Patriots make Flurry Of Transactions Tuesday

The New England Patriots made a number of moves Tuesday, to address both the present and the future of the their team. 

First, the team announced that it had released defensive tackle Anthony Johnson for the second time this season. Johnson had started the season on the team's active roster, then was released after Week 3.

After his release, Johnson was added to the team's practice squad. He was re-signed to the active roster ahead of the team's Week 6 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

From there, the Pats made a couple of trades in the afternoon.

The first deal saw that Pats ship third string tight end A.J. Derby to the Denver Broncos in exchange for a draft pick, according to the team site. The second move, according to NESN, was a deal to acquire outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy and a late round draft pick from the Detroit Lions, for a sixth-round pick.

Derby put together a solid enough preseason to force his way onto the team's initial 53-man roster, but failed to see much playing time through the team's first seven games. Playing behind the dynamic duo of Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett, it had been a struggle for the second year tight end to find his way onto the field and thus made him expendable.

Van Noy had started all seven of Detroit's games so far this season, recording 23 total tackles. The BYU product and former second round pick will likely add depth to a New England linebacking core that has dealt with a range of injuries throughout the first half of the season.

The team also released defensive back Vinnie Sunseri from the practice squad and added defensive back Shamiel Gary in his place.