The NFL’s annual trade deadline is upon us.
Tuesday marks the last day teams can make trades until March, and following Tuesday’s deadline teams can only add players via waivers or free agency, until the next trading window.
That means Tuesday could shape the rest of the 2024 NFL season, as well as seasons to come.
As we head into deadline day, what teams should be selling, and what teams should be buying?
Teams that should be buyers
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are sitting on the NFL’s version of a 3-0 count in baseball. The bases are loaded, their slugger is at the plate, and they are sitting on a fastball down the heart of hte plate.
It is time to take a big swing.
The obvious move would be a trade for a pass rusher. With Aidan Hutchinson out for the season, Detroit should be looking at adding a presence off the edge. Myles Garrett and Maxx Crosby are the two big names floating out there, but recent reporting has Brad Holmes zeroing in on Za’Darius Smith.
But regardless of the player, Holmes needs to take that big swing.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Sitting at 4-4 heading into Monday Night Football against the Kansas City Chiefs on the road, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are staring a 4-5 start right in the face. Should Baker Mayfield and company lose tonight, they’d fall to two games behind the Atlanta Falcons in the division, with a pair of losses to Atlanta already on their resume.
But when you zoom out a bit, the Buccaneers remain right in the overall playoff mix, even if a loss tonight makes the NFC South a bit of a heavier lift. With injuries mounting at the wide receiver position — Chris Godwin is out for the season with an ankle injury and Mike Evans will miss some time with a hamstring issue — making a move to add a WR would be a wise investment.
Philadelphia Eagles
If Howie Roseman is still involved, the Eagles are going to try and swing big at the deadline. The Eagles are firmly in the “good” team tier, but are missing some things that could separate them from being truly elite. While they can’t trade for a new coach midseason, I think the Eagles could really use another pass rush threat out on the edge. Since adding rookie CB Cooper DeJean to the lineup the secondary has been shored up, but the defensive line still has odd stretched of poor play. Bryce Huff hasn’t been who they’ve wanted him to be and Nolan Smith is still trying to find his footing. Another EDGE could be key in their chase for another Super Bowl appearance.
San Francisco 49ers
It’s absolutely wild that the Niners have stood pat while contenders around the NFL have snapped up receivers on bargain-basement deals to fuel their playoff pushes. Sure, it’s been a down year in San Francisco with injuries to Christian McCaffrey and Brandon Aiyuk taking the teeth out of their offense, but the NFC West remains wide open for anyone to win — and the 49ers are still very much in the hunt.
We don’t know who (if anyone) will be on the market at WR to alleviate this teams issues at receiver, but any help at any position would be welcome at this point just to give the coaching staff some options. When you couple all this with the simple fact that the 49ers have the most cap space in the NFL it’s a no-brainer that they should be in on any, and every deal.
Teams that should be sellers
Cleveland Browns
Jameis Winston’s Week 8 performance against the Baltimore Ravens — wherein the veteran backup connected on 27-of-41 passes for 334 yards in a win — injected a bit of hope into the Cleveland Browns fanbase.
Winston, and that hope, came crashing back to Earth in Sunday’s 27-10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, a game that saw Winston throw three interceptions.
It is time for Cleveland to swallow the bitter truth, make some deals at the deadline, and try and turn this thing around in the offseason. As noted above, Za’Darius Smith is one name already mentioned in trade talks, along with fellow pass rusher Myles Garrett. Whatever moves the Browns can make to perhaps free up some cap space and acquire additional draft capital, they should make.
Las Vegas Raiders
Have you seen the Raiders? Really, we could end it right here.
The decision to hire Antonio Brown as head coach was a bit of an iffy one, but his decision to hire Luke Getsy as his offensive coordinator doomed this team. Without a quarterback, no offensive weapons, and having already traded away Davante Adams, there’s no reason not to just blow up this entire team and start over from scratch.
This team needs draft capital. A lot of it. That might mean making a heartbreaking decision to deal away Maxx Crosby, but this team’s issues are so profound that Crosby can’t make them better in isolation. Time to get some picks and rebuild this mess.
New Orleans Saints
The Saints need to take a long look in the mirror and realize who they are. Their loss on Sunday to the Panthers was the breaking point, with head coach Dennis Allen being fired and falling to 2-7 effectively ending a year that began with so much promise.
The Saints have so many cap commitments coming up in the next year or two that they should try to use desperation from other teams as a mechanic to help solve their bottom line. Anyone, and everyone should be on the block outside of Chris Olave. Sure, it would hurt pulling off the BandAid, but if New Orleans wants to compete in the future and be able to rebuild they should be taking every single call and making every deal possible.
