Patriots reportedly no longer interested in trading for Richard Sherman

The Seahawks corner probably isn't headed for New England

If Richard Sherman was hoping to get traded to New England, he might want to start looking into another potential landing spot, because apparently the Patriots are no longer interested in adding him. 

Less than 48 hours after a report came out that the Patriots were potentially interested in trading for Sherman, it appears that they’ve changed their mind. According to CSNNE.com, New England is “not interested”  at all in adding the Seahawks’ All-Pro corner. 

If we’ve learned one thing from this, it’s that football is a fickle mistress. 

It’s not clear why the Patriots lost interest in Sherman, but there’s plenty of potential theories. For one, Sherman has two years and roughly $22.4 million left on his current contract, which the Patriots probably don’t want to pay, especially when you consider the fact that they just added a corner (Stephon Gilmore) at a huge price (five years, $65 million). 

Another reason the Patriots may have lost interest is because the Seahawks’ asking price was just too high. According to the Miami Herald, the Seahawks are looking to get “a very good player plus a high draft pick” in exchange for Sherman. The Patriots might’ve been willing to offer a very good player or a high draft pick, but there’s no way they would offer both, especially after they just added Gilmore. This is Bill Belichick we’re talking about, and he’s not going to get hoodwinked in a trade with anyone. 

The other reason New England may have dropped out of the Sherman sweepstakes is because they don’t need him. The Patriots originally started eyeing Sherman in March in case they didn’t sign Gilmore, but since they landed the former Bills corner, they have no reason to go after Sherman. 

The Patriots then became interested again when it looked like Malcolm Butler might leave in free agency, but again, it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. Butler, who visited the Saints in March, will likely end up signing his $3.91 million first-round tender with the Patriots because no team seems willing to pay the cost to land him. If another team signs Butler, they’d have to send their first-round pick to New England, which is a steep price to pay. 

Basically, it sounds like Sherman can cross the Patriots off his list of teams he potentially wants to be traded to, and we can probably assume he has a list, because it was apparently Sherman, not the Seahawks, who got the trade rumors swirling. Sherman reportedly asked the Seahawks to trade him because he wants out of Seattle.