The NFL trade deadline has gone and passed, and the New England Patriots didn't make any moves.

New England's inactive deadline is a bit surprising considering reports in recent weeks suggested that it would at least trade one of its veteran wide receivers plus it was receiving interest in several of its players. Some drama sparked surrounding the Patriots on Tuesday when offensive tackle Trent Brown tweeted “next chapter” but then realized the mistake he made tweeting that out on deadline day just minutes later.

Alas, the 2022 season will continue for the Patriots. But as we wait for them to take the field again on Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts, here are two moves they should've made ahead of deadline day.

Trade away Nelson Agholor

It's been pretty clear in recent weeks that the Patriots have a bit of a logjam at receiver. New England's currently got five (Nelson Agholor, Kendrick Bourne, Jakobi Meyers, DeVante Parker, and Tyquan Thornton) on its active roster plus Lil'Jordan Humphrey, who has played 128 offensive snaps so far this season, on its practice squad. That's a lot of receivers to have on a team that runs a lot of 11 and 12 personnel on offense.

Naturally, some receivers are going to fall victim to a lack of playing time because of it. With Thornton being healthy in recent weeks plus Meyers being out of his brief injury spell, the Patriots just haven't had enough snaps to spread around for their receiving corps.

Agholor was the clear odd man out of the group, even with Parker reportedly set to miss at least a game due to a knee injury he suffered in Sunday's win over the New York Jets. Parker actually suffered the injury on the Patriots' first snap, and Agholor still played in only 19 of New England's offensive 78 snaps on Sunday.

Agholor really didn't see many snaps either in the weeks prior to the Week 8 win. Part of that was due to injury, which forced him to leave the win against the Detroit Lions early and miss the following game against the Cleveland Browns. But the Patriots moved the ball well enough through the air in those two games with Bailey Zappe as the rookie quarterback threw for 497 yards over those two games.

Beyond a lack of playing time, Agholor's never really found his stride in his year-plus tenure with the Patriots. He only had 37 receptions for 473 yards and a touchdown last season and has just 15 receptions for 227 yards with a touchdown this season. Nearly half of those yards came in Week 2 against the Pittsburgh Steelers when Agholor caught six passes for 110 yards and a touchdown.

Agholor's production in the Week 2 win shows that he still has the ability to show out and make plays. But as his contract ends after 2022 season, both sides might have been better off parting ways a bit early as Agholor never really found a true fit in New England.

Trade for Roquan Smith

A week ago, I said that the Patriots shouldn't be buyers ahead of the trade deadline. I would've made a few exceptions though, and Roquan Smith is one of them.

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Arguably the position the Patriots have been the weakest at this season is linebacker. Ja'Whaun Bentley's carried the consistency he's brought over the past few seasons, but there hasn't been much outstanding play outside of him. Raekwon McMillan's struggled to hold his own in pass coverage while Mack Wilson's been best suited as a blizter up the middle and Jahlani Tavai has been fine but unspectacular all around.

Smith could've been the solution to fix many of those problems. For starters, his 83 combined tackles are the most in the league and his 60 solo tackles are the second-most among all linebackers. And this season might be a bit of a down year for the 25-year-old Smith as he had 163 combined tackles last season en route to being named All-Pro for a second consecutive year.

The Patriots had a front-row seat though to how effective Smith can be just a week ago. He had 12 total tackles, a sack, and an interception in the Chicago Bears' 33-14 win over the Patriots in Week 7, taking over that Monday night game for the Bears defensively.

Maybe giving up the price that the Baltimore Ravens gave up, which was a second-round pick and a fifth-round pick, was too rich for the Patriots considering where they are right now and the positional value of an off-ball linebacker. But the Patriots' defense could use another high-level playmaker outside of Matthew Judon, especially at a position that it isn't too strong at.