Trading Flurry

The NFL trade deadline is 4 p.m. ET Tuesday. The suits at 345 Park Avenue want a flurry of trades. The talking heads in the media speculate on and predict a flurry of trades. As a result, fans drool over the possibility of a flurry of trades. The NFL trade deadline isn't like those of the nation's other professional sports league. Midseason football trades rarely make an impact during the season in which they are made. It takes too long to integrate a new player, at most positions, into a football team. There are only eight games to do it. Practices are short and few and are dedicated to preparing the team for the next game. It can take an entire offseason to get the timing down between a quarterback and a receiver, left tackle and left guard, defensive tackle and defensive end. It can take time to integrate a player from one system into a new one. The NFL simply doesn't have that sort of time. Those suits don't care if the trades that are made turn out to be terrible football moves. They want the trades because they thirst for the attention that those moves bring. For some reason the suits think that their league needs more attention. Despite the low success rate of midseason football trades teams still make them. It certainly helps when one of those trades does work. Last year the Philadelphia Eagles acquired running back Jay Ajayi from the Miami Dolphins for a fourth-round pick. Ajayi played a big role in a Super Bowl run. The fact that Ajayi was part of a committee of backs and didn't have to carry the load was a great benefit to the Eagles and the new player. This year, some trades have been made and perhaps more will be made but I'd be very surprised if there's a trading flurry in advance of Tuesday's trade deadline.

So far:

1. New York Giants traded Damon Harrison to the Detroit Lions for a 2019 fifth-round pick.

2. New York Giants traded Eli Apple to the New Orleans Saints for a 2019 fourth-round pick and a 2020 seventh-round pick.

3. Oakland Raiders traded Amari Cooper to the Dallas Cowboys for a 2019 first-round pick.

4. Cleveland Browns traded Carlos Hyde to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a 2019 fifth-round pick.

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Four trades. That's a fine start for those that dream of an NFL trade deadline trading flurry. All four have fairly big to big names. Two of the four are former first round picks (Cooper and Apple), one was a second round pick (Hyde), and one was an All-Pro (Harrison). Maybe those silly suits are happy. We'll know more about their relative happiness on Tuesday.

The Giants' view of their team sure has changed since the offseason. A 1-6 start can do that. The moves in the offseason showed a team with postseason dreams. The Giants needed to improve their offensive line, linebackers, and running game. They signed New England Patriots left tackle Nate Solder in free agency, traded for Los Angeles Rams linebacker Alec Ogeltree, and drafted Penn State running back Saquon Barkley with the second pick of the 2018 NFL Draft. Harrison and Apple were critical players on a defense that the Giants thought could be truly improved with Ogeltree leading it. 1-6 later and Harrison is a 30-year old, 1-down, run-stuffer and Apple is a nuisance.

Who knows what Jon Gruden and the Raiders are doing? Or thinking?

Injuries have made the Jaguars desperate for a running game and the Browns have a promising rookie back in Nick Chubb. This is the one trade, of the four made so far, that feels productive for both teams.

I've often wondered if Roger Goodell would give incentives to teams to make midseason trades. Those incentives could be financial or compensatory draft picks. He's the sort of maniac that would do something ludicrous like that just to bring a bit more attention to the game. Maybe he and his cronies should spend more time focusing on the actual games.