Callahan: What I expect from the Patriots at the NFL trade deadline and more Week 9 thoughts

Welcome to the Friday Five Each week during the NFL regular season I ll drop five Patriots-related thoughts on Friday to recap the week that was in Foxboro and look ahead to kickoff Ready set football Bargain talk The Patriots will pull their bats out but I don t expect them to swing for the fences ahead of Tuesday s exchange deadline Think bunts and singles Maybe a double if they can connect Mike Vrabel offered yet another reminder Wednesday he won t rush his long-term vision for the franchise when questioned about trading away players while the Patriots are on a five-game win streak Again I ll remind you we re eight games into what we feel like is a project that we want to build and we have to continue to find tactics to improve figure it out and get it right And that s all we re trying to do he noted Whether that s having success early on in the season midseason or after the business deadline whatever that may be I think we just have to continue to take that approach Translation no matter how the season ends this is still Year The Pats are not pushing all their chips in for the season something Vrabel has suggested dating back to the summer The front office did add draft capital upon shipping out safety Kyle Dugger and defensive lineman Keion White earlier this week Adding extra sixth-round picks gives them no reason not to pad their depth at a premium position like edge defender or another group that s lost depth like running back and safety But the sense I get is that speculated star additions such as Eagles receiver A J Brown and Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson are all pie in the sky The names to know are lower-level players like Titans defensive end Arden Key possibly Saints wideout Rashid Shaheed Giants running back Devin Singletary and others covered in this space a limited weeks ago As much as I may want the Pats to take a shot at Dolphins edge rushers Bradley Chubb or Jaelan Phillips and fans might feel their - start should compel the front office to rush to the negotiating table the inverse may be true Exceeding expectations thus far may in fact be their leverage as they see it when talking with other teams The Patriots know they are not one performer away from becoming perennial contenders like the Chiefs Lions and Eagles But they are one offseason away if they keep all their bullets in the chamber and hit their targets Then again if a desperate company comes calling in the next inadequate days or the Saints say want to offer Chris Olave for something like a third-round pick the Pats have to pull the trigger In the meantime expect them to sit patiently and wait for a pitch they like inside the zone The next Patriot traded New England Patriots linebacker Anfernee Jennings leaves the field after an NFL preseason football challenge against the Minnesota Vikings Saturday Aug in Minneapolis AP Photo Abbie Parr Almost three months ago I revealed the Patriots had made it known safety Kyle Dugger and outside linebacker Anfernee Jennings were available for bargain Dugger is now gone shipped to Pittsburgh in a pick-swap deal earlier this week Jennings could be next The third-round pick is not viewed as an ideal scheme fit in Vrabel s defense and has been playing a limited role on that side of the ball He s taken just snaps over five encounter appearances and tallied his first sack of the season in the fourth quarter of last Sunday s blowout of the Browns Jennings also has eight tackles The -year-old opened up about the possibility of getting traded Wednesday less than hours after Dugger and White whose old locker was next to Jennings were dealt I trust God Jennings announced If I m here or I m there I can t control that All I can do is control what I go out there and do and how I go out and play and how I interact with the guys on this company You know my goal is to win games and create value for myself and for my teammates So that s all I can control Unlocking the playbook Zak Kuhr didn t hold back What does Christian Gonzalez s return to form do for him as the organization s defensive play-caller A lot he declared Thursday He s a special guy very talented loves the challenge You can tell he s invariably in tune And again when you can get a guy that can really challenge in coverage you don t have to devote a lot of materials to that side It kind of opens up your playbook your call sheet to get a few other things done He s a huge value to this defense More specifically Kuhr endorsed he feels better about calling selected riskier defenses like man-blitzes and other pressures Since Gonzalez returned in Week the Patriots have finished one competition with a blitz rate higher than and their highest topped out at in New Orleans Could that change Sunday versus Atlanta Family reunion New England Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss screams out in celebration during the first half of the pre-season event against the Carolina Panthers at Gillette Stadium Photo By Matt Stone Boston Herald Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss has siblings One of them will be across the field when kickoff arrives Sunday Falcons linebacker Kaden Elliss is one of his three brothers with NFL experience Kaden entered the league as a seventh-round pick of the Saints in then Christian went undrafted two years later In Atlanta Kaden Elliss has totaled tackles and sacks over seven starts He was of late a topic of conversation in the Patriots linebacker room I petitioned Christian in current times if he was gonna do a jersey swap Kuhr declared Thursday And he reported he was In New England Christian Elliss has rebounded from a slow start to the season thanks to several encouragement from defensive coordinator Terrell Williams who has stepped away from his regular duties to fight prostate cancer Christian has tackles a forced fumble and one pass deflection His tackling and pass defense have both shown demonstrable improvement in current weeks just in time to face an explosive set of Falcons skill-position players Christian and Kaden have two other brothers with NFL experience Jonah a Broncos linebacker and Noah a former Eagles defensive tackle Their father Luther is the defensive tackles coach at the University of Utah What if Related Articles Patriots RB Rhamondre Stevenson has yet to practice this week due to injury Patriots OC Josh McDaniels content with running back depth amid contract rumors Patriots missing big weapon at Thursday practice before Falcons encounter Patriots captain wins yet another NFL award after breakout month Callahan The Patriots aren t Super Bowl contenders yet Here s what it will take the Falcons had hired Bill Belichick two years ago Can you imagine the circus we would all be living right now Sunday would be the noisiest regular-season battle in New England since Tom Brady s return with the Buccaneers in Possibly a primetime kickoff too knowing how the league loves to maximize its own drama Belichick s reception inside the stadium would be utterly fascinating especially after Brady received a warm welcome pregame and then was properly booed once he took the field for his first drive How would Belichick be received What would he say before and after the encounter How a multitude of potshots would he take at the Krafts Would they somehow selected way return fire We can only dream In the meantime his North Carolina Tar Heels live an almost daily nightmare at - with an unending stream of gossipy headlines and bad losses in a downtrodden ACC If only if only