Reports: Patriots made offer for WR Demaryius Thomas
The New England Patriots may have done nothing on NFL trade deadline day, and after a Monday night that came with rampant speculation that the Patriots were looking for a ‘premier wideout,’ but it was not for a lack of trying.
In fact, the Patriots were among the teams that made a serious play for Denver Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas before the career-long Bronco was moved to the Houston Texans for a pair of draft picks, according to multiple reports.
According to Mike Klis of 9News in Denver, the Patriots were among the three other teams that made unsuccessful trade offers for the 30-year-old pass-catcher, joining the Tennessee Titans and Philadelphia Eagles. And per #Patriots stayed in on Demaryius Thomas throughout. League source believes Pats request for Broncos to eat money on the trade led Denver to go in a different direction. A competitive offer but not - obviously - enough.
The Broncos, however, would not oblige on such a request.
Thomas, of course, was on the hook for $8.5 million this season ($4.5 million of which will be picked up by the Texans), and has a non-guaranteed $14 million base salary for the 2019 season. And while it’s unlikely that the Texans will even touch Thomas at that salary next year, taking on what they could of the four-time Pro Bowler’s 2018 contract made sense for a desperate Texans squad, especially in the wake of Will Fuller’s season-ending torn ACL suffered last Thursday.
There’s no doubt that the 6-foot-3 Thomas, who departs Denver with 36 grabs (on 56 targets) for 402 yards and three scores, would have provided Tom Brady another receiver with size and experience, which would have been more than welcomed with the seemingly-constant uncertainty of Josh Gordon’s NFL career.
Instead, the Patriots will have to make do with what they have at the wideout position, headlined by Julian Edelman and Gordon, and with Chris Hogan, Cordarrelle Patterson, and Phillip Dorsett behind them.
The Patriots will host the Green Bay Packers in a primetime showdown next Sunday night.
For 98.5 The Sports Hub’s complete coverage of the New England Patriots, click here.
