Welcome to the Friday Five!

Each week during the NFL regular season, I will drop five Patriots-related thoughts on Friday to recap the week that was in Foxboro and look ahead to kickoff.

Ready, set, football.

1. Early trade watch

The NFL trade deadline stands more than a month away, but you’d be a fool to believe front offices aren’t peering ahead already.

The Davante Adams sweepstakes is underway, and while the Patriots are not considered suitors, they might eventually strike a deal involving a wide receiver. Not to acquire one — but send one away.

Consider: if Kendrick Bourne is activated Sunday, the Pats will roster seven receivers, including three who do not contribute on special teams. That number, for a team without a true No. 1 or No. 2 talent, is too high.

If Bourne plays Sunday, he will have five games to showcase his talents post-ACL tear. That may be enough to convince a receiver-starved contender (the Chiefs, Bills, Saints or Cowboys, to name a few) it’s worth taking a flier on the 29-year-old. Earlier this year, the Patriots included Bourne in a trade offer to satisfy the 49ers’ demands for Brandon Aiyuk. San Francisco was comfortable re-acquiring Bourne, a one-time starter, even before he had completed his recovery.

Imagine if sometime this month he posts a 100-yard game playing in an offense that had just 61 net passing yards two weeks ago? The Patriots would be wise to feature Bourne, not only because he’s the most established receiver on their depth chart, but his contract is tailor-made for a trade. The cap impact of offloading Bourne would be negligible, and as the Patriots seek future draft picks to fuel their ongoing rebuild, he just might net a late Day 3 pick.

If not Bourne, how about K.J. Osborn or Tyquan Thornton? Neither should fetch more than a seventh-round pick, if that. Because at this point, two and a half years into his career, Thornton lives smack dab on Bust Boulevard. Front offices don’t pony up for players like him or Osborn, an ex-Viking who signed a one-year, $4 million contract with less than $3.2 million guaranteed.

But say an unbeaten, upstart Minnesota team continues rolling to a 6-2 start. Would the Vikes entertain a reunion with Osborn, a proven, functioning No. 3 option in their offense? Or the Niners with Bourne?

Other potential trade pieces: cornerback Jonathan Jones and outside linebacker Joshua Uche.

2. Time for tough love

Turn’s out, the fourth time was the charm.

Jerod Mayo finally admitted Wednesday that the Patriots must walk the walk when it comes to players who turn the ball over. No one has violated the commandments of ball-control offense quite like Rhamondre Stevenson.

Stevenson’s four fumbles are more than 10 teams have so far this season. Were Stevenson anything less than the Patriots’ most dangerous weapon, he would have hit the bench long ago. And if Bill Belichick was still the head coach? Forget it.

Anyway, this was Mayo, finally coming around, on Wednesday. It’s time for tough love.

New England Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson can’t make a catch in the end zone during the second quarter of a game against Seattle at Gillette Stadium. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)

“I’ve had multiple conversations with Rhamondre. But look, we can’t preach that ball security is job security and still have him out there the majority of the time,” he said. “So, I think it sends a stronger message to the players that there are certain things that we just can’t do to win, especially with the team that we have today.

3. To motion or not to motion?

According to ESPN, the Patriots rank dead last this season in offensive plays with motion at the snap at 8.5%.

Motion at the snap has increasingly become a hallmark of modern offense, considering NFL teams utilized it just 4% of the time as recently as 2017. Nowadays, Miami’s offense – which visits Sunday – leads the league with 65.2% of their plays involving motion at the snap.

And yet, the two offenses have much more in common than their aforementioned rankings would suggest. Namely, they both stink.

The Patriots are the only team scoring more points than the Dolphins, who lost starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in Week 2. Miami’s offense is designed to maximize yards after the catch for receivers and spring speedy playmakers into space by giving them a pre-snap head start, but it has cratered without a capable trigger man.

Still, considering how little the Patriots’ coaches have done to give their lackluster weapons an advantage, more motion might be the ingredient they need. The Dolphins’ pass offense typically unloads the ball faster than most due to this motion, and more than half of the NFL’s top scoring offense also rank in the top 10 of motion percentage. If the Patriots can’t protect, why not put DeMario Douglas in motion more and have him speed into the flat or over the middle to get him open?

It’s not a magic elixir, but motion is an untapped resource for an offense that should be reaching for all the help it can get.

4. Stat of the Week

The Patriots’ offensive line is on pace to allow more hits (170) than any Red Sox pitcher has the last two seasons.

Brayan Bello yielded 157 this past season and a team-worst 165 last year. The Patriots have allowed 10 per game thus far, with no signs of firming up. Center David Andrews is facing season-ending shoulder surgery, while rookie right guard Layden Robinson is not only injured, but allowing five pressures per game. And left tackle Vederian Lowe, who might return Sunday, ranks dead last in ESPN’s pass-block win rate.

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5. The upside of youth

In a private conversation this week, one longtime Patriots veteran opened up about the team’s 1-3 start.

It’s been difficult, yes, but easier to handle than last year. The locker room is not on the precipice of being divided. Belief in Mayo’s program is not shaking.

Why the difference? The roster is younger now, he said. Most teammates just want to play and to win. Life is uncomplicated for them, whereas the older a team is, player egos and career aspirations and belief in their own expertise can be thornier to manage.

Time is on the Patriots’ side; from team leadership all the way down to the second- and third-stringers.