The trade deadline has come and gone, with a record number of deals on deadline day itself. Of course, this process begins months before, at the end of training camp when general managers realize how strong or weak their rosters really are. The running dialogue commences in what has become another made-for-television moment for the NFL.
Who did well? Who missed a great opportunity? We break it all down right here:
WINNERS
Scott Fitterer
While I would have taken two first-round picks for Brian Burns, it’s not hard to understand why the Panthers’ GM wouldn’t want to acquire picks theoretically unusable until after the next presidential election. (Though on the flip side, he could bundle those picks as ammunition to improve this year’s haul—it’s a really interesting question, and draft economists have some fascinating thoughts on how silly it is that teams overvalue picks in lieu of better picks down the road.) Fitterer now has six picks in the top 150 of this year’s draft, and while he may have been able to squeeze a bit more juice out of the Christian McCaffrey trade, his haul for an extremely talented (but older and injury-prone) running back was good. And based on their performances since, it clearly didn’t destroy the team’s psyche.
Kyle Shanahan and Christian McCaffrey
We have full thoughts here, but it feels like this was the final piece of Shanahan’s stylistic vision come to life. The 49ers wouldn’t have paid a premium for McCaffrey if it wasn’t. For one, I like the move for McCaffrey personally. This feels like a place he could potentially spend another half decade, aging gracefully in the system instead of getting run into the ground. The 49ers acquired Kyle Juszczyk before his age-26 season, and Shanhan is still keeping Juszczyk busy into his early 30s (different situation, obviously, but Juszczyk is certainly still taking his hits). The trade also freed up Jeff Wilson Jr., who was flipped to Miami to help defray the cost.
Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus
Part 1 of my Bears praise here: I don’t think a rebuild needs to be as static as we sometimes make it out to be. Yes, the Bears got a premium pick back for Roquan Smith and then sent it straight away for Chase Claypool, but they are also setting the parameters for what they want out of a roster in the future. Poles, a rookie GM, showed he could extract solid value and, in the case of Claypool specifically, I don’t mind the idea of renting him for a year before having to wade into the Christian Kirk (and beyond) contractual waters, especially if Chicago is hoping Claypool can evolve into an Allen Lazard–type player (which would mean some improvement on the run blocking front). As we mentioned in the trade grades, I also like the idea that Eberflus isn’t tied to anyone starting with next year’s draft. He built one hell of a defense in Indianapolis.
Justin Fields and Luke Getsy
From a tactical standpoint, if you have a burner getting downfield you’re taking one more defensive player out of the equation if and when Justin Fields decides to take off and run. From an aesthetic standpoint, Claypool offers you much more than a basic burner. I think the Bears are just starting to hit their stride offensively. We mentioned the Cowboys game in the trade grades, and Fields’s zone-read game is so good right now—he had DeMarcus Lawrence stumbling a few times Sunday. Fields was also pushing the ball downfield pretty well and nearly connected with Velus Jones on a deep shot. Claypool gives them another wrinkle and another player you might want taking a handoff in the backfield from a different angle.
Howie Roseman
I don’t know how expansive Roseman’s plan was a few years ago, or whether he pushed it into hyperdrive once he saw the early success of Nick Sirianni, but this roster has gone from pleasant surprise to the second-best chance of winning a Super Bowl in the NFL. The addition of Robert Quinn is a game-changer, and the best kind for a team with playoff aspirations. As we discussed on this week, Quinn is stylistically different but has the potential to be a Von Miller–type presence. Dwight Freeney–plus. What matters in big games are the little moments when a left tackle is facing off against a veteran pass rusher, who has been prodding the lineman all game for weak spots and then finally hits him with a move he’s been refining for more than a decade.
I think what I like about Roseman’s plan the most is that it allows him to be wrong. The Eagles don’t have to win a certain way for this to work. They can win in myriad ways, now, including, and especially, a messy defensive game.
Running backs
Christian McCaffrey was dealt to the 49ers. James Robinson is now a member of the Jets. Jeff Wilson is en route to Miami. Nyheim Hines is in Buffalo. The Bills wanted Alvin Kamara. Almost all of these moves were a signal that their respective teams were going for it, or at least getting markedly better. Hines could very well save Josh Allen from taking some unnecessary hits down the stretch (in that maybe Allen utilizes the checkdown a little more), and McCaffrey is already triple-crowning in San Francisco. Robinson could be a stabilizing factor for young Jets quarterback Zach Wilson.
Odell Beckham Jr.
While I think too much has been made about the “sweepstakes” to sign Beckham once he recovers from his torn ACL, the fact that the young wide receiver market stayed somewhat stagnant makes him a more valuable commodity come late November or early December. It’s still probably a thin market between a handful of absolute contenders and fringe contenders (with the Rams being the only team among them who truly have a dearth of receiving talent).
Joe Schoen
The Giants’ GM is—I feel like I say this a lot—the first outside personnel voice the team has had since the late 1970s (the GM job was passed to George Young deputy Ernie Accorsi, then Accorsi deputy Jerry Reese, then Accorsi deputy Dave Gettleman). Schoen did a fine job of balancing the fact that his team is in contention with the fact that they may not be ready to compete with the top of the NFC. They subtracted at the deadline and didn’t add. His reasoning: “When we made the [Kadarius] Toney move, we talked to the captains and let them know we’re always going to win. [Brian] Daboll and I are super competitive, and we’re always going to try to do what’s best for the organization. But again, you just can’t be reckless with those draft picks and the future capital, where we are as we build this thing. Again, there’s a lot of players that are here that we like. Some were here before I got here that have done a really good job for us and are good players. Just being smart, we didn’t want to be reckless with it.”
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Kwesi Adofo-Mensah
While I don’t think a ton of people were wild about the massive trade down with Detroit, I like Adofo-Mensah’s mentality about trading within the division. It’s sort of a dated issue, especially with the expanded wild card. There are more avenues into the playoffs, even if the most secure one is still winning the division. In T.J. Hockenson, we’ll see. He did not materialize as the modern, solve-everything player in Detroit despite the team hiring a former tight end as his head coach. But if Hockenson can become the kind of mismatch he was billed to be, this is a steal for Minnesota and, in many ways, the reverse of a fear you might have in trading with a divisional opponent. It guts the Lions twice a year seeing him play well.
