It wasn't that long ago that the NFL trade deadline would come and go in the blink of an eye. In fact, entire seasons could go by without teams signing meaningful in-season deals. However, in recent seasons, that has changed quite dramatically. Teams are now becoming more and more willing to do this and make trades at rates comparable to teams in the NBA, MLB, and NHL, and these leagues have traditionally made mid-season trades. It was a much more active league.
Let's take this year as an example. As of Tuesday evening, nine trades have already been completed since the start of the 2024 NFL regular season. Those deals are:
It takes a lot of effort.
This is more than the number of early trades from 2011 to 2016 combined. Since 2011 (i.e., under the new CBA environment), there have only been two times when trading increased in the week before the deadline: the first time in 2015, and the second time in 2019.
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We don't know yet what next week will bring. We know that with the expanded playoff field in 2020, more teams will technically be in contention throughout the season. And this year, the league pushed back the trade deadline itself by a week, giving players more time than ever before to make a deal.
We're already seeing teams taking advantage of that by making more impactful trades. The Seahawks, Titans, Chiefs and Jaguars each made two deals. Four different teams have added starting wide receivers, ranging from solid No. 2 options like Diontae Johnson to current or former stars in Davante Adams, Amari Cooper and DeAndre Hopkins.
Last year, players like Kevin Byard, Leonard Williams, Montez Sweat, Ezra Cleveland, Chase Young, and Rasul Douglas changed teams during deadline week, and players like J.C. Jackson, Chase Claypool, and Randy Gregory changed teams during deadline week. , saw Mecole Hardman change teams before that. Big moves in 2022 include Robert Quinn, Kadarius Toney, Roquan Smith, TJ Hockenson, Bradley Chubb, Calvin Ridley and Jeff Wilson.
Von Miller and Odell Beckham Jr. have recently been traded for several years. Christian McCaffrey, Stephon Gilmore, Yannick Ngakoue, Jalen Ramsey, Aqib Talib, Leonard Williams (Jets to Giants in 2019 before the Giants sent him to the Seahawks last year), Michael Bennett, Emmanuel Sanders, Quandre Diggs, Marcus Peters, Minkah Fitzpatrick… you get the idea.
We have come a very long way in a very short period of time. In 2011, the only player traded during the season was Carson Palmer, who hung on in Cincinnati and was eventually traded to Oakland. In 2012, it was just Mike Thomas (no, it wasn't Mike Thomas of the Saints).
Once upon a time, the prevailing notion was that the NFL's system was too complex to justify mid-season trades. The ramp-up period for new offenses and defenses is too long and the impact is too minimal. The team clearly doesn't feel that way anymore. They're taking more swings, and bigger swings, than ever before.
