Why do the Patriots make more trades than picks in the NFL Draft?

The Patriots turned the pick they received for Jimmy Garoppolo into second- and third-round picks in 2019 among other selections.

Bill Belichick has schooled the rest of the NFL come draft season year in and year out, and the New England Patriots are up to their usual tricks again the 2018 NFL Draft.

The Patriots are making trades faster than they’re making picks and already managed to get second- and third-round picks in the 2019 NFL Draft during their wheeling and dealing.

The pre-draft trades

Long before the draft began, the Patriots:

• Received a first-round pick from the Los Angeles Rams by trading them Brandin Cooks
• Received a second-round pick from the San Francisco 49ers for Jimmy Garoppolo
• Gave up a fourth-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles for Eric Rowe
• Gave up a fifth-round pick to the Cleveland Browns for Danny Shelton
• Gave up a fifth-round pick to the Oakland Raiders for Cordarrelle Patterson
• Gave up a fifth-round pick to the Seattle Seahawks for Cassius Marsh
• Gave up a sixth-round pick to the Cleveland Browns for Jason McCourty
• Gave up a seventh-round pick to the Cincinnati Bengals for Marquis Flowers
• Received a seventh-round pick from the Seattle Seahawks for Justin Coleman

Many of those deals also included swaps and tinkering with late-round selections, but the strategy for the Patriots seems clear: Pick up late-round selections as often as possible and flip those extra selections for players.

Draft day trades

Keeping up with all the moves for the Patriots can be tricky because they come fast and furious. Here’s all the ones that have happened so far since the draft began:

The deal that sent Garoppolo to San Francisco landed the Patriots the No. 43 pick. That has since been parlayed into second- and third-round picks next year, which will undoubtedly be used to make more trades in 2019 and likely set up New England with more third-day picks they can flip for veteran contributors.

It’s a formula the Patriots have been following for years, and it’s hard to argue with the results.