This smells alot like trade bait to bundle and move up with to get a player BB really likes in the 2017 draft....Denver and Pats will probably have about same position in the draft rounds so it isn't going to be a top of the 5th round pick....and it will leave BB with the Pats own 5th rounder to draft someone in that round. BB already stocking up picks.
It's more of a replenishment than bundling to move up. They had already lost a 2017:
- 4th rounder due to the Moron
- 5th rounder due to the Mingo trade
- 7th rounder due to the Michael Williams trade from 2015
Since then:
- Traded a 2016 draft pick with Seattle to re-obtain the 4th rounder
- Traded Derby to the Broncos to re-obtain the 5th rounder
- Traded Bostic to the Lions to re-obtain the 7th rounder conditionally.... but the conditions weren't met
- Traded a 6th rounder to the Lions to finally re-obtain the 7th rounder along with Van Noy
- Released Clay Harbor which allows them to obtain a 6th round compensatory pick (most likely) for Hicks
So they're just resetting the cupboard to where it should be. 7 rounds, 7 picks. Plus Jimmy G in hand for now. I could expect something similar in the future to try to finagle a 2018 3rd or 4th rounder to make up for the Rowe trade.
