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          New England Patriots

          When it comes to best Patriots trades, hard to top swap for Bill Belichick

          Given what Bill Belichick has accomplished with the Patriots, the trade for him has been a steal. Andrew Hancock for ESPN
          • Mike Reiss, ESPN Staff WriterFeb 25, 2017, 05:00 AM ET
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              Mike Reiss is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the New England Patriots. Reiss has covered the Patriots since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2009. In 2019, he was named Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. You can follow Reiss on Twitter at @MikeReiss.
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          Every Saturday in the offseason, one question from Twitter will be selected to expound upon based on a hot topic surrounding the New England Patriots:

          Jamal, when it comes to the best trades in Patriots history, my initial thought was to focus solely on players. And that's part of what sparked the ESPN.com piece from Thursday, coinciding with the NBA's trade deadline, on some of the best overall swaps in NFL history. The 2007 trade for receiver Randy Moss produced record-breaking results.

          While that trade can be measured against some other player-specific swaps, which is what the NBA trade deadline is all about, I agree with you that it's hard to top the trade for Bill Belichick in 2000 from an overall perspective.

          The Patriots shipped a 2000 first-round pick, along with 2001 fourth- and seventh-round picks to the New York Jets in exchange for Belichick, a 2001 fifth-round pick and a 2002 seventh-rounder.

          Robert Kraft's dealings with Bill Parcells, his former coach who had moved on to the Jets, made headlines at the time.

          "I think it's win-win for everybody," Parcells said at the time. "If I were him, and things were reversed, I would have paid it, too."

          Given what Belichick has since accomplished with the Patriots, it's been a steal. The topic was something team president Jonathan Kraft expounded upon in his pregame interview on Super Bowl Sunday.

          "I believe the greatest trade in the history of sports was the trade for Bill," he said, giving credit to Robert Kraft for following through on his gut instinct.