New England Patriots Roster, Trade Rumors: Chris Long Added to Team on One-Year Deal
The New England Patriots quickly made some amends after trading away Pro-Bowler Chandler Jones to the Arizona Cardinals by acquiring free agent Chris Long. The deal, which reportedly is for one year, comes after rumors that the defensive end always have been hoping to join the Patriots.
The second overall pick in the 2008 Draft played for the St. Louis Rams from his rookie year in 2008 up until last season. He appeared in 114 games for the team, while starting in 95 of them, according to ESPN. In the process, he compiled pretty decent numbers of 54 ½ sacks, but majority of which were made two years after getting drafted. The 30-year old suffered multiple injuries before 2010, so his production only took off two years after turning pro.
Long became one of the players who the Rams cut in February in the hope of saving cap space. Aside from him, the team also parted ways with two other veterans in Jared Cook and James Laurinaitis. St. Louis saved a lot of money in releasing Long because he actually signed a four-year contract with the team before the start of the 2012 season and it was worth $48.2 million. One reason why the Rams decided to part ways with him may be because he hasn't had the same production in the past couple of seasons. In fact, Sports Illustrated reported that he only played a total of 18 games for the team in the past two seasons and managing only four sacks. That's a big discrepancy when compared to his previous production six years back, when he averaged more than eight sacks.
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Now it should be interesting how Patriots fans and players will welcome Long after the surprising trade of Jones, who many consider as one of the top players for the team. But if he's able to duplicate his performance from 2010 to 2013, he'll do just fine.
