Patriots Reportedly Acquire LB Barkevious Mingo From Browns

New England shipped a 2017 fifth-round selection to Cleveland on Thursday afternoon in exchange for linebacker Barkevious Mingo, who struggled to find his niche with the embattled Browns over three seasons with the team.

Everyone will point out Bill Belichick is a genius for acquiring another first-round pick and the Browns wouldn’t get the same treatment if they were acquiring Mingo from New England.

Now the 25-year-old comes to the Patriots for a fifth-round pick. The comment foreshadowed the Browns parting with Mingo, the sixth overall pick in the 2013 draft who seemed to be a likely candidate to be cut by the team before the trade was made. Still, the Patriots have struck oil with less talented players than Mingo.

Belichick has holes at outside linebacker and defensive end after the departure of Chandler Jones and injuries to Rob Ninkovich, Jabaal Sheard and McClellin. He was supposed to be a dominant pass rusher.

Troubled linebacker Armonty Bryant is the only remaining player from Cleveland’s 2013 five-man draft.

FILE – This is a 2016 file photo showing Barkevious Mingo of the Cleveland Browns NFL football team.

The New England Patriots are stacked at the pass rusher position. Not a stellar burst of production but what the stats show is that Mingo – like Von Miller or prime Terrell Suggs, Ray Lewis – is a capable, if not great pass coverage linebacker.

Ultimately, the acquisition of Mingo represents another potential Cleveland reclamation project for the Patriots.

The trade cost the Pats a fifth-round draft pick in 2017, and it appears the cost could have been lower but for interest from the Detroit Lions. But the Browns are in line to be making plenty of picks as they try to move forward. That’s most definitely the case when it comes to the team’s most-recent trade.