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New England Patriots<\/p>\n
The 2026 NFL<\/a> draft is almost upon us, and several analysts are predicting trade packages for playmakers before that. Bleacher Report\u2019s Gary Davenport has the New England Patriots<\/a> listed as one of the teams that could swing a potential deal for Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a> star Brian Thomas<\/a> Jr.<\/p>\n Patriots could be in line to make a splash before the draft, and Thomas could still be on the market. The Jaguars have recently stated<\/a> that they have no interest in trading him. Nevertheless, the Patriots could be one of the teams that could hypothetically get a deal done. Davenport listed the conditions of the trade in his article.<\/a><\/p>\n New England Patriots Receive:\u00a0WR Brian Thomas Jr., 2026 Round 5 Pick (166)<\/p>\n Jacksonville Jaguars Receive:\u00a02026 Round 1 Pick (31), 2026 Round 3 Pick (95), 2026 Round 4 Pick (No. 131)<\/p>\n Trade Could Benefit Patriots In Big Way<\/p>\n This trade would definitely make sense for the Patriots on multiple levels. For one, they still need a playmaker with high upside. The team did address their wide receiver room, signing Green Bay Packers<\/a> wideout Romeo Doubs in March.<\/a> Doubs should be able to provide the Patriots with a playmaker, something that the wide receiver unit desperately needs.<\/p>\n Thomas is coming off a 2025 season that saw him record 48 receptions for 707 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged 14.7 yards per catch. The LSU product was also efficient after the catch, recording 170 yards in total after catching the ball.<\/p>\n With that being said, he did suffer some injury problems in 2025. He missed three games mid-season due to a hamstring injury. He saw his production depth as a whole, as the Jaguars\u2019 red zone offense lacked efficiency. He was able to find better production in the playoffs. He reported two receptions for 21 yards and a touchdown against the Buffalo Bills<\/a> in the Wild Card Matchup.<\/p>\n Thomas had 1,282 receiving yards on 87 receptions, including 10 touchdowns during his rookie season with the Jaguars in 2024 after he was selected with the 23rd overall pick in that year\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n Patriots Could Benefit From A Thomas Rebound<\/p>\n Even in a down year, he could end up being a one or two option for the Patriots. His statistics from last season would have made him the number two receiver behind Stefon Diggs<\/a> in terms of production. As far as how he would fit onto this year\u2019s roster, he would undoubtedly become the top target. This would allow Doubs to take over the number two role, one that he is more comfortable with. He played the second wide receiver role with the Packers throughout the course of his career.<\/p>\n Davenport\u2019s trade would certainly be a realistic option. This would probably mean that the Patriots would be out on the likes of A. J. Brown. However, he could provide a bit of a younger option and have team control. Thomas Jr. is currently playing on his rookie contract and has team control up until the 2027 season. This could allow the Patriots to work out a hypothetical deal.<\/p>\n This trade would certainly not be the worst in the world. After all, the Patriots would have to give up something in order to get something. Thomas Jr could be the spark plug needed for quarterback Drake Maye<\/a> and the rest of the offense. The asking price does not seem too extreme in this scenario and the Patriots could benefit from him immediately.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDanny Jaillet<\/a> Danny Jaillet is a sportswriter with more than 15 years experience in the industry. He has been featured on Fox Sports, USA Today, and Yahoo Sports among others. He graduated from Worcester State University with a B.A. in communications and a minor in writing. More about Danny Jaillet<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Patriots\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty New England Patriots The 2026 NFL draft is almost upon us, and several analysts are predicting trade…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":856134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-856133","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-england","10":"tag-new-england-patriots","11":"tag-newengland","12":"tag-newenglandpatriots","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-patriots"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116355270447924776","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=856133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}