A day after making him a surprise healthy scratch, the New England Patriots have decided to trade outside linebacker Joshua Uche. The former second-round draft pick is going to the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for a 2026 sixth-round pick.

But what does the move mean for the Patriots from an overall perspective? Let’s judge.

The edge depth is affected

With Uche as the latest domino to fall, the Patriots’ outside linebacker group continues the transformation of the last three months. In fact, of the planned core position, only Anfernee Jennings remains on New England’s active roster at the start of training camp.

The other three top players have now all been removed from the 53-man squad. Matthew Judon was traded to the Atlanta Falcons in October, followed by Uche to the Chiefs on Monday. Additionally, Oshane Ximines suffered a torn ACL in early September and will be out for the remainder of the 2024 season.

Because of these departures, Jennings is now the best player on the team. While the Patriots have two more players on their practice squad — promoted prospect Ochaun Mathis and recently signed Keshawn Banks — they could actually look to utilize the versatility of their staff to fill the void left by Uche’s move .

Three players in particular stand out when it comes to adding depth at the rim. Defensive players Keion White and Deatrich Wise Jr. have shown in the past that they can move and get to the rim when needed; White, in particular, appears to be a strong replacement for Uche given his pass-rushing abilities. Additionally, off-ball linebackers Jahlani Tavai and Christian Elliss could also play a role.

Ochaun Math is a name to keep an eye on

The aforementioned Ochaun Mathis has become a factor on the Patriots’ sidelines in recent weeks. The former Los Angeles Rams sixth-round draft pick, who was added to the practice squad at the end of August, has been named to the gameday squad three times so far – exhausting his promotion options.

Signing Mathis to the 53-man roster in light of the Uche trade would make sense for the Patriots.

Pass rush will look different

From a statistical standpoint, Uche was in the midst of a relatively quiet 2024 season. Despite serving primarily as a proven pass-rush specialist, he recorded just two sacks in his seven game appearances to date.

However, this number doesn’t quite tell the whole story. For starters, he still ranked second on the team in sacks behind Keion White’s four sacks and was second with 13 total quarterback pressures in seven games. He also led New England in pass rush win rate (17.2%) among players with at least 20 rush attempts.

While replacing those numbers isn’t a daunting task, the fact is that New England’s pass rush has already been nonexistent at times with Uche on the roster. Now that he’s gone, things probably won’t get much better unless someone else – player or play caller – steps in.

Increased design portfolio

As mentioned above, the Patriots received a sixth-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft to compensate for Uche. That’s not a big haul for a former second-round draft pick, but it does give his current club more capital to work with.

The Patriots now own eight picks in the 2026 draft – their original projected seven plus the Chiefs’ – plus nine next year. With only seven of those selections being premium picks in the first three rounds, New England has quite a bit of ammunition to either manipulate the field or add some quality players to a roster that desperately needs them.

The Uche trade doesn’t put New England in position to suddenly make a big move; The draft is a crapshoot in every round, but the odds of finding top-notch talent in the sixth round aren’t great, to say the least. Nevertheless, more choices mean more capital and therefore more potential for direct or indirect investments.

Salary cap savings, for now

With Uche now off the Patriots’ roster, he’s also off their books: Kansas City will pick up the remainder of his contract as part of the trade. That means New England will create some salary cap space.

All told, the team will add just under $1 million to its books, according to salary cap expert Miguel Benzan: the rest of Uche’s $1.3 million base salary – $722,222.22 – plus eight likely earned bonuses for active squads totaling $240,000 transfer to the Chiefs.

However, these savings are obviously fluid in nature. With Uche gone, the Patriots have a vacant roster spot to fill, which means another financial commitment.

Reduced 2020 draft class

Including Uche (2-60), the Patriots selected a total of 10 players in the 2020 NFL Draft. Only three of them remain: Safety Kyle Dugger (2-37), outside linebacker Anfernee Jennings (3-87) and offensive lineman Michael Onwenu (6-182) are currently the only representatives of this draft class.

All three are core members of the team and signed multi-year contract extensions in the offseason. They can definitely be classified as “hits” in this year’s draft – which is not the case for Uche and the other six ex-Patriots on this list.

Tight end Dalton Keene (3-101) and offensive tackle Justin Herron (6-195) are now with the Houston Texans and New Orleans Saints, respectively. Tight end Devin Asiasi (3-91), kicker Justin Rohrwasser (5-159) and linebacker Cassh Maluia (6-204) are all unsigned. Center Dustin Woodard (7-230), meanwhile, announced his retirement less than four months after being drafted and his comeback attempt in 2021 was short-lived.

Open for business

Shipping Uche to Kansas City at least signals that the Patriots are open for business. And with the NFL trade deadline not until Tuesday, November 5th – clearly the biggest event on the calendar that day – there’s still plenty of time to take action.

But will there be any? That depends on several factors, but there’s no denying that the team has some prospects under contract.

Players like wide receivers Kendrick Bourne, KJ Osborn and Tyquan Thornton could all be moved, as could defensive lineman Deatrich Wise Jr. or cornerback Jonathan Jones. At this point they are all staying with the Patriots, but nothing can be ruled out.