USA TODAY International Edition
NFL trade winners, losers after quiet deadline day
Tuesday afternoon was the final opportunity for NFL teams to bolster their rosters – or shed weighty salaries and maybe even disgruntled players, depending on the case – by executing trades, which are now no longer an option until the 2020 league year kicks in next March.
This season’s deadline day wasn’t nearly as active as those of recent campaigns, but several players did switch sides over the past few weeks. Moving forward, a handful of teams might eventually wish they’d been more proactive rather than resting on their laurels or, maybe worse, being victimized by damaging misinformation and/ or leaked legitimate information.
Let’s assess the fallout of the league’s 2019 trade deadline ...
WINNERS
Jalen Ramsey: He’s gotten almost everything he wanted. The league- wide trading window was thrown open two weeks ago when the star defender forced his way out of Jacksonville, a place he didn’t want to be any longer. Ramsey wanted to join a contender, and the reigning NFC champion Rams certainly qualify ... and a little more limelight and added marketability don’t hurt. And with Los Angeles unloading Aqib Talib and his salary Tuesday, Ramsey might be nearing his next objective: becoming the league’s highest- paid corner.
Jaguars: As good as Ramsey was, an unhappy player – particularly one with a “bad back” – ultimately wasn’t going to benefit the Jags. But three extra draft picks, two of them first- rounders, certainly should.
Dolphins: The Rams basically gave them a fifth- round pick to take Talib off their books. In a vacuum, it’s not much. But dealing for Talib, shipping Kenyan Drake off to Arizona and engineering swaps from earlier this season involving Laremy Tunsil, Minkah Fitzpatrick and others have allowed Miami to build quite a war chest of draft capital – a bounty that includes five first- round picks and four second- rounders spread over the 2020 and 2021 drafts. The rebuild here shouldn’t take long at all.
Emmanuel Sanders: The 32- yearold receiver went from the last- place Broncos to the first- place 49ers and found the end zone in his first game with San Francisco, perhaps largely because he’d essentially already learned this offense in Denver. Unsigned beyond this season, Sanders also has a nice chance to position himself for one more decent contract if he can shine in his new role with a near surefire playoff outfit.
Leonard Williams: Welp ... by not exactly getting uprooted while going from the Jets to the Giants, his personal life isn’t thrown into upheaval – aside from maybe learning a new commute. Williams will also get an opportunity to stick it to the Jets on the field in Week 10, when the Giants travel for the best kind of “road” game. And afterward, Williams will get to kick back for his second bye week of the season. Not bad.
LOSERS
Leonard Williams: Welp ... he went from an absolutely horrible team to one that’s merely terrible. And if Williams thought he would get to test the free agent market next year once it became apparent the Jets weren’t going to resign him, he should probably think again. For the Giants to take this kind of gamble, it suggests they’re likely to franchise the talented lineman rather than let him go, barring an extension. He’ll get paid one way or the other, but most players would prefer to drive that decision- making bus.
Jets’ locker room: After Williams was sent packing Monday, nearly every other able- bodied New York player with the exception of Sam Darnold heard his name floated onto the trade block. Might not be very easy for Le’Veon Bell, Jamal Adams, Robby Anderson and others to mentally reset heading into Sunday’s game at winless Miami. “Let’s, uh, win one for the Gaser ...” Oof.
Michael Bennett: Traded to the Cowboys, who will become his fourth team in two years, Bennett essentially got himself fired from the Patriots. Maybe that’s for the best, given he apparently wasn’t meshing with “The Patriot Way” nearly as well as younger brother Martellus. ( Ironically, Martellus Bennett did not enjoy his stint in Dallas, though maybe Michael will jell with a defense more tailored to his style while retaining a decent shot at reaching the postseason.) Still, Michael Bennett might rue this someday, chucking golden opportunities to get his second ring and forever being associated with what might go down as one of the greatest defenses in the NFL’s 100- season history.
Aqib Talib: Nine months after competing for a Lombardi Trophy – and mulling the prospect of eventually forming an airtight lockdown tandem alongside Ramsey – the veteran corner was salary dumped to a Miami team that might prove epically bad. But it could be worse than hanging out on South Beach while on injured reserve ... with the prospect of going back into the free agent pool in 2020.
Trent Williams: The seven- time Pro Bowl tackle is still being held hostage by the Redskins, who apparently made only an 11th- hour effort to move him. He did report to the team after the deadline expired, but a player who no longer wants to forgo paychecks isn’t the ideal type to build around.
Redskins: The Williams fiasco is lose- lose for all parties. Washington isn’t going anywhere in 2019 and surely could have used whatever assets a deal for such a highly regarded blocker would have procured. Perhaps worse, whatever message a rudderless organization thinks it’s sent by refusing to capitulate to Williams’ desire to leave might ultimately serve as another deterrent to blue- chip free agents considering Washington as a destination.
Bengals: Their player personnel modus operandi continues to entail standing pat when it comes to making trades ( or signing free agents for that matter). Cincinnati, the lone 0- 8 team, is also dead in the water yet could have derived significant future benefits by unloading unhappy Cordy Glenn if not Pro Bowl wideout A. J. Green, who’s still the franchise’s best player but remains unsigned beyond this season. For a team that’s effectively throwing in the towel by benching quarterback Andy Dalton – heck, the Bears might have wanted him – why not just take the plunge for a longneeded organizational reboot?