The New England Patriots opted to stand pat at the NFL trade deadline last month, which struck a whole lot of people by surprise.

To be fair, the Patriots did trade edge rusher Josh Uche in late October, but that was all they did before Nov. 5.

Why would New England, a rebuilding franchise, not sell off any pieces?

Well, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler has revealed that the Pats didn’t exactly have much of a choice based on how the leaves fell.

“New England knows it’s far too short on building blocks,” Fowler wrote. “But at the deadline, opposing teams had interest in only key players, such as corner Christian Gonzalez or defensive tackle Davon Godchaux. The first player was a hard no, and the second is good enough to help keep the defense afloat up front. The maligned receiver room generated minimal to no interest. So New England stood pat.”

The interest in Gonzalez was reported, but it was obvious that the Patriots weren’t moving him. Godchaux’s name was also mentioned in trade speculation, and given that he is 30 years old, you would figure New England would have been open to dealing him.

However, Godchaux is under contract through 2026, and perhaps the Pats like having his veteran presence around to mentor the younger defenders.

The most intriguing nugget of information here involves the receiving corps. Many wondered why the Patriots didn’t trade any of of their wide receivers, but apparently, teams simply weren’t interested.

That seems rather odd, considering that more than a dozen teams were evidently clamoring to sign Tyquan Thornton when New England released him earlier in the week (he immediately inked a deal with the Kansas City Chiefs), but maybe clubs just did not want to give up assets for the Pats wide outs.