The New England Patriots announced late Tuesday evening that they have traded 26-year-old pass rusher Keion White to the San Francisco 49ers. The full trade includes a 2026 draft pick swap, sending New England’s seventh round selection to San Francisco alongside White in exchange for the 49ers 6th round pick.
NFL insider Tom Pelissero announced the deal at 6:45 PM Tuesday night.
White joins former teammates Mac Jones and Kendrick Bourne on the 5-3 49ers, who currently sit in third place in the NFC West as they continue to battle injuries throughout the lineup.
The move frees up just a little over 1 million dollars, as White was in the third year of his rookie deal.
Patriots’ Part Ways With Belichick Draftee
Not many remnants remain from the Bill Belichick era in Foxboro. Aside from six banners, a handful of jerseys in the Patriots’ Hall of Fame, and a few statues, the team has majorly moved on from the identity built earlier this century.
This is especially true on the Patriots active roster. When Cole Strange was traded, a piece of Bill went with him. Now the former 46th overall selection, and final second round pick of Bill Belichick’s NFL coaching career, has left with him.
As a rookie, White appeared in 16 games, making a forgettable impact with just one sack in his first year in the league. Still, fans appreciated his personality.
It doesn’t hurt that the physical traits are hard to ignore. The six-foot-five 285 pounder is protoype size for an NFL edge rusher.
In year two fans saw a leap. White started the year with 2.5 sacks in Jerrod Mayo’s coaching debut victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. He followed that up with 1.5 sacks in Week 2. However, in the 14 games that proceeded he was only able to muster up one more big play making his season total five.
This season he has been largely overshadowed by the newcomers that the new staff brought in with them. This resulted in just six tackles through five games, floating on and off the active roster.
One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure
This haul returned for White was minimal. This felt like more of a good faith deal executed by the Patriots’ front office to further establish good relations with San Francisco. However, for the 49ers, a deal like this could be exactly what they needed.
In an article published earlier today, ESPN’s Ben Solak called for this exact deal to be done, hours before it was announced.
“49ers get: Edge rusher Keion White,” Solak proposed. “Patriots get: 2026 sixth-round pick.”
“White has completely fallen out of favor in New England. He started last season real hot. In the first half of the year, he was 11th among all defensive linemen in pressure rate and 16th in pass rush win rate…
White was far from a perfect player. He freelanced a lot, which made him a liability in run defense. And for all of his pressures, he struggled to come to balance at the quarterback. His sack rate of 1.3% was bang on league average for defensive linemen in 2024…”
Though the Patriots’ didn’t get much in return, a good faith deal with a slight increase in draft capital is a solid deadline move in my books.
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