Belichick acknowledges difficulties of making trades

With the NFL trade deadline approaching in four days, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick reminded everyone that trades are rare because it's difficult to consummate them with so many different variables involved.

So far this season, the biggest trade was the Cleveland Browns sending running back Trent Richardson to the Indianapolis Colts for a first-round draft pick. This week, the Miami Dolphins traded for Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie.

"I think that the trades that you’ve seen are kind of financially driven," Belichick told New Englandreporters. "I don’t know how much of it is personnel trading and how much of it is financial trading. However you want to look at it, for draft choices or for cap relief. But I don’t see a big, dramatic difference.

"It’s certainly way less, way, way less than what there is at the 53 cut, just to pick another period of time or maybe the week before, like at the 75 cut. There’s a lot more conversations there about the makeup of your team and who you need and who might be extra and those kind of things. You’re looking at a 16-week season at that point."

Last year, the Patriots traded a fourth-round draft pick to acquire cornerback Aqib Talib from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"You need more, there’s less available, it’s a shorter season, you’re trading for a guy for just a short amount of time," Belichick said. "How quickly can you get him ready, how productive will it be, was it really worth it? Is it worth it to the team who is trading away the player to get not very much for somebody versus just keeping him and playing with him even though you get something for him but it isn’t really worth it?"

Follow me on Twitter: @RavensInsider

Aaron Wilson covers the Ravens for The Baltimore Sun.

Aaron Wilson
Aaron Wilson covers the NFL for National Football Post, his second stint at the Post. He has previously written for Pro Football Talk and FOX Sports-Scout. Entering his 13th year covering the Baltimore Ravens, he's a beat writer for The Baltimore Sun. Wilson has also covered the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans.

Upcoming Games