Right before the start of free agency, Patriots’ GM, head coach and mastermind Bill Belichick struck again by trading a 2020 5th round pick to the Eagles for DE Michael Bennett and a 2020 7th rounder.

Bennett is a monster talent — a hugely disruptive force on the defensive line, who had 78 QB pressures last season, right at the top of the league along with with Dee Ford, J.J. Watt and Trey Flowers.

The reason the Eagles moved on from Bennett was his $7.5M cap hit for next season. It was viewed as a salary dump. However, once free agency opened, the Eagles inked Malik Jackson, a less effective defender than Bennett, to a $30M contract for 3 seasons.

One of Belichick’s classic moves is to acquire the players who have put the hurt on his own squad. As a Seahawk, Michael Bennett showed up huge in Super Bowl XLIX against New England, hitting Brady five times, drawing an offensive holding call and was as unblockable as Ernie Adams and the Patriots expected.

Belichick’s bargain basement quarterback hitting monster will cost the team only $7.2M in cap space this season, less than half of the $16M+ per season the Lions are paying for Trey Flowers. While he’s 34 years old, the smart money is that Bennett benefits from Belichick’s coaching and delivers a lot more than half the impact Flowers has this coming year.

Bennett is also known for beating up a paraplegic old woman stadium security guard at the end of Super Bowl LI who was trying to prevent him from going onto the field to celebrate the Patriots’ unbelievable comeback win against the Falcons with his brother Marty. Bennett is a man who lets neither giant offensive linemen nor old cripple women prevent him from getting to where he needs to be. That’s big value for a 5th round pick.