The NFL Trade Deadline is typically the most pointless and overblown date on the calendar, which is hyped to the moon and never delivers — but that changed on Tuesday. The chaos and parity of the 2025 season means that over 20 teams have a reasonable shot to make the playoffs with a strong second half to the season, which led to a flurry of deals. We saw some teams trying to improve, others hold onto their spot, and some who decided to blow everything up.
Let’s take a spin around the league and look at the biggest winners and losers from the deadline.
It’s okay to bristle at the idea of the already hopeless Jets trading away their two best players at the deadline. It’s not as if Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams are easily replaced players, and there’s no question the team is worse today than yesterday — but the future is much, much brighter. When it comes to brass tacks the Jets haven’t been winning with Gardner and Williams, and if the front office thinks it’s time to fully rebuild, then wasting talents for 2-3 years during the rebuild just isn’t smart.
The Jets took advantage of a sellers market to add a ludicrous amount of assets at the deadline. In total they received:
- 1st round pick in 2026 (from the Colts)
- 2nd round pick in 2026 (from the Cowboys)
- 1st round pick in 2027 (from the Colts)
- 1st round pick in 2027 (from the Cowboys)
- WR Adonai Mitchell (from the Colts)
- DT Mazi Smith (from the Cowboys)
This is the kind of draft firepower that could actually reform the roster. Hiring Aaron Glenn was as much about instituting a culture shift than anything else, and you have to trust the process if you’re a Jets fan. Getting both Mitchell and Smith in the trade were more-or-less throw ins, and neither have been very promising since being drafted — but they’re interesting guys who have enough upside that it’s worth taking a flier and seeing if you can unlock either one of them.
The one guy on the Jets roster who desperately wanted a trade never got one. Hall has been deeply unhappy with the Jets, and was hoping to be dealt on the deadline — but a trade never came to pass. New York wanted a 3rd round pick for the running back, which was fair compensation in a seller’s market for the 24-year-old back, but in the end nobody came to the party.
It’s a little surprising we didn’t see a team throw a third for Hall, who is on pace for over 1,000 yards this season and running for 5.0 YPC. It stinks being left on an island, and that’s exactly what happened to Breece Hall, who will now need to endure the rebuild.
There aren’t too many players who will be happier on Wednesday morning that Rasheed Shahid. The Saints receiver was having a decent season in New Orleans, but there was ceiling on his potential because of the quarterback position. Now he gets a major glow-up in Seattle, where he’ll have the opportunity to play on one of the most high-powered passing offenses in the NFL.
This is a huge deal for a player set to hit free agency in 2026. A chance to showcase his talents in the back half of the year and into the playoffs on a legitimate offense could increase is value by over $10M or more. Instead of playing out the season for a hopeless franchise, now he’s on one of the best teams in the NFC. Not a bad way to spend a Tuesday afternoon.
Loser: The contenders with holes
Did teams like the Bills and Chiefs forget it was deadline day? There’s certainly logic to staying pat in a seller’s market and not mortgaging the future, and certainly nobody was advocating something like Buffalo sending two firsts for Sauce Gardner — but it’s wild to see neither of the blue bloods in the AFC make any kind of deal at the deadline.
These are teams with huge question marks down the stretch. The Bills are weak at receiver and in the secondary, the Chiefs’ running game has struggled, and Patrick Mahomes can’t do it all on his own. Either one of these organizations would have benefitted greatly with some new blood down the stretch — and instead they stayed pat.
It’s a bold move in a season where literally anyone could win the Super Bowl. One would think either the Bills or Chiefs would do anything they could to get an edge, but instead it was crickets from both organizations. We’ll see if that comes back to haunt them.
I don’t hate the addition of Quinnen Williams here, but it all just feels so ass backwards as an organization. Jerry Jones did follow though on the promise of making a big splash and getting better against the run, but at what cost?
Williams carries a $21M cap hit next year that will make it impossible to work out a deal for George Pickens unless the team restructures contracts. We know they’ll do that to keep their talent, but modeling yourself after the Saints cap hell of kicking the can down the road really isn’t sound logic.
The only good thing about the Williams trade was keeping their 2026 1st rounder, which could be high. The problem is that losing what could be a high second and a future first, while screwing your salary cap is a lot of deck chair rearranging on the Titanic.
Trading Micah Parsons had one silver living: Draft assets and cap flexibility. Both of those are now gone.
Winner: Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles made the kind of moves I would have liked to see from the Bills and Chiefs. Philly know it’s already a contender, but still made smart, high-upside deals to acquire an EDGE in Jaelen Phillips (for a 3rd round pick), and got CB Michael Carter II in the window for John Metchie III and a 6th round pick. These are the kind of smart additions that open the widow a little wider, and plug some holes.
It’s not just the moves the Eagles made, but the fact they didn’t have to overpay compared to the field.
