Callahan: The Patriots’ perfect trade targets and other thoughts from Week 7

Welcome to Friday Five!

Each week during the NFL regular season, I’ll drop five Patriots-related thoughts on Friday to recap the week in Foxboro and look ahead to kickoff.

Ready, set, football.

1. Trade Deadline Wishlist

The NFL trade deadline is less than three weeks away. Most years, all the trade speculation inside and outside team headquarters leads to little action.

But what’s the fun in that?

Odds are the Patriots will be 6-3 or 7-2 heading into the deadline, meaning they’ll be in a strong position to contribute to a likely playoff run. Their top priorities should be: running back, edge defender, wide receiver and safety. My understanding is that the front office will protect its draft picks during the talks, and will still be committed to the multi-year vision Mike Vrabel laid out when he was hired.

That said, the Patriots will get a few additional picks in 2026 and 2027, and player-to-player trade opportunities should be available.

Start here: Outside linebacker Anfernee Jennings and a 2026 seventh-round pick for Baltimore for running back Justice Hill.

Jennings has been on the trade block for months and could help shore up a leaky Ravens defense. The Pats would have Hill under contract through 2026 and a new No. 3 running back after Antonio Gibson’s ACL tear. Hill currently has the second-highest elusive rating among all running backs at Pro Football Focus, with neighboring players like Bijan Robinson, James Cook, De’Von Achane and Ashton Jeanty in the top 15.

Hill can take some of the early down carries away from Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson. Jets running back Breece Hall is a better player, but his contract expires after this season and Hall will likely land a sizable deal on the open market; likely a letdown for the Patriots, who are currently over the cap in 2026.

Dolphins outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips is also in a contract year, although investing money on a 26-year-old edge rusher is a lot more fun than a running back. Now, Phillips has just 1.5 sacks this season and a significant injury history, two factors that should lower his projected free agent price. The idea here is to add him before he hits the open market and build an extension on a player with a high ceiling.

Because Phillips, when healthy, has produced. He had 8.5 sacks as a rookie in 2021, followed by seven sacks and 25 QB hits the following season. Phillips played in 17 games both years, but has only played in 18 games since. The Pats might be able to land Phillips in a pick-swap deal with a mid-round selection, though they would face competition from contenders like the Chiefs, Lions and Bucs.

One discount option: Titans edge defenseman Arden Key, who played for Vrabel in 2023 and will also be a free agent next year. Key has recorded at least six sacks and 39 pressures per PFF over the last two seasons.

Other names to watch: Browns running back Jerome Ford, Giants running back Devin Singletary and Saints wide receiver Rashid Shaeed. The Saints’ other top interest, Chris Olave, would likely cost too high a draft pick for the Patriots’ liking. As for Raiders receiver Jakobi Meyers, a reunion seems unlikely due to the overlap of his skill set with several members of their receiving corps, though nothing should be ruled out.

2. Jekyll-Hyde defense

The Patriots are extremely unbalanced on both sides of the ball.

Their offense ranks fourth in passing DVOA and last in rushing. On defense, the Pats are seventh-best at stopping the run, but rank fifth against the pass. Defensive play-caller Zak Kuhr provided some insight into these splits on Thursday, noting that they were strong against the pass in obvious passing situations and less so on early downs.

Kuhr believes these issues will be resolved with time, saying good pass defense requires developing chemistry and trust.

“A lot of guys haven’t played together yet this year, and I think as a defense as a whole we’ve gotten better every week, right?” Kuhr said. “As far as understanding each other’s playing styles, and I think that takes some time.”

The bet here is that if Christian Gonzalez stays healthy and shakes off his relentless rush, the Pats’ pass defense will improve.

How much it improves, however, is the real question.

3. Movement, movement, movement

From the analytics department: The Patriots offense is the second-best in the NFL in pre-snap motion plays, behind EPA (Expected Points Added) per play.

The Pats are in the middle of the pack in terms of motion usage, indicating that Josh McDaniels and staff are picking their spots. Movement often provides useful information to quarterbacks, and sometimes indicates whether a defense is in man or zone coverage. Asked about the why and how behind the Patriots’ success with the motion, McDaniels did not go into details Thursday.

“I think there are a lot of reasons to use exercise,” he said. “A lot of times, from week to week, these can change. And I think that can change during the (in-game) situations; trying to beat the human (coverage), trying to beat a zone, trying to create some kind of overload. But I think the guys we have on the staff are very good at evaluating whether movement is a productive thing to consider or not.”

Patriots tight ends coach Thomas Brown was a bit more expansive, indicating that the coaching staff has rewritten some of the motions in McDaniels’ revamped system this offseason.

“I think we did a good job this offseason by — obviously Josh leading the way — being open to some new ideas. (Teach) the quarterback first, but also the whole offense why we have a specific (motion); what it does to the defense and having a new philosophical conversation every Monday because every opponent is different,” Brown said Thursday. “One team is going to adapt to a specific move this way, and the next team might do something different. So let’s be on the same page.”