Patriots Veteran Was in Trade Rumors Before Release

With less than one week to go until the 2025 NFL season officially kicks off, the New England Patriots opted to make a rather eye-catching cut on the defensive side of the ball in the form of veteran safety and former team captain Jabrill Peppers.

Peppers, who's been with the Patriots since signing in the 2022 offseason, had initially seemed on track to fill into New England's 53-man roster following the motions of cutdown day, eyeing what would've been his fourth season with the team. Yet, found himself released in the days following, now looking to find a new opportunity elsewhere for his age-30 campaign.

While it was a move that wound up catching a few fans off-guard to let go of the team's tenured, and in the mind of some, best starting safety on the roster, for some NFL personnel around the league, the Patriots' decision didn't seem to be all too shocking.

According to ESPN's Mike Reiss, one opposing team voiced that Peppers' name had been previously included in trade discussions back in August, leading up to his release.

"One front office source from an NFL team said Peppers' name had come up in trade discussions earlier in August, so the Patriots' decision to cut ties with him didn't come as a surprise to that team," Reiss wrote.

Peppers had been a consistent piece of the Patriots' secondary since arriving. But with New England now transitioning to a new style of defensive scheme in the back-end under head coach Mike Vrabel, doubling down on coverage ability rather than the ability to play downhill like Peppers and Kyle Dugger both excel in.

That led to Peppers seeing his role pushed to the side throughout training camp and preseason, had others in the room like rookie Craig Woodson and veteran Jaylinn Hawkins elevate theirs, and inevitably, Peppers saw his time come to an end via cut, rather than trade.