NFL Trading Frenzy

The NFL trade deadline came and went on Tuesday. Every year there’s speculation of a trading frenzy. Every year passes without one. This year was probably busier than most but still pales in comparison to the in-season trading frenzies seen in other leagues. It’s never the frenzy that fans and talking heads spend weeks building it up to be. Here are the NFL trades completed over the past month. 

NFL Trades Completed At The Trade Deadline

-Broncos trade cornerback Kary Vincent Jr. to the Eagles for a 2022 sixth-round pick

-Chiefs trade guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif to the Jets for tight end Dan Brown

-Texans trade defensive end Charles Omenihu to the 49ers for a 2023 sixth-round pick

-Steelers trade defensive end/linebacker Melvin Ingram to the Chiefs for a 2022 sixth-round pick

-Broncos trade linebacker Von Miller to the Rams for a 2022 second-round pick and a 2023 third-round pick

-Texans trade running back Mark Ingram to the Saints for a 2024 seventh-round pick

-Eagles trade Joe Flacco to the Jets for a conditional sixth-round pick

-Rams trade linebacker Kenny Young and a 2024 seventh-round pick to the Broncos for a 2024 sixth-round picks

-Vikings trade defensive end Stephen Weatherly and a 2023 seventh-round pick to the Broncos for a 2022 seventh-round pick

-Eagles trade tight end Zach Ertz to the Cardinals for cornerback Tay Gowan and a 2022 fifth-round pick

-Patriots trade cornerback Stephon Gilmore to the Panthers for a 2023 sixth-round pick

-Dolphins trade returner/receiver Jakeem Grant to the Bears for a 2023 sixth-round pick

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12 trades

Four trades were done on deadline day. The following players were the principle targets:

Kary Vincent Jr.

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif

Charles Omenihu

Melvin Ingram

-4 deadline deals. A frenzy!

One trade was done on the eve of deadline day

Von Miller

-This was the biggie

Sixth-round picks were the currency of choice. Seven of the twelve trades included a sixth-round pick. 

The biggest trade has to be the one that sent Von Miller to the Rams. He’s 32. An injury wiped out his 2020 season. He’s two years removed from a nine-sack, Pro Bowl season. He has 4.5 sacks in seven games this season. The Rams like to collect veterans. Their lack of draft picks over the coming years is the result of their presence for veterans. It’s as if George Allen is running the Rams again. Their next pick might be in 2025. Miller gives them a talented pass rusher this season and this season is all that matters to the Rams. Their window is now. On paper at least, Aaron Donald and Von Miller are a spectacular, pass-rushing pair. 

Big Names Moving

Von Miller

Zach Ertz

Melvin Ingram

Mark Ingram

Stephon Gilmore

While all might be slightly past their prime each should provide some juice for their new team. 

The most curious trade was probably the trade that sent rookie cornerback Kary Vincent Jr. from the Broncos to the Eagles. Rookies usually aren’t trade targets. Vincent was inactive for every game of his Broncos career. The Eagles apparently have better plans for him. Vincent was a seventh-round pick and the Broncos received a sixth-round pick. From a purely bookkeeping angle, that feels like a win for the Broncos. 

The trade that I might like the most is the 49ers trade for Charles Omenihu. Perhaps it’s due to my becoming a fan of his during the 2019 draft evaluation process. I thought that he had intriguing pass rush potential. He showed some of that potential in his first two seasons with the Texans. I guess that he didn’t show enough as now he’s with his second team. I still think that the 49ers added a talented pass rusher. 

Buyers/sellers

In the weeks and days leading up to the NFL trade deadline, talking heads talk of teams being buyers or sellers. In reality, teams are neither. Why do so many try so hard to create something that simply isn’t? It’s just too difficult for a football team to incorporate new players into the offense or defense on the fly. The weeks are already filled with the game planning for the next opponent. Where’s the time to make significant internal changes. Then there’s the salary cap. There aren’t a lot of teams with the available cap space to add a big contract. There are a lot of teams that might want to dump salary. There aren’t a lot of teams that have the ability to absorb that salary. The teams that can absorb that salary then must have an interest in the player. In order to do the Von Miller deal, the Rams needed the Broncos to pay $9 million of the $9.7 still owed this season to the linebacker. The third-round pick that was part of the trade compensation was likely for that financial favor more than for the player.  

The Minnesota Vikings were mostly terrible against the Dallas Cowboys on Halloween Night. That prompted local media hacks and disgruntled fans to cry for the Vikings to be trade deadline sellers. Send Patrick Peterson here. Xavier Woods there. Whoever wherever. It’s such a waste of thought and time. Dumping salary at the trade deadline isn’t going to happen in Minnesota. It isn’t going to happen to happen in the NFL. 

The Vikings sadly lost that Halloween game to the Cowboys. They also sadly lost defensive end Danielle Hunter in that sad game to a torn pectoral muscle. Rumor has it that the Vikings tried to swing a deadline deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars for K’Lavon Chaisson. The second-year pass rusher would’ve been an intriguing addition but the teams couldn’t agree on a deal. Perhaps the Jaguars simply weren’t ready to give up on their 2020 first-round pick. 

I look forward to each and every event on the NFL calendar but the in-season trade deadline. The best part of the deadline is the day after. That’s when the pointless speculation finally ends.