Patriots Already Aggressive in Nabbing Bennett(s?)

The Patriots appear to be trading for Michael Bennett, though no official word has come down since news of the trade broke on Friday.

Bennett is coming to New England from the Philadelphia Eagles, along with a 2020 seventh-round pick, in exchange for a 2020 fifth-round pick.

Boston.com

My first thought was being blown away by how immediately aggressive a team coming off their sixth Super Bowl was being. Yes, Trey Flowers is about to hit the market but grabbing Bennett cushioned any potential blow his departure might make.

Make no mistake, Bennett is at the end of the road and in no way should be considered a favorable replacement to the hitting-his-prime Flowers. But as we’ve seen, you can never have too many pass rushers and Belichick just couldn’t resist a manageable deal on one of the only pass rushers to give the Pats problems in Super Bowl 49.

I was busy offline (gasp) when the news initially broke, simply banging out a “Yikes” tweet retweeting the report. What happened after that was a descent into what I hate most about social media.

Admittedly too vague, my “yikes” was taken a number of different ways. Was it “yikes, this is a bad dude I don’t want him on my team?” Was it “yikes, this is a bad sign for Flowers?” Or “yikes, this is a desperate move on a has-been player?” Or was it what I mostly meant it as, yikes, this is a low risk chance on one of the best pass rushers of the last ten years and another dramatic story point in the non-stop Patriots football machine?

Regardless, people took it the way they took it and then came flying at me to tell me why this was a “bad take.” All from “yikes”. Yikes.

As for all of it, Bennett’s recent off the field issues aren’t a good look, especially with the trial for ahem allegedly injuring an elderly paraplegic worker at Super Bowl 51 set for later this month. So now that’s a Patriots storyline. Yeah, I don’t love that.

Bennett also remains under investigation about an incident in Las Vegas which The Boston Globe dove into here, along with recounting many of the good things Michael Bennett has done off the field. It’s not wrong to have some reservations.

For different reasons, I had some reservations about Martellus Bennett. He seemed too aloof to click at Foxboro Football Nerd School, but Martellus quickly won me, the Patriots and Patriots Nation over to the point where now there are already rumors that he could unretire and join his brother in New England.

I don’t expect Michael to suddenly win us over like that. Off the field issues are complicated and if I kept this a football blog through Aaron Hernandez, I’m sure going to keep it a football blog now with Bennett. I trust that the Patriots are aware of the risk they’re taking and if they can accept it so will I and I just hope New England brings out the positive in Michael just like it did for Martellus.

I’m not even sure I consider it a lock he’s on the roster Week 1 so I’m not getting too worked up about it now.

We’ve been here plenty of times before, fully covering the spectrum of off-field reputation – Randy Moss, Albert Haynesworth, Chad Ochocinco, John Lynch, Reggie Wayne, Junior Seau, Tory Holt, James Harrison — all stars with other teams who Belichick brought in when he had the chance, if only to see them for a couple weeks in training camp.

Belichick always has football crushes and he’ll bring just about any of them in to see what they’ve got left. That’s how I see the Bennett move, not too much of an indication of Flowers leaving or Adrian Clayborn getting cut, just a low-risk move on another Hall of Fame player who might have something left.

Ideally I think Bennett fits the third down rusher role that Adrian Clayborn did fill last year. He’s not an every down, stop the run kind of guy like Flowers is. If the Pats do retain Flowers, which I’m feeling slightly more optimistic about now with Mike Reiss saying he doesn’t expect the Dolphins to pursue him, it makes the Bennett move a huge slam dunk.

With Flowers and Deatrich Wise on early downs and a mix of Adam Butler, Bennett and Clayborn would already be more formidable than last years group of ends and pass rushers. Clayborn’s fate is more tied to Flowers now and he could be a cap casualty to make room.