Let's recap the two deals, using the readily available draft pick trade value chart, to see exactly why Belichick, and apparent trade facilitator Nick Caserio, were happy to make the deals.
The first trade saw New England send its No. 27 overall pick and its third-round pick (93rd overall) to the Bengals for the 21st pick in the first round and the right to select Syracuse's Chandler. According to the trade value chart the Patriots sent a total of 808 points (680 128) to Cincinnati in exchange for a pick that was valued at 800 points. That's almost a perfectly evenly matched swap. And for the player the Patriots clearly targeted, it's a great deal.
The second trade had the Patriots ship the No. 31 overall pick and their fourth-round pick (126th overall) to the Broncos for the 25th pick and the right to select Alabama's Hightower. The trade value breakdown of that deal had the Patriots shipping 646 points (600 46) to Denver for a pick valued at 700 points. That is a deal that's swayed in the favor of the Patriots by about 10 percent value. The 64 point difference in the favor of New England is actually equivilant to the 115th overall pick, a fourth-round selection.
That's good business for good players and a good reason why Belichick chose to move up.
"I thought we had a good day," Belichick said of the trades and eventual picks. "As usual, the draft always takes some interesting twists and turns. You just never know how it's going to go, but as the players came off the board we were able to execute a couple trades there and still hang onto our two second-round picks, which I thought if we moved up I wasn't sure that we would be able to do that, but it worked out that way. Nick [Caserio] really did a good job of handling those. I felt like we got good value for them"
