FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Patriots have agreed to trade long-term Marcus Cannon attacks with the Houston Texans in an agreement involving a mid-to-late exchange of project selections, sources told ESPN.
Cannon dropped out of the 2020 season, and sources said a trade catalyst was that he did not report the Patriots for physical training and training – due to COVID-19 considerations – with the other players on the team who gave up.
The 6-foot, 335-pound cannon, a survivor of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, is from Texas. He also played college at Texas Christian.
The transaction cannot be formalized until the beginning of the league year, which starts on Wednesday at 16:00 ET.
Currently, Houston has two contractors with offensive attacks: left-hander Laremy Tunsil and first-round 2019 coach Tytus Howard. If both remain on the list before the start of the 2021 season, Howard could return. During his debut season, Howard played left guard and left attack before being moved to right attack.
Cannon has appeared in 115 career games in the NFL’s regular season (69 starts) and also in 19 playoff games (11 starts). He was part of three New England Super Bowl teams that selected him in the fifth round of the 2011 draft.
The Patriots, who previously agreed to a deal for Las Vegas Raiders offensive striker Trent Brown, will save about $ 6.3 million on the salary cap by trading Cannon.
The deal would be the first exchange between Patriots coach Bill Belichick and his longtime staff player director Nick Caserio, who is in his first season as Houston’s general manager.
The Boston Globe reported the transaction for the first time.
Sarah Barshop of ESPN contributed to this report.