Falcons Trade Mohamed Sanu To Patriots

The Falcons have traded Mohamed Sanu to the Patriots in exchange for a second-round pick, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The deal gives the 7-0 Patriots even more offensive firepower and brings them a wide receiver that they’ve long coveted.

The Patriots were one of several teams looking to trade for Sanu during the draft. The Falcons brushed those clubs off, but things changed after their 37-10 loss to the Rams dropped them to 1-6 on the year. With days to go before the trade deadline, the Falcons jumped at the chance to build for 2020 and beyond.

Sanu missed out on a New Jersey homecoming when the Patriots steamrolled the Jets on Monday night, but he will get to reunite friends in New England, including former Rutgers teammates Jason McCourty and Devin McCourty. He also figures to pad the stat sheet. So far this year, Sanu has 33 catches for 313 yards and one touchdown. It stands to reason that with nine games to go on New England’s slate, he could top last year’s career high of 838 yards and find pay dirt many times over.

Speaking of pay – Sanu has two years to go on his current deal. The Pats will have him at a $7.65MM cap figure this year and a $7.9MM number in 2020, though they could theoretically release him without fiscal penalty next year.

With Sanu, the Patriots boast one of the scariest receiver groups in the NFL and enough weapons to (almost) make Tom Brady forget that Rob Gronkowski isn’t around anymore. The WR depth chart, at present:

Meanwhile, the Falcons figure to continue their fire sale between now and next Tuesday’s deadline. They’d like to move defensive end Vic Beasley and they figure to field offers for the likes of edge rusher De’Vondre Campbell and tight end Austin Hooper.

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