FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Whether the New England Patriots' acquisition of tight end Dwayne Allen works out remains to be seen, but one thing that requires no more time to analyze is that the club gets credit for its resourcefulness.
Without it, the deal that sent Allen and a sixth-round pick to New England for a fourth-round pick might not have happened.
The Patriots, of course, were supposed to be without a fourth-round pick as part of the NFL's Deflategate penalties. Ironically, it was Allen -- then of the Indianapolis Colts, the Patriots' opponent in the AFC Championship Game that sparked Deflategate -- who publicly said it was a non-factor.
@NFLonFOX not a story. They could have played with soap for balls and beat us. Simply the better team. We have to continue to build! #BTM
— Dwayne Allen (@Dallen83) January 21, 2015
The Patriots, through a series of transactions that traces back to three years ago, ultimately landed a 2017 fourth-round pick to replace the one the NFL stripped.
Here is how it happened:
Aug. 31, 2014 -- Acquired a 2016 seventh-round draft choice (243) from Houston for QB Ryan Mallett
Sept. 17, 2015 -- Acquired WR Keshawn Martin and a 2016 sixth-round pick (196) from Houston for a 2016 fifth-round pick
March. 17, 2016 -- Acquired TE Martellus Bennett and a 2016 sixth-round pick (204) from Chicago for a 2016 fourth-round pick
April 30, 2016 -- Acquired a 2016 fifth-round pick (147) from Miami for the two 2016 sixth-round picks (196, 204), plus an original seventh-rounder
April 30, 2016 -- Acquired a 2017 fourth-round pick (132*) and 2016 seventh-rounder (225) from Seattle for the 2016 fifth-round pick (147) and 2016 seventh-round pick (243) from the Mallett deal
March 8, 2017 -- Acquired Allen and a 2017 sixth-round pick (200) from Indianapolis in exchange for a 2017 fourth-round pick (137*)
* As part of the NFL's penalties on Deflategate, the league stripped the Patriots' original fourth-round pick, adding a stipulation that if the club acquired a higher pick in the round, that pick would be the one forfeited. So the Colts will get No. 137.
This is a good example of how the Patriots continue to churn things with the accumulation of draft picks. Those picks can become assets when personnel-based opportunities arise.
Specifically, the concept of not straight-up trading a draft pick to acquire a player stands out. So instead of trading a 2017 fifth-round draft pick to the Colts -- which is essentially what the sides settled on in the Allen swap -- the compensation paid is instead a fourth-round pick and Indianapolis sends back a sixth-round pick.
By maintaining the same quantity of picks, even though the Patriots' overall positioning in the draft is weakened, it creates better odds that the Patriots will continue to make more moves in the future, as they didn't diminish their supply.
That's been a big part of their resourceful approach in recent years.