Wes Welker, celebrating a TD reception against San Diego in the AFC title game, was a great catch for the Patriots.

The Journal / Bob Breidenbach

This weekend’s NFL Draft is the 73rd for the league, and the ninth for Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli with the New England Patriots. Since taking over the team in 2000, the Patriots have selected 70 players in the draft, at every position except punter.

And they have made more than half that many trades either during draft weekend or in the days leading up to the event. Those trades have led to the acquisition of key players, in many cases, and in nearly all cases the Patriots got even more draft picks for use in future years.

It is clearly a key part of New England’s drafting and team crafting strategy, and like the majority of moves made by the franchise since 2000, they’ve worked out for the best.

There’s no arguing the first trade of the Belichick/Pioli Era, though they weren’t the ones that pulled the trigger on it: in exchange for the Jets releasing Belichick from his contract (Belichick was supposed to become head coach in New York), New England gave its divisional rival its first-round pick in 2000.

Three Super Bowl titles and one near-perfect season later, it would be hard to argue with owner Robert Kraft’s decision to surrender that number-one pick.

Coming in second behind that first trade are the trades the Pats made last March and April. Not wanting to write a so-called poison pill clause into the contract offer for Miami restricted free agent Wes Welker that would make it impossible for Miami to match the terms of the deal, New England gave the Dolphins their second-round pick as well as a seventh-round choice.

Then a late-night series of calls after the first three rounds of the draft led to a fourth-round slot heading to Oakland and Randy Moss wearing a Patriots uniform.

All Welker and Moss did last season was combine for 244 catches, 2,975 yards and 34 touchdowns.

In 2001, New England made six draft-weekend trades, two of which led to the team acquiring one player: Matt Light. First, the Patriots switched second-round spots with the Steelers. Pittsburgh moved up from number 50 to 39 to get linebacker Kendrell Bell. The Pats got a sixth-round pick, as well. Knowing that the Jets, who were picking at 48, wanted Light, as well, New England gave Detroit the number 50 and a sixth-round pick it received from San Francisco in a previous trade.

The Pats moved up to 47 and got their man.

In 2002, the team made five trades just before or during the draft, three of which wound up paying big dividends for New England. Sending disgruntled receiver Terry Glenn to Green Bay netted the fourth-round pick that became Jarvis Green. A package of three picks to Washington brought it the Redskins’ pick at 21, which was used on Daniel Graham, and a trade with Buffalo gave the Bills Drew Bledsoe and the Pats a first-round pick that would eventually become Ty Warren.

There were a whopping 10 trades in 2003, including the swap of first-round slots with Chicago (New England went from the 14 it got from Buffalo to 13) to draft Warren, and a trade with Baltimore that led to Vince Wilfork in 2004. The Pats also traded with Houston, moving up in the second round to pick Eugene Wilson, with Carolina to move up in the second round to pick Bethel Johnson, with Denver to move up in the fourth round to pick Asante Samuel, and with Tennessee to move up in the fifth round to choose Dan Koppen.

While there was only one trade in 2004, it was no small move. The Patriots sent their second-round draft pick to Cincinnati to acquire Corey Dillon. In his first season with New England, Dillon rushed for a franchise-record 1,635 yards and made his first career playoff appearance as the team went on to win Super Bowl XXXIX.

In 2005, there were five trades, which weren’t as successful as those made the previous two years. A third- and fifth-round pick were sent to Arizona for corner Duane Starks, who did nothing to distinguish himself with the Pats. A trade with the Ravens brought the pick that became Ellis Hobbs, and a swap with Oakland led to the picks for Matt Cassel and Ryan O’Callaghan in 2006.

Also in ’06, the Pats traded with Green Bay, moving up 16 spots in the second round to acquire Chad Jackson, though Jackson has yet to live up to expectations.

And last year, with two first-round picks after sending Deion Branch to Seattle, New England sent the second (28th overall) to San Francisco for the 49ers’ first-round spot this year, which turned out to be number seven.

Whether it’s lucky number seven remains to be seen.

smanza@projo.com