The trade deadline is upon us, with one more week of games between us and the 4 p.m. ET Tuesday deadline, which means only one thing: It’s time to fantasize about what could happen. (Or, in the case of the Eagles, actually make something happen that was worth fantasizing about.) I think there could be one or two honest-to-goodness blockbusters remaining, with this weekend serving as a tipping point for a few clubs deciding which path they want to take as they reach a fork in the road.
Before we get into it, I wanted to just add that although this is a very fun exercise for us, it is not a fun exercise for players. While they understand the platform comes with certain expectations, displacing your family and having to change your daughter’s school after she finally gets comfortable with the right friends and the right teacher is a nightmare. I was definitely humbled when I heard one player’s story this past season and what kind of stressors that added to his life. I believe Saquon Barkley when he says he doesn’t want to go anywhere. It’s important to keep that in mind while you are tagging random athletes online in the coming weeks and telling them to join your team. They probably don’t want to, even if their current team is bad!
Some quick thoughts:
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• The Commanders are going to be the biggest curiosity. While it’s only a pickle for the current staff, we are about to see where ownership is leaning. It would be irresponsible to allow this much potential draft equity to go to waste if Washington is not going to re-sign Chase Young or Montez Sweat (though one of them will be slapped with the franchise tag at season’s end, for sure). Colleague Albert Breer raised in his Week 7 Takeaways on Monday what some inside the league are discussing with interest: Would they force the current group to stock the cupboard for the new guys, or would they believe the coaching staff and personnel setup they have now is actually the answer, and empower them to make those decisions with an eye on what they are building? While I think either scenario could still result in a bit of movement, Washington’s game against Philadelphia this weekend will likely nudge the group in one direction or another. The Commanders took the Eagles to overtime in their last matchup, which is worth remembering. They are in it almost every week, save for two disappointing blowout losses to the Bills and Bears.
• The Panthers are going to come under the spotlight. I don’t know how sunny it is right now at HQ in Charlotte for a lot of reasons. But the reality of the situation is such: Brian Burns could have yielded a massive return last year, but the Panthers opted to keep him. However, they have not yet extended Burns, either. The limited amount of time left on Burns’s deal torpedoes his value on the open market this year. Jeremy Chinn, who also could have drummed up some interest, is injured. Underlying all of this? The Panthers are (rightfully) high on defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, who is working through a massive transition defensively from one scheme to another. How do Burns and Derrick Brown fit long term in that scheme? Is Evero, whom we’ve pegged as a future head-coaching candidate, going to be around long enough to warrant consideration as they move pieces around? It’s all a big mess, not to mention the fact that many people have their eyes on the offensive play-calling transition and are wondering what the impetus for the move was. Oh, and they don’t have a first-round pick (right now, the No. 1 pick, in case you forgot) because they traded it to the Bears to draft Bryce Young.
• Are the Eagles done? Howie Roseman is a stone-cold killer this time of year.
• The logjam in the NFC South is keeping some really good players from moving, namely all of the stalwarts on that Saints defense and the Buccaneers’ wide receiving corps. Everyone rightfully feels like they have a shot to win the division.
Moving on, here are some trades I would like to see. Again, an emphasis on trades I would like to see. Have a trade you would like? Send it to my email, I’m happy to discuss it there, or on the next episode of The MMQB Podcast.
Justin Ford/Getty Images; illustration by Bryce Wood
1. Titans RB Derrick Henry to the Browns
Compensation: 2024 third-round pick, ’25 sixth-round pick
The Browns’ time to win is now. Whether Deshaun Watson wants to come for that ride is up to him. Cleveland doesn’t have a first-round pick in this upcoming draft, and, while the focus should be on fortifying the running game beyond the Nick Chubb years, Henry would be a quick solution to a pressing need. Cleveland cannot win games without completely overstressing its opponents at the line of scrimmage. Depending on what Watson does, the need for ancillary pieces who can diversify their game plan are pressing. Actually, that’s true whether or not Watson is playing and healthy.
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2. Broncos CB Patrick Surtain II to the Eagles
Compensation: Two first-round picks (2024, ’25) and a ’25 third-round pick.
This would be the ultimate Roseman move, sending the Eagles into the postseason with Darius Slay, James Bradberry and Patrick Surtain II as their top cornerbacks. I think Surtain could be had, even though he was previously viewed as the one untouchable commodity in this upcoming Broncos fire sale. Denver needs draft equity. It needs to start over. While corner is not the biggest weak point for the Eagles (before the Kevin Byard trade, Justin Simmons might have made more sense for Philadelphia), there is so much flexibility for defensive coordinator Sean Desai when you can confidently take away such large swaths of the field, or unleash more pass rushers with confidence that the back end of your defense won’t fall apart. Surtain’s 2021 rookie season, in which nearly 100 targets yielded only 49 completions and an opposing passer rating of 61.3%, set an incredibly high bar for one of the league’s top corners. He could hit that ceiling in Philly.
