The Patriots have a long history during the Bill Belichick era of bringing in castoff players from other teams.
They provide a low risk for the Patriots, who hope to get a big return on giving out another chance to the player. It doesn’t always work, but it has worked out twice for them this offseason.
Both of those situations were when they brought in Bengals players. The First was Rex Burkhead in free agency, and the second was when they traded a seventh-round pick for Marquis Flowers.
Neither of these moves seemed like a big deal when they happened.