That's the hope. It sets up the either/or scenario where the Patriots can either take one of the top 2 prospects in this year's draft or drop down in order to gain additional picks and grab a lesser, but targeted, player.
It makes sense that, at this point, the Rams would only be looking to recoup some cap flexibility in a trade. A sixth-for-seventh swap isn't ideal, but the Rams scouting department has proven to find quality players that late in the draft, anyway.The Rams will almost certainly cut Jackson if they cannot find a trade partner for him; they have no reason to keep a player with an enormous cap hit when they can simply release him before his roster bonus kicks in," Solak writes. "An acquiring team — which, again, will pay Jackson $17.5 million this season — probably would have to spend very little to get a trade done. I'm talking Day 3 pick swaps.
The best possible trade for Jackson is the Patriots sending a sixth to get Jackson and a seventh. That small of a fiscal transaction is the only way I can think of a deal actually getting done. Of course, the Patriots don't have a sixth, so call it a future swap instead."