Patriots’ Trade Deadline Move Was Massive Win

The New England Patriots ended up having a relatively quiet NFL trade deadline. Despite a ton of rumors surrounding them and possible trade candidates on their roster, they did not fully become a seller.

Before the deadline, the biggest move they made was trading linebacker Josh Uche to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Uche had shown quite a bit of potential as a pass-rusher during his time with the Patriots. However, he was never able to earn a consistent role with the team. That led to New England parting ways with him rather than letting him walk for free in the offseason.

In return, the Patriots ended up getting a 2026 sixth-round pick.

At the time, that was viewed as a low return for a young pass-rusher with potential. Now that the trade has had time to simmer for a bit, it looks like New England came away with a massive win.

Since being traded to the Chiefs, Uche has played in five games and recorded just two total tackles. He has no other statistics to note with Kansas City.

Nate Taylor of The Athletic, via All Chief'd Up! on X, has reported that the Chiefs are done with the Uche experiment. Taylor mentioned that he would be surprised if he is seen in a Kansas City uniform again.

The #Chiefs are done with the Josh Uche experiment says @ByNateTaylor on @TheFan965.

Taylor says he’d “be stunned if he seen him in a Chiefs uniform again.”😳👀

What happened here & why hasn’t a single DE worked out for us this offseason?#ChiefsKingdom
(h/t @DMacWake316) pic.twitter.com/KKbL47EDvv
— All Chief'd Up! (@AllChiefdUp) December 14, 2024

Needless to say, that is a bit of a surprise. It was expected that Uche would thrive in the Steve Spagnuolo defense. The exact opposite has been the case.

Unfortunately for Uche, his value for the upcoming NFL free agency period has been hurt badly by this. He will not get the kind of contract that he was hoping for unless another team gets super aggressive and thinks that they can turn his career around.

It will be interesting to see what the future has in store for Uche, but for now his outlook is not great.

As for the Patriots, they dodged a bullet and walked away with an extra pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. While their decision was questioned at the time, New England clearly knew what it was doing.

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