Patriots Trade Mapu, Boost Draft Picks

0:00On April 7th, the New England Patriots just traded third-year linebacker Marta Mapu to the Houston Texans, dodging what looked like a straight. Release. Instead of cutting him, they shipped Mapu plus a seventh-round pick in 2027 for a sixth-rounder from Houston. It's a small swap, but it shakes up their roster plans heading into next season. Patriots are revamping their linebacker death after a solid 2025. They kept top guys Robert Spalain and Christian Ellis, but lost Jack Gibbons to free agency with the Cardinals, cut Jolani to Vi, and now dealt. Mapu. That trio logged most of the backup snaps last year, so now, KJ Brit and Chad Muma step up with more draft help likely coming. Mapu never cracked the defense much, playing under 10% of snaps there, despite his third-round pedigree. His real value was special teams, where he hit nearly 60% of plays, grabbed tackles, forced a fumble, and protected punts without a single. Block all season. Now they might slide safety, Dale Pettis into that key protector spot.

1:04On the draft front, this trade bumps their 2027 class with an extra sixth-rounder, keeping nine total picks from first through sixth rounds. Salary cap wise, it clears 1.5 million in base pay off the books, netting about $4.34,000 in savings. They're sitting pretty at 35.56 million under the cap now. All in, it's a depth tweak that free space without big losses, setting paths up to build stronger through the draft and free agency. Eyes on how they reload that linebacker room. From around the league, powered by AI, this is NFL News Today. I'm Corey with the story.