Before the Giants traded wide receiver Odell Beckham to the Browns in 2019, there had been chatter about a potential deal in 2018 and the Patriots were one of the teams that reportedly inquired about what it would take to acquire the wideout.
Beckham is about to become available again as the Browns will be waiving him and bringing an end to a disappointing run in Cleveland. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick would make the call on any pursuit of Beckham this time around and he spoke generally about bringing in a player at this point in the season.
“We’ve done that before. Brought in [Aqib] Talib in the middle of the season. I don’t know any specifics, so at this point, there’s nothing to really talk about,” Belichick said, via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com.
Talib was acquired in a 2012 trade with the Buccaneers, but an even better example of the Patriots picking up a useful player off the street late in the season came in 2014. That is when they signed running back LeGarrette Blount after he was cut by the Steelers in mid-November. Blount ran 60 times for 281 yards and three touchdowns in five regular season games and then added 189 rushing yards and three touchdowns in the postseason the way to a Super Bowl win.
