Even though they did not make any actual trades, the New England Patriots were still busy on the NFL’s trade deadline day as Bill Belichick and company shuffled the personnel on their active roster on practice squad: the club released kicker Mike Nugent and tight end Eric Tomlinson off the 53-man team and offensive tackle Aaron Monteiro off the practice squad, while also bringing Nick Folk on board to serve as the place kicker moving forward.
Replacing Nugent with Folk was certainly the most noteworthy of Tuesday’s moves — and in a way the most puzzling: why would the Patriots make a change if the new guy does not appear to be an upgrade on the surface?