Patriots give Davon Godchaux permission to seek trade

The Patriots are now among the teams permitting one of their players to seek a trade.

That would be defensive tackle Davon Godchaux, who according to Ian Rapoport has been given permission to talk to other teams about a potential trade out of New England. Per Rapoport, Godchaux has had “contact with interested teams” and is “likely on the move.”

Godchaux’s best trait as a member of the Patriots has been his availability, as he’s played all 17 games in all four of his seasons in New England, starting all but one. Primarily a nose tackle for the Patriots, Godchaux has logged 250 total tackles in 68 games.

Rapoport mentioned the Patriots’ “defensive scheme shift” as an apparent reason for the 30-year-old Godchaux to be seeking a trade. The Pats are expected to play a more aggressive, one-gap style up front on defense, and Godchaux doesn’t necessarily seem like a fit for that.

Godchaux is under contract for the next two seasons at base salaries of $4 million and $6.5 million. A pre-June 1 trade would save the Patriots about $1.7 million in cap space, per Spotrac.

The Patriots seem to believe they will be able to identify defensive tackles that better fit the scheme and culture being built under new head coach Mike Vrabel. But considering how much Godchaux played over the past four seasons, the team has a lot of legitimate snaps to replace.

Matt Dolloff is a writer and digital content producer for 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read all of his articles here.