the 2019 Patriots
This is where Trent Williams comes in. Williams is about as safe as you can get at left tackle, as he’s made every Pro Bowl since 2012. While he’s taken a minor step back from his glory days, he remains one of the five or 10 best tackles in the game. He’s played in 10 or more games in each year of his career and should have a few more seasons left in his tank.
In the short term, Williams could be the left tackle while Wynn and Cajuste adjust to the NFL level. However, injuries are inevitable, and adding Williams to the fold creates a deeper and better offensive line. Wynn has the ability to play guard and tackle, so New England should have five sure-fire stars and another two or three starting-caliber backups. There’s no such thing as too many good offensive linemen, especially when your quarterback is playing at an advanced age.
Finding a Potential Trade Package and Making Money Work
Here comes the hard part. Acquiring Trent Williams would require New England to part ways with a draft pick and create enough cap space to take on his contract. According to Over the Cap, Williams would carry an $11.2 million cap hit if traded to the Patriots. As of this posting, New England only has $7,490,353 in cap space, according to @patscap.
Let’s start by looking at a potential trade package. Williams is a borderline-elite talent at one of the game’s most important positions. Regardless of salary, the Patriots will need to part with some of their assets if they’re to bring Williams to Foxboro.
The easiest way to come to terms is by dealing draft picks. Thanks to a series of trades, the Patriots currently have 14 picks in the 2020 NFL Draft, including five in the first three rounds. New England could easily part with their first-round selection and still have plenty of draft capital in 2020. Conversely, Washington would probably accept a young, cost-controlled player like J.C. Jackson and a third-round pick if New England wanted to keep their first-round selection.
Of course, the Patriots also need to find the money to stay under the salary cap. New England needs to create roughly $4 million in cap space just to afford Williams, and they’d probably want more space than that in case they have to sign somebody else in the wake of an injury.
It wouldn’t be easy, but the Patriots should be capable of creating that space. New England already started creating cap space earlier in the week when they restructured Marcus Cannon‘s contract. Additionally, the team could create additional space by extending Tom Brady and Kyle Van Noy. If that’s not enough, the Patriots could also free up almost $2 million in cap space by releasing Elandon Roberts.
