Perry: Potential Patriots trade candidates at wide receiver and cornerback

The Patriots may not have been able to land all of their top targets in free agency, which should come as little surprise. After last year's spending spree, they were always going to play it conservatively on the open market for established veteran talent.

There remain options for them in free agency to improve their team, of course. The priorities, it's safe to assume, would include cornerback, receiver and guard. Free-agent additions like Malcolm Butler at corner or Marquez Valdes-Scantling at receiver would help the Patriots fill holes before they get to draft weekend. 

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But there's another way in which the Patriots can acquire real pieces before they jump into the rookie pool in late April: trades. 

This time of year, as teams around the NFL spend real dough on contributors, there are players who are about to be boxed out on their respective depth charts. From that group of individuals who may see their roles diminished in 2022, those who happen to be in the final year of their rookie deals (from the 2019 draft class) can be particularly attractive trade candidates. 

Often seen as rentals, they can be had for a low-level returns. And if they work out in their new locales, they can either be candidates to re-sign or they can land a team a compensatory pick if they leave via free agency.

The Patriots have shown over time they love scooping up players with a year left on their rookie contracts and seeing what sticks. 

Back in 2018, they made a pick-swap deal with the Niners to get Trent Brown in the final year of his rookie deal. Brown ended up starting for the team at left tackle, winning a Super Bowl, and then leaving via free agency. He landed them a third-round comp pick as a parting gift. 

That same year, the Patriots made a pick-swap deal with the Browns for Danny Shelton when he was in the final year of his rookie deal. Shelton re-signed and played two seasons total with the team, factoring into their comp-pick formula in 2021 as a sixth-round value.

In 2017, the Patriots acquired Brandin Cooks in the final year of his rookie deal. He played one season with the team, racked up over 1,000 yards receiving, helped the Patriots to the Super Bowl, and then was traded again the following offseason to the Rams for a first-round pick and a swap of Day 3 draft choices. 

That same offseason, the Patriots made a far less productive trade for a player in the final year of his rookie deal when they swapped a second-round pick for a third and Kony Ealy. By the time the regular season began, Ealy was off the team. 

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Barkevious Mingo was acquired by the Patriots in the last year of his rookie deal in 2016. Kyle Van Noy -- one of the best low-cost finds of Bill Belichick's tenure in New England -- was picked up from Detroit later that year with just over a season left on his rookie deal. Keshawn Martin (2015), Akeem Ayers (2014) and LeGarrette Blount (2013) were all brought to New England in the last year of the rookie deals as well.

These are usually low-cost moves. They have the potential to provide great production (Brown, Van Noy, Blount), and even if they aren't kept around for multiple years, they can yield a compensatory pick down the line. These kinds of acquisitions also don't wipe out potential comp picks in an offseason where a team (like the Patriots this year) lost valuable free agents since trades don't factor into the comp-pick formula.

The Patriots are certainly budget-conscious at the moment, making these kinds of trades the kinds we should have our eyes on. 

At receiver, one name who fits this mold and could be of interest would be Darius Slayton of the Giants. Taken in the fifth round of the 2019 draft out of Auburn, Slayton was an impressive athlete. At 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, he ran a 4.39-second 40-yard dash (86th percentile) at that year's combine. He also jumped 40.5 inches in the vertical (93rd percentile) and 11-feet-3 in the broad (97th percentile). 

In his first two seasons with the Giants, he racked up over 1,400 total yards and 11 total touchdowns. Last year, he did not see nearly as much playing time after New York added Kenny Golladay (free agency) and Kadarius Toney (draft). Slayton finished with just 26 catches and 339 yards on 58 targets.

Slayton could be in line for another disappointing year if he sticks with the Giants since he remains behind Golladay, Toney and recently re-signed Sterling Shepard. The Giants currently have a whopping 11 receivers on their roster.

Slayton has had serious drops issues -- he dropped 22 percent of on-target passes thrown to him last season, per Pro Football Focus -- and he's dealt with hamstring and shoulder issues. But he had an opportunity to work closely with Joe Judge over the last two seasons, so the Patriots should have some next-level insight as to how he'll fit in Foxboro.

On the surface, because Slayton would give the Patriots some size and speed -- what they're looking for this offseason at that spot -- and because he may only cost somewhere in the range of a fifth-round pick in a trade, he'd make sense as a Belichick target.

At corner, perhaps New England's greatest position of need, there's another member of the 2019 draft class who looks slated to see a seriously-diminished role in 2022 and could be available: Trayvon Mullen of the Raiders.

Mullen was an impressive size-and-speed prospect coming out of Clemson, measuring in at 6-foot-2, 200 pounds and running his pre-draft 40 in 4.46 seconds. He was the national title game's defensive MVP in early 2019, coming up with a pick, a sack, a forced fumble and six tackles in a win over Nick Saban's Crimson Tide. 

Mullen started in 26 games in his first two seasons with the Raiders but played in just five games in 2021 due to a toe injury. Then, this offseason, under a front-office led by former Patriots director of player personnel Dave Ziegler, Vegas added two starting-caliber corners via trade (Rock Ya-Sin) and free agency (Anthony Averett).

For the Patriots, who are looking for a boundary cover man with some starting experience, Mullen would be a solid option on whom to roll the dice. The corner room in New England currently includes Jalen Mills, recent free-agent add Terrance Mitchell, slot options Jonathan Jones and Myles Bryant, as well as Joejuan Williams, Shaun Wade and special-teams ace Justin Bethel.

Giving old friends Ziegler and Josh McDaniels a call -- if they'd be open to parting with Mullen for a late-round pick -- might not be a bad way for Belichick to bolster his corner group.

There are other moves out there the Patriots may be able to execute in order to fill some clear holes. Maybe they could figure out a pick-swap move that would encourage the Ravens to send them guard Ben Powers, who was a fourth-round pick in the 2019 draft. Powers started 12 games as an injury replacement last season in Baltimore's gap-heavy (similar to the Patriots in some ways) running game. But he may be available in a deal because veteran Kevin Zeitler, Tyre Phillips (2020 third-rounder) and Ben Cleveland (2021 third-rounder) could all be ahead of Powers on the Ravens' guard depth chart. 

No matter the position, if there's low-cost help out there on the trade market for the Patriots, this feels like an offseason where they'd be as interested as ever in those types of moves.