While the New England Patriots got their quarterback during the 2024 NFL Draft, it seems they tried to get an even bigger name to lead the team prior to Thursday.
And it would have been one heck of a trade if they could have pulled it off.
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Patriots were one of two teams to reach out to the Los Angeles Chargers in recent weeks to see if the team had any interest in trading star quarterback Justin Herbert.
"The answer was, very quickly, 'a flat no,'" Schefter wrote. "Not only do the Chargers love Herbert, but they also would have had to take on a $63.5 million cap charge for the coming season at a time they have $32.3 million of cap space."
Quarterback was one of the biggest needs for the Patriots this offseason, and they were looking towards the draft to remedy that. But it seems they tried another course of action first.
New England already brought in veteran Jacoby Brissett this offseason, along with having Bailey Zappe and Nathan Rourke in the quarterback room. Maye is not guaranteed to start once the season begins, meaning that Brissett would most likely earn that title.
But if Herbert had come to New England, there would be no question who the starter would be.
The Minnesota Vikings were the other team that was interested in Herbert, but they ended up trading with the New York Jets to draft Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy on Thursday night.
Herbert was selected by the Chargers in the first round, with the sixth overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Across his four years in the league, Herbert has 1,613 completions for 17,223 yards and 114 touchdowns in 62 games.
However, with a new head coach in Los Angeles, it makes sense why they wouldn't want to part with their quarterback.
And New England has Maye now.
But this still would have been a wild trade to have occurred right before the draft.
More must-reads: