Sunday marked the beginning of the NFL's in-season trading window. We saw the first moderately significant swap of October when the Falcons quietly shipped linebacker Deion Jones to the Browns for a swap of late-round picks. The move essentially was a salary dump for a player the Falcons have been trying to move all summer and had already paid an $8.5 million bonus in September. With Cleveland linebacker Anthony Walker done for the year (left knee), the team needed another off-ball linebacker to play alongside Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.
We only have to go back to last year to see how trades help mold the postseason. In August 2021, the Bengals swapped former first-round pick Billy Price for Giants defensive tackle BJ Hill and landed on an impact contributor, with Hill racking up 5.5 sacks in the regular season and 1.5 more during their run to the Super Bowl. And the Rams sent second- and third-round picks to the Broncos for edge rusher Von Miller, with Denver paying virtually all of his remaining salary. It allowed L.A. coach Sean McVay to add a future Hall of Famer for the minimum, and I'm not sure the Rams would have won Super Bowl LVI without Miller's one-on-one dominance during January and February.
Most deals won't be quite as significant or involve names as notable as the Miller trade, but there's plenty of logical action to go around before the Nov. 1 trade deadline.
Let's run through 15 realistic trades that could make sense for both sides. In many cases, I'm looking at players who are struggling to find time for one team who could be a useful fit on another. In others, I'm arguing it's time for a more significant player to move on to a more competitive team. I've tried to honor each team's salary cap capabilities and flexibility as part of each deal.
We'll start with a pair of deals that would send playmakers to Buffalo:
Jump to a notable trade proposal:
Barkley | Claypool | Erving
Quinn | Trubisky | Montgomery
