While the NFL season is still a couple weeks short of the halfway mark, it may not be too early to single out the New England Patriots as the most surprising team of 2025. Coming off of back-to-back 4-13 seasons and with only one season over .500 since 2019, this year’s Patriots already have four wins in the bank â including a stunning Sunday Night Football upset of the previously undefeated Buffalo Bills in Week Five.
The Patriots’ three-game win streak has put them in an unfamiliar but welcome position heading into Week Seven â first place in the AFC East, a spot they have not occupied since Week 14 of 2021.
Both the ESPN Power Rankings and the NFL Spin Zone rankings have New England threatening to break into the NFL’s top 10. ESPN has the Patriots rising from No. 17 to No. 14, while Spin Zone places them at No. 13 prior to their game against the Tennessee Titans Sunday.
Deadline Moves Seen Coming For Patriots
As a result, the Patriots are widely expected to make at least one significant move at the league’s November 4 trade deadline, in an effort to make the team even better heading into the crucial second half of the season when they could be making a serious drive for the playoffs, or even a division title.
Much of the speculation around New England’s trade deadline machinations has centered around the team’s obvious positions of need: running back, wide receiver and edge rusher. But one pundit, Graham Walker of the Patriots site Musket Fire, proposed in a Friday column that the Patriots instead look to make a trade that would be a “luxury,” by making a bid to acquire Cleveland Browns nine-year veteran tight end David Njoku.
Why would the Browns part with Njoku, a former Miami Hurricane who was a Cleveland first-round pick in 2017, and who was a Pro Bowl choice only two years ago?
Njoku Playing on Expiring Contract
The main reason may be that Njoku is playing the final season of his four-year, $54.75 million contract. He is owed just under $11.5 million this season, and absorbing the pro-rated remainder of that sum would pose no financial issues for the Patriots.
They would then have the option of extending Njoku or letting him go to free agency. Either would likely be seen as a worthwhile investment for what would likely be a mid-round draft pick at best as the price for the tight end.
The Browns already appear to have an eye toward replacing Njoku with the emergence of rookie third-round pick Harold Fannin Jr., who has played 74 percent of the Browns offensive snaps so far this season â almost the same as Njoku who has played 77 percent.
Patriots Could Increase Options in 12 Personnel
But like the Browns, the Patriots also have a strong tendency to run “12 personnel” offensive packages â that is, formations with one running back and two tight ends to go with two wide receivers. New England has run 12 personnel on 37.08 of its offensive plays, according to Sumer Sports statistics, the sixth-highest rate in the NFL and well above the league average of 24.32 percent.
Adding Njoku to a tight end room that already contains Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper would be, as Walker called it, a “luxury,” but according to the Musket Fire analyst, “if the team is still on the upswing a few weeks from now, which I expect they will be, adding a player like Njoku is an opportunity they shouldn’t pass up.”
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