{"id":236098,"date":"2025-06-08T15:00:35","date_gmt":"2025-06-08T19:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=236098"},"modified":"2025-06-08T08:04:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T12:04:16","slug":"patriots-cole-strange-find-new-life-with-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/06\/08\/patriots-cole-strange-find-new-life-with-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Admit the Mistake&#8221; &#8211; Patriots First-Round Bust Could Find New Life With Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Things are not looking good for former first-round pick Cole Strange, and one analyst believes the New England Patriots could trade him in the coming weeks. Widely projected to be a third- or fourth-round pick, former head coach Bill Belichick surprised everyone when he took the Chattanooga product with the 29th-overall pick in the 2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-draft\/\" target=\"_self\">NFL Draft<\/a>. Unfortunately, consensus appears to have been right, as Strange has never come close to justifying his first-round draft capital. After missing most of 2024, early practice reports indicate he&#8217;s <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MikeReiss\/status\/1931080015912808643\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">losing reps<\/a> to career journeyman Wes Schweitzer.<\/p>\n<p>Because of this, Strange appears to be the odd man out in New England, especially since the current regime has no ties to the former first-round pick. With this in mind, <a  href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/25201198-1-player-each-nfl-team-should-consider-trading-2025-season\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Bleacher Report<\/em>&#8216;s Gary Davenport<\/a> believes the team could shop Cole Strange and see what his trade market looks like. While he never should have been a first-round pick, he could find success with a more stable organization.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Strange isn&#8217;t going to beat out veteran <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2019\/03\/17\/garrett-bradbury-2019-nfl-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_self\">Garrett Bradbury at center<\/a>, and his days in New England appear to be numbered,&#8221; Davenport writes. &#8220;If that&#8217;s the case, the Pats&#8217; best bet may be to admit the mistake, get what they can, and give Strange a fresh start somewhere else.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_236101\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-236101\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-236101\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Patriots-Cole-Strange-Trade-1024x643.jpg\" alt=\"Patriots Cole Strange Trade\" width=\"640\" height=\"402\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Patriots-Cole-Strange-Trade-1024x643.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Patriots-Cole-Strange-Trade-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Patriots-Cole-Strange-Trade-768x482.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Patriots-Cole-Strange-Trade-1536x965.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Patriots-Cole-Strange-Trade-2048x1287.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-236101\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jan 1, 2023; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots guard Cole Strange (69) hold off Miami Dolphins defense in the first half at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>REPORT: Patriots Could Trade Cole Strange After Disappointing Tenure<\/h2>\n<h3>Next Teams<\/h3>\n<h4>Baltimore Ravens<\/h4>\n<p>The Baltimore Ravens have one of the league&#8217;s best rosters, and the offensive line is a big part of that strength. Ronnie Stanley and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/04\/18\/roger-rosengarten-2024-nfl-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_self\">second-round pick Roger Rosengarten<\/a> are a fantastic tackle duo, and center Tyler Linderbaum is one of the game&#8217;s premier players at his position. However, the left and right guard spots are major question marks the team must resolve before the start of the regular season. Cole Strange won&#8217;t make anyone forget about Marshal Yanda, but the trade candidate could upgrade an already dangerous offensive line.<\/p>\n<h4>Cincinnati Bengals<\/h4>\n<p>The Cincinnati Bengals have an elite trio of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/05\/22\/cincinnati-bengals-beat-joe-burrows-next-steps\/\" target=\"_self\">Joe Burrow, Ja&#8217;Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins<\/a>. However, they must do something to ensure Burrow stays upright and alive throughout the 2025 season. The Bengals have one of the league&#8217;s worst offensive lines and desperately need someone to step up at guard. With the NFL Draft done and all the good free agents already signed, a Cole Strange trade could be the best option for a team with Super Bowl aspirations and the offensive firepower to win any game in a shootout.<\/p>\n<h4>Kansas City Chiefs<\/h4>\n<p>The Kansas City Chiefs traded Joe Thuney and could effectively replace one former Patriots guard with another. Cole Strange will never match Thuney&#8217;s elite level of play, but the trade target could provide some much-needed competition at the left guard spot. After a disastrous rookie season at left tackle, 2024 <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/03\/04\/kingsley-suamataia-2024-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_self\">second-round pick Kingsley Suamataia<\/a> has the inside track for the vacated left guard position. Maybe he&#8217;s up for the challenge, but Kansas City should invest in a proven veteran who can start in case the BYU product isn&#8217;t ready for a full-time role.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo: Paul Rutherford &#8211; Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After declining his fifth-year option, the New England Patriots could look to trade former first-round pick Cole Strange<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":236102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,10,7,16,5],"tags":[7811,10168,7394,7638],"class_list":["post-236098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-ravens","category-bengals","category-chiefs","category-patriots","tag-chiefs-featured","tag-cole-strange","tag-new-england-patriots-news","tag-ravens-featured"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236103,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236098\/revisions\/236103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}