Patriots make 2 trades to bolster offensive line
Mike Reiss discusses the condition of David Andrews and how his likely missing the 2019 season will affect the Patriots. (0:30)
The New England Patriots made a pair of trades Wednesday to shore up their offensive line depth.
New England acquired offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor from Baltimore for an undisclosed draft pick, the Ravens announced. Cardinals offensive tackle Korey Cunningham announced in a now-deleted Instagram post that he was also traded to the Patriots.
Eluemunor, a fifth-round pick in 2017, was Baltimore’s starting left guard all spring but fell out of favor after failing a conditioning test to open training camp and being unable to stay on field due to injuries. When he got on the field, he lacked discipline, getting flagged frequently for false starts. Eluemunor has the size and versatility to play guard or tackle, but he hasn’t shown the toughness to be a consistent contributor.
Arizona took Cunningham in the seventh round of the 2018 draft, and he started six games at left tackle in place of D.J. Humphries. That was all the action Cunningham saw as a rookie. He went on injured reserve in Week 17 with a foot injury.
The 6-foot-6, 311-pound Cunningham, who played in college at Cincinnati, lined up at first-team left tackle during training when Humphries was given days off. He was expected to be the Cardinals’ backup left tackle in 2019, with the potential to be their swing tackle
The Cardinals will receive a sixth-round pick in return for Cunningham, a source told ESPN’s Field Yates.
The acquisitions of Cunningham and Eluemunor most directly affect former practice-squad players Dan Skipper and Cole Croston, who were vying for the swing tackle role. It also reflects how the club is adjusting without starting center David Andrews (blood clots in the lungs), with his absence having a trickle-down effect on the interior of the line.
The Patriots have a need for a swing tackle behind projected starting left tackle Isaiah Wynn (2018 first-round pick) and veteran starting right tackle Marcus Cannon.
Veteran Jared Veldheer, a former Cardinal, was a top candidate to fill that role before he retired in May. Yodny Cajuste, a 2019 third-round pick out of West Virginia, was another top candidate but he remains on the non-football injury list after reportedly undergoing quad surgery before the draft.
By trading Eluemunor, the Ravens are down to Bradley Bozeman, Ben Powers, Patrick Mekari and James Hurst for the left guard spot. One of the team’s bigger disappointments this summer has been the lack of anyone stepping up to take that spot. Baltimore could also look to acquire an offensive lineman to fill the only open starting job along the line.
This is the Ravens’ fourth trade in Eric DeCosta’s first season as the team’s general manager. The others were quarterback Joe Flacco (sent to the Denver Broncos for a fourth-round pick), offensive lineman Alex Lewis (to the New York Jets for conditional seventh-round pick) and kicker Kaare Vedvik (to the Minnesota Vikings for a fifth-round pick).
ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss, Jamison Hensley and Mike Reiss contributed to this report.