Geez, I remember some here claiming how overrated and washed up DRC was when he was a free agent a few yrs ago. He was one of the higher rated CBs last season.
I remember a crap-tonne of WTF??!! when the Cards dealt DRC and a 2nd to the Eagles for Kolb. This inevitably, and unsurprisingly, led to some speculation that DRC was maybe not as good as he appeared to be.
Then, DRC appeared to confirm that speculation by underperforming in Philly for the next two seasons. This was 2011-12, when Philly had kinda loaded up on "famous" cornerbacks with Asomugha and Asante Samuel - and didn't use any of them optimally. The entire roster was stuffed with "talented players", and yet they still ended up going only 8-8 in 2011 and 4-12 in 2012 (after which they fired Andy Reid).
In 2013, Philly was in cap hell (Asomugha' contract was stupid expensive), and they let DRC walk. DRC signed what was essentially a one-year "prove-it" deal with Denver for $5 mil, which further confirmed some of the negative speculation about him. He looked a bit better with the Broncos, and then, in 2014, the Giants snagged him for $7 mil a year for five years - a relatively cheap price for an ostensibly top-end CB even back then.
And he's had a kind of resurgence with the Giants, at least through last season.
Anyway, DRC is in his 10th year in the league and he's had some ups and downs. There have been lots of times that he's been brilliant, and lots of others where his play has been horribly undisciplined, although he seemed to be getting better with that the last couple seasons.
DRC has about $4.5 mil left on his contract for 2017, so the Pats couldn't reasonably afford to trade for him this year with only $4.8 mil in cap space. DRC would be getting about $6.5 mil for 2018, which doesn't seem like an awful lot, but he'll also be 32.
OTOH, there's a very slim possibility that the Giants could cut him for the cap savings (they only have about $2.5 mil in cap space), especially if their season continues to circle the drain. If that were to happen a week or three from now, I think the Pats
might make him an offer to play out the season for a couple million, although I have to think there's a team or two that would likely out bid them. And it also seems
way more likely that the Giants would trade DRC to another team before cutting him.