The Patriots Are Looking to Pitch a Perfect Game This Offseason So They're 'Sniffing Around' a Jimmy G Trade

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This has been the Free Agency Period Unlike Any Other [tm], so you'll have to forgive New England if we're not sure how to react to it. We're simply not used to getting everything we want, or anything close to it, this time of year. March is traditionally a period of loss, mixed with accepting the fact anything you do get will be practical, useful, and pretty boring. A Christmas all the other kids are joyfully tearing the wrapping off their Playstations, and we're getting gloves and snow pants. 

So now that we're getting showered with shiny objects in 2021, it's a little hard to process. Overwhelming. We're just not used to metaphorically waking up to an abstract tree surrounded by free agents. The top two tight ends. A pair of young, experienced wideouts. A versatile defensive end who played under the franchise tag for a conference rival last year. An all-purpose defensive back. A handful of much needed run-stuffing defensive tackles. Plus most of our own free agents we assumed were as good as gone coming back at hometown discounts. It's all been a product of the head of the household saving up for this year. And just as he was finally able to spend, all the player agents in the league found out that where they used to be able to count on a dozen or more teams ready to do deals, there were only a few. Nobody was Door Busting when the Black Friday sales began. And finding they had the run of the store, the Patriots were able to pick and choose, fill their cart with everything on their list, and go hit the food court. 

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And so, not being used to this embarrassment of riches, I think it's fair to say that most Pats fans have pretty much gone full Veruca Salt. More than they've ever gotten before is still not enough. We like all the toys, new and old, but there's something missing. We're collectively going, "But daddy! I want a quarterback! Get me a quarterback! A good, Pro Bowl caliber, top-tier NFL quarterback! I want it NOW!" And while the expected movement of QBs all over the league has pretty much been bottled up like the Suez Canal, the deal most of us have been anticipating is apparently far from dead:

Masslive - [O]n ESPN’s Get Up Thursday morning, Diana Russini reported the Patriots are still interested in trading for Jimmy Garoppolo.

“Just recently I was talking to somebody in the league who I really trust,” Russini said. “He’s got good information. He said, ‘Do not take the Jimmy Garoppolo trade off the table.’ That is something New England is still sniffing out. Bill doesn’t like to put his cards out on the table so most think if we all know about that it probably won’t happen, but there is definitely a tone in the league that it could still go down.”

This would be the big prize. The final three outs to complete the Perfect Game. Which, are of course, the hardest ones to get. 

In order for Belichick to re-acquire the guy he drafted and developed to replace the Irreplaceable One still requires the 49ers to find an alternative to Jimmy Garoppolo they like better than the man who led them to the Super Bowl just 14 months ago. Any hopes that would be Deshaun Watson have swirled the drain now that sexual assault lawsuits have made him a toxic, PR disaster who's kneeling in the NFL's Personal Conduct Policy's on-deck circle. (Note: This time of year also brings a lot more baseball metaphors.) But there are still other possibilities. 

The article I excerpted referenced Sam Darnold, who's about to be expendable once the Jets draft a QB with the second pick, and Kyle Shanahan has gone out of his way to say he liked Darnold a lot coming out of college. The Russell Wilson drama has quieted down considerably, but there's no use discussing it since Seattle would sooner throw themselves into Mt. St. Helens than trade him in the division. Any other trade by the Niners for a QB would have to involve someone who doesn't appear available at the moment, like a Tua Tagovailoa or someone. Which pretty much leaves us with the possibility of John Lynch using his 12th pick on the best available quarterback in a very top-heavy class. A very real scenario. 

More than anything, just the fact that a league insider is giving credible intel that Belichick is still aggressively going after his dream quarterback should be heartening. Everything and everyone can be had for a price. Pretty much all the rest of Belichick's punch list has been checked off. He's got valuable trade assets to offer (a motherlode of picks, Stephon Gilmore) and he's obviously a motivated buyer. And if he sees that this one last piece would make him a Super Bowl contender again, he'll be willing to make it worth Lynch's while. 

As I find myself saying time and time again this month, stay tuned. Anything is possible right now. Except it getting boring around here.