The Hyperactive NFL Trade Deadline …

The NFL trade deadline came and went on Tuesday afternoon and this one was hectic.  Unlike some seasons where the top report emerging from the trade deadline is that Washington Commanders acquired offensive guard Joe Flabeetz from the Carolina Panthers for a fifth-round pick in next year’s draft, this year saw lots of deals and lots of good players changing uniforms.  The standout story of the deadline has to involve the NY Jets.

Lots of folks have wondered how the Jets could possibly trade two All-Pro defenders; I think the answer to that is rather simple:

• The Jets are a miserable 1-7-0 team with those two excellent players on the field; they can probably be a 1-7-0 team with other players on the field.  If not, how much worse can they be?
• The Jets harvested first and second round picks which – – if used constructively – – could add four young quality players to the roster.
• The Jets removed about $50M per year from their salary cap by trading those players; they will be “replaced” by guys on rookie deals; that should allow for some Jets’ activity in next Spring’s free agent feeding frenzy.

So, if my thinking aligns at all with the thinking of the Jets’ braintrust, the idea in NY is a complete teardown and rebuild.  And that would require a couple of things if the team is to pull it off successfully:

1. The owner has to be patient and in the specific case of the Jets, the owner has to get out of the way of the “football people” and to go radio silent.
2. If the Jets nail the draft in 2026 and are at .500 when next year’s trade deadline rolls around, the “football people” need to avoid “microwaving the rebuild”.  It will take time to rebuild and teams that think they are on the verge of success early on usually live to regret it.  See Washington Commanders trading for Marshon Lattimore…

So, what about the rest of the teams that made deals:

• The Colts sent two first round picks and a decent WR to the Jets for Sauce Gardner.  That move tells me the Colts think they can do some damage in the playoffs this year and that they will go forth with Daniel Jones as their QB down the line.
• The Cowboys acquired Queenan Williams from the Jets for a first round pick and a young DT.  As I understand it, the pick involved here is the one the Cowboys got from the Packers in the Micah Parsons trade.  That move will help the Cowboys’ defense against the run, but I doubt it will make the 31^st ranked defense into anything resembling a Top 10 unit.
• The Eagles’ defense has not been nearly as dominant this year as it was last year.  So, the Eagles added 4 defensive players over the last two weeks; they had a large inventory of draft picks in hand and used some of them to get two DBs and an edge rusher.  They also brought Brandon Graham back out of retirement with the intention of having him mentor young players.
• The Seahawks added another WR to go with Jaxon Smith-Ngigba.  The Seahawks are for real; that addition says they too think they can do damage in this year’s playoffs.

What surprised me a bit was that the Falcons were not able to trade Kirk Cousins and that the Giants were not able to trade Russell Wilson.  Neither veteran has a future with their current club and there are certainly teams in the league that might benefit from veteran leadership if not on-field performance.  Is this a sign that the Falcons and Giants asked too much for those backup QBs or is this an indication that no one in the NFL wants either player at any price?

I am also surprised that the Bengals kept Trey Hendrickson at the deadline.  The Bengals are going nowhere this year, and their defense is disastrously bad.  Nonetheless, Hendrickson – – who will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason – – and the team were locked into a contract stalemate for the entire Summer of 2025 meaning that he can likely leave Cincy and the team will get a compensatory pick and nothing else.

One last player who was not traded is Alvin Kamara.  The Saints need a total rebuild and Kamara is 30 years old.  He is unlikely to be in the NFL at all by the time the Saints are any good.  I thought for sure that Kamara would be moving on this week.  C’est la vie…

Finally, here is an interesting perspective on being a football player by Jack Kemp:

“Pro football gave me a good sense of perspective to enter politics: I’d already been booed, cheered, cut, sold, traded and hung in effigy.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………