3. Titans QB Ryan Tannehill to the Browns
Compensation: 2024 fifth-round pick
Depending on whether Kyler Murray expedites his return, we could also slide Joshua Dobbs into this space as well. The Browns got this fifth-round pick for Dobbs in the first place, couldn’t they simply return it, no questions asked? I know Tannehill isn’t an upgrade, but would it be foolish for Cleveland, especially with Watson’s shoulder issue, not to look at the quarterback market? Again, everything hinges on the team’s pivot to competitiveness this year, and, while you still have to maintain a sense of pragmatism, there’s nothing wrong with supporting Watson and bolstering the offense with a quarterback who can win you games. Roseman, in Philadelphia, has been instructive in humbling himself via transactions. He spent a lot of high picks on receivers, then after none of them panned out, he spent some more and made trades. Cleveland made the god-awful decision to bring Watson aboard out of sheer desperation. Wouldn’t the only thing worse be doubling down on Watson and not buttressing the depth chart?
4. Vikings edge Danielle Hunter to the Ravens
Compensation: 2024 second-round pick, ’24 fifth-round pick
The Ravens (as always) have a stockpile of fourth-round picks, which helps mitigate the sting of Minnesota’s asking price. Defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald has been on an absolute tear this year and deserves more than just Jadeveon Clowney coming off one of the edges. Baltimore is peaking at the right time and, with a little bit of gas, can start to pad the distance between itself and the rest of the AFC North. I love the idea of a deal like this, because, as we mentioned before, trades can suck for players. For an edge rusher, coming to Baltimore is like a violinist getting into Juilliard. Hunter would be properly molded and supported.
5. Commanders edge Chase Young to the Seahawks
Compensation: 2024 third-round pick, ’25 sixth-round pick
The No. 2 pick in the 2020 draft may be wedged out in Washington, regardless of what the Commanders decide to do. Barring some kind of bridge deal, the franchise tag may make more sense used on a different player. Sometimes, trades are for the best and Young, whose true potential was never really tapped in Washington, could find a second life under the Pete Carroll umbrella. The Seahawks are waffling between legitimate contender and team that could run out of gas and be caught by the Rams. Adding an edge presence and enriching their arsenal of rushers, who are already seventh in ESPN’s pass-rush win rate metric (although a lot of that was thanks to a slaughtering of the Giants a few weeks back) would be adding to a strength and keeping Young away from San Francisco.
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6. Giants RB Saquon Barkley to the Dolphins
Compensation: Barkley and a 2024 fourth-round pick for a ’25 second-round pick
The Dolphins may seem all set on offense, but Miami has been in on many of the backs who have flashed on the market, from Jonathan Taylor to Dalvin Cook. This could be a chance to go all-in while the team feels it has the chance. The Dolphins’ focus on speed could use a power component, and Barkley could provide an edge, and another intermediate receiving option, for a Dolphins team that should be trying to add new wrinkles the deeper it gets into the playoffs. Barkley does not want to leave New Jersey, and I believe him when he says that. However, the chance to play for Mike McDaniel and to become proficient in an offense that could extend his career by a season or two is an opportunity that would be hard to pass up.
7. Broncos OT Garett Bolles to the Jets
Compensation: 2024 third-round pick, ’25 fifth-round pick
I wonder whether the Jets will use this as an opportunity to fix their offensive line ahead of the draft. Regardless of whether they feel they are competitors right now, they are going to need a younger anchor tackle for the future, and perhaps even sooner if Aaron Rodgers decides to make a late-season comeback. Mekhi Becton will be a free agent after this year and is really just an Elmer’s glue piece at this point while the Jets bide their time. The entire unit has been decimated by injury, with both Duane Brown and Alijah Vera-Tucker landing on IR. Bolles, who reshaped his career after a rocky start, has grown into one of the better tackles in the league. My colleague Albert Breer had also encouraged me to mention the 49ers as a possible Bolles suitor, as both insurance and a batterymate for Trent Williams. I would assume the Jets don’t want to get into a bidding war for a 31-year-old tackle, but based on where they may finish in the draft standings, an obvious stand-in isn’t necessarily guaranteed.
8. Broncos S Justin Simmons to the Steelers
Compensation: 2024 third-round pick
While this may seem odd, given that the Steelers are settled at the position, Simmons could break open the defense and allow all of its component parts to spread their wings. Safeties are valuable, especially rangy ones, in a division where the more physical the secondary, the better its chances of survival. Pittsburgh is not one offensive upgrade away from becoming an elite offense, but Simmons could get the Steelers to the territory where, if Pittsburgh makes the playoffs as a low seed, it would have a better chance of completely upending an opponent by showing them something they haven’t shown all season, or simply overwhelming them with experience in the secondary and creating that critical turnover. This would remind me a little of when they plucked Minkah Fitzpatrick away from the Dolphins in 2019.
9. Broncos WR Jerry Jeudy to the Cowboys
Compensation: 2024 third- and fourth-round picks
Much like they did with Amari Cooper in October 2018, the Cowboys can make a move to bring in one of the better available wide receivers ahead of the deadline. Until the last minute, I had the Bills in this space, given Buffalo’s stockpile of mid-round picks, which could make it easier to reach first-round value even without an actual first-round pick (I would guess my comp is way off here, even though Dallas will have a low first-round pick, and equaling that value on the pick chart isn’t as hard as a high first-round pick). Still, I would imagine Dallas feels like it has to make some kind of move. As good as recent Cowboys teams have been, there exists a notable complacency when it comes to making that signature upgrade, much like their division rivals in Philadelphia have done. Jeudy would add another skilled body and can shove along an offense that has been mediocre over the past few weeks (16th from Weeks 3 to 7 in terms of EPA per play).
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