They weren’t shy about making splash moves to instantly transform their defense last season, but the New England Patriots could make even bigger news in 2026, by following a trade proposal that swaps defensive tackle Christian Barmore for one of the NFL’s best pass-rushers, a 69.5-sack All-Pro.
It’s an ambitious scenario mapped out by Tyler Sullivan of CBS Sports. He compares a would-be player swap with the Las Vegas Raiders to land Maxx Crosby to what the Green Bay Packers did to acquire roving edge-rusher Micah Parsons from the Dallas Cowboys last offseason.
The Packer sent nose tackle Kenny Clark and first-round picks in the 2026 and ’27 NFL drafts to Dallas. Sullivan views the Pats shipping Barmore, along with first- and second-round picks this year, as “something of a Parsons-lite trade for New England to land Crosby. The Patriots don’t ship out multiple first-round picks like Dallas did, but they do send two high-caliber selections along with a starter, with defensive tackle Christian Barmore serving as this deal’s Kenny Clark comp.”
While Sullivan also acknowledged “the Patriots caught lightning in a bottle with K’Lavon Chaisson this season, but he’s set to cash in when he hits free agency. Crosby is the type of talent who could elevate this front to another level ahead of what projects to be a far more difficult 2026 regular season.”
The reasoning here is sound, especially amid doubts about the future of 10.5-sack edge Chaisson’s future at Gillette Stadium. Not to mention Barmore’s potential heavy hit against the salary cap.
Those concerns must be offset against the risk the Patriots would incur by breaking up the double act that’s the strength of their defensive front.
Patriots Have Room for Maxx Crosby
There’s a reason the Patriots are being touted by more than one insider as a realistic trade partner for Crosby. They have room for the five-time Pro Bowler who’s more dynamic than any other edge-rusher on the Patriots’ roster.
Crosby can take over games as a relentless force who keeps pressure on the pocket and is also a factor against the run. Opponents need special plans for Crosby or he’ll make life a misery for opposing quarterbacks, like he did when he got to AFC West rival, Los Angeles Chargers starter Justin Herbert in Week 13.
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This sack put Crosby among “12 players in NFL history (since 1982) to record 7.0+ sacks in each of his first seven NFL seasons,” per Raiders.com columnist Paul Gutierrez (h/t Raiders.com Digital Managing Editor Rachel Gossen).
Numbers like those also place Crosby into a different bracket than New England’s incumbent edge-rushers. Including Chaisson, who enjoyed a banner campaign in 2025, but he’s a pending free agent already linked to an AFC rival.
Chaisson played his way into “a significant salary increase,” according to ESPN’s Mike Reiss. The latter also revealed “Chaisson shared his appreciation for being part of the Patriots’ revival and its role in his career, saying ideally he doesn’t want to leave but will trust in wherever the free agent process leads.”
Losing Chaisson would create a void at defensive end possibly compounded by fellow edge defender Harold Landry III potentially undergoing offseason surgery.
Landry and Chaisson led the pass rush last season, but a lot of their success could be attributed to the men in the middle.
Christian Barmore Still a Cornerstone for Front Seven
New England’s defense became one of the league’s best ahead of schedule because of Barmore’s partnership with $104 million interior game-wrecker Milton Williams.
He was the big get in free agency, but Williams was overshadowed somewhat by Barmore during the regular season. When No. 90 recorded a “career-high 54 pressures, 3rd-most among all DTs, and a 13.6% pressure rate that ranked 2nd among DTs with 200+ rushes. And that’s with teams sliding protection his way every week. Then there’s Milton Williams quietly posting a 12.4% pressure rate, 3rd-best in that same group, despite missing time midseason,” according to Foxborough Fellas Podcast host Pete Collins.
Their dominance continued through the postseason, with opponents struggling to slide protection and double team both D-tackles. It’s a dynamic the Patriots still need in order to stay strong defensively in 2026, even though Barmore’s “due $10 million guaranteed if he’s on the roster on the third day of the league year,” per Reiss.
Adding Crosby to the mix would make the Patriots terrifying up front, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of Barmore. Keeping him and Williams together means head coach Mike Vrabel and general manager Eliot Wolf can acquire more cost-effective edge-rusher and still get good results, the way they did with Landry and Chaisson.
