A first: Patriots trade Demaryius Thomas to Jets for 2021 late-round draft pick
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NFL teams don’t often trade players to a divisional opponent, even one they’re basically giving away because they don’t have a spot for him.
No one likes a trade more than the New England Patriots and coach Bill Belichick, but even Belichick has had his limits.
Until Tuesday.
Reports: Demaryius Thomas traded to Jets
Via multiple reports, the Patriots have traded receiver Demaryius Thomas to the New York Jets of all teams, with New York sending a 2021 sixth-round pick to New England.
The Patriots signed Thomas in April, then released him on August 31, only to bring him back two days later.
However, with New England signing Antonio Brown, the receivers room got too crowded.
Thomas gets the chance to play for Adam Gase once again. Now the Jets’ head coach, Gase was the Denver Broncos’ receivers coach when Thomas was drafted by the team in 2010. They worked together until Gase left for Chicago in 2015.
First trade with Jets of Belichick era
This is the first time during the Belichick era that the Patriots have completed a trade with their AFC East rivals. Recall that in 2000 New England had to surrender a first-round pick to sign Belichick as its head coach, after he abruptly resigned as Jets head coach.
Erik Scalavino of Patriots Football Weekly tweeted that Belichick has now made at least one trade with every other team in the NFL during his tenure as head coach and de facto general manager.
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