Patriots Named As Trade Partner For $230 Million Mac Jones Replacement

The New England Patriots may want to move players around after the season. If Patriots head coach Bill Belichick wants to trade Mac Jones away, he is probably already looking for a potential trade partner.

Jeff Howe from The Athletic discussed one option for the Patriots and it involves Kyler Murray. Several NFL teams need a boost at quarterback and they will all go after the best players on the market.

“There is logic behind acquiring Murray, though. Looking at the top 11 of the 2024 draft order, there’s a case to be made for each team in the top 10 to take a quarterback. Of course, there aren’t enough quarterbacks to go around at that point. Most of those QB-needy teams aren’t heavily invested in the position for the long term. So if, let’s say, the New England Patriots, Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Falcons aren’t able to fill their needs in the draft, Murray could be the next best option.”

Patriots have enough money to meet the demands as a trade partner

Murray has a $97 million in dead cap money at the moment, per Spotrac. The Cardinals are definitely not in the mood of spending a lot of money right now. They could get stuck with $46 million in Murray’s case. The Patriots will have enough money to pull out a deal in the offseason.

The Cardinals have to find a trade partner in Murray’s case by March 17. They may not make the best decision as the 2024 NFL Draft will start April 25.

A NFL executive suggests that NFL teams would rather wait for the Cardinals to waive Murray instead of agreeing to a trade for him. “As another team, why would I do that? They’d probably just cut him,” the executive told Howe.

Murray tore his ACL in December. He will take a starting role on Sunday after 11 months and the Cardinals will probably pay close attention to his performance. If Murray performs at a high level like he used to do, Arizona may not even think of trading him away.