With the official start of the 2021 League year approaching, the New England Patriots continue to lay the foundation for building their roster for the upcoming season.
On Sunday, NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport reported that the Patriots had agreed upon a trade that will send offensive lineman Marcus Cannon to the Houston Texans. Jim McBride of The Boston Globe would later provide additional details on the trade, which reportedly involves a swap of fourth, fifth and sixth-round draft picks.
In essence, trading Cannon, will free up significant salary cap space for the Patriots when accounting for the Top 51 rule. As indicated by PatsCap’s Miguel Benzan, the move nets approximately $2.566 million in dead money and $6.276 million in cap space for the Pats.
As for the Draft compensation, the Patriots and the Texans will swap 2021 selections as follows:
The Texans send the following picks to the Patriots:
Round 4, (109),
Round 5, (147),
Round 6, (187),
New England trades Cannon to Texans, as well as the following picks:
Round 4, (121),
Round 5, (159),
Round 6, (196).
Cannon, having previously overcome non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, has played his entire NFL career with the Patriots. The Pats drafted him in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL Draft. Soon to turn 33, he appeared in 115 games with 69 starts over nine seasons; serving as the team’s right tackle from 2016 through 2019. His best season came in 2016, when he started 15 games, earned second-team All-Pro honors and helped the Patriots win Super Bowl LI.
As an alum of TCU, Cannon will be returning to his home state of Texas, where he reportedly still has familial ties.
The deal can neither be finalized nor officially announced until Wednesday’s opening of the League year. Earlier this week, the Patriots agreed to acquire tackle Trent Brown from the Las Vegas Raiders.
Brown, who played one season in New England (2018), joins Isaiah Wynn, Michael Onwenu, Justin Herron, Korey Cunningham and Yodny Cajuste on the Patriots depth chart at tackle. As stated by Zack Cox of NESE, Wynn (left) and Onwenu (right) were New England’s primary starters in 2020, but either could shift to left guard in 2021 if the team loses Joe Thuney in free agency. Thuney, center David Andrews, tackle/guard Jermaine Eluemunor and center/guard James Ferentz will be unrestricted free agents when the league year opens.
The official start to the 2021 NFL League year will take place at 4:00pm ET on Wednesday, March 17, 2021.
-Mike D’Abate is a Managing Editor and Columnist for Full Press Coverage. He covers the New England Patriots and provides NFL editorial content. He is also the host of the Locked On Patriots podcast. Follow him on Twitter @mdabateFPC
