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Sometimes, a trade is a statement of intent. That’s what happened with Washington. They let the world know they’re ready to compete by adding one of the best cornerbacks in the league and could be ready for a deep playoff run.

The Lions needed another pass rusher with star Aidan Hutchinson injured. They got Smith at a good price (a fifth and a sixth) and will hope he can add to their defensive output. He should be able to do just that.

Williams isn’t the flashiest addition, but the Steelers didn’t need flash: they needed a more than capable wide receiver and that’s exactly what they got at a decent price (a fifth rounder).

If all goes well, the QB tandem of Russell Wilson/Justin Fields will have a reliable second pass catching option (or third if we rank TE Pat Freiermuth ahead of Williams).

If Smith can meet his projections and/or continue his streak of eight sacks or more that dates back to 2019 (if we don’t count the Covid season), then this will be a fantastic trade for Pittsburgh.

However, he’s essentially a depth piece on this defense unless the Steelers expect him to step into a starting role right away (or if they change from a 3-4 to a 4-3, which isn’t likely to happen).

Either way, Smith should be a welcome addition to the Steelers.

Herbert is a servicable running back and should get a decent amount of touches while Zack Moss is injured.

The cost was low at a 7th round pick. A bit of a boring trade, but maybe the new scenery will light a spark under Herbert.

The Ravens were reportedly in for Marshon Lattimore but fell short to their rivals from the DMV. So instead, they got White.

Now, he’s nowhere near the level of player that he used to be – but considering he only cost a seventh round pick (and the Ravens got another seventh back) this is a decent low-risk, high-reward trade.

Mingo has the potential to be a good receiver in this league, but he hasn’t shown that so far. That could be because of his situation with his quarterbacks, but it’s hard to know that for sure in his second year in the league.

All of these questions are in the air about this guy… and the Cowboys traded a fourth-round pick for him. That’s why it lands so low.

The Niners needed a defensive tackle, but this likely will do little to push the needle. Many more impactful trades happened today.

19 players swapped teams this season, including five All-Pros and seven Pro-Bowlers.

The struggling New England Patriots got calls on multiple players – including unrestricted free agent KJ Osborn – but chose to move none of them before the deadline

The Niners were looking for a defensive tackle after an injury to Javon Hargrave put him on injured reserve.

They find their man in fourth-year veteran Khalil Davis, who so far has made nine total tackles and one sack.

It’s not a splashy move, but this will be a great depth piece for the Niners as they push forward.

TRADE: The Houston Texans are sending defensive tackle Khalil Davis to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a 2026 seventh-round pick, according to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini

It’s possible that there’s a late trade making its way to the press right now, but if not, then the official count is seven trades that took place on deadline day.

Chefs, back away from your plates

Crunch time for players and teams

If this trade was two years ago, this would be an absolute coup for Baltimore.

When White was in Buffalo, he was one of the top cornerbacks in the league – earning first-team All Pro honors in 2019 and second-team All Pro in 2020.

But he hasn’t played a full season since 2020 – and only a combined 14 games in the last three seasons (including 2024 so far).

He likely won’t return to his previous form, but he’s a free agent after this season and the Ravens essentially gave up a net nothing to get him as Baltimore and LA swap seventh-round picks as well.

TRADE: The Los Angeles Rams are trading cornerback Tre’Davious White and a 2027 seventh-round pick to the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for a 2026 seventh-round pick.

The Carolina Panthers aren’t ready just yet to move on from the 2023 No. 1 overall pick, despite benching him earlier this year

NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo says that Azeez Ojulari will be staying in New York

Plenty of teams rumored to make moves have not done so yet. Will it all be smoke and mirrors? Or are we in for a wild final hour?

Pittsburgh wasn’t satisfied with only adding to their receiving corps, now they bulk up their pass rush.

The Steelers have a top-ten defense but are in the bottom half of the league in sacks. They’re led by weak-side linebacker T.J. Watt, with six-and-a-half.

Now in comes Smith, who has put up eight sacks in every season since 2019 (barring the Covid year in 2020).

Smith is on a $3.2million cap hit this season, which increases to $12m in 2025 and $12.6m in 2026.

TRADE: The Green Bay Packers trade defensive end Preston Smith to the Pittsburgh Steelers, in exchange for a 2025 seventh-round pick, according to The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman.

About an hour and 40 minutes remain and the Titans are still fielding calls…

We had a flurry of activity in the last hour, let’s see what the rest of the day brings

The Chiefs kicked the tires on Lattimore, but with the CB off to Washington, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini says it’s unlikely that Kansas City adds any more pieces.

They already picked up Josh Uche from the Patriots and DeAndre Hopkins from Tennessee, so it’s not like they did nothing this season.

Williams was languishing as the WR3 in the Jets’ system after Davante Adams was acquired by New York earlier this season. Behind Adams and Garrett Wilson, Williams was looking for a way out.

He finds it in a Steelers team that has a great chance of making the playoffs, unlike the Jets. Pittsburgh is 6-2 while New York is 3-6.

So far this season, Williams has 12 catches for 166 yards and no touchdowns.

Pittsburgh was in need of wide receiver help alongside top target George Pickens – as Van Jefferson and Calvin Austin III have been underperforming.

Is this a home run for Pittsburgh? Not exactly. Williams is good, but isn’t exactly a true game-changer like he used to be with the Chargers. But, it’s a good move nonetheless as Pittsburgh looks to seriously contend for the AFC North title.

TRADE: The New York Jets trade wide receiver Mike Williams to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for a 2025 fifth-round pick, according to Ian Rapoport.

Williams is on a contract that expires at the end of this season, which would make him a free agent.

The Giants are potentially looking to move on from outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari – who becomes a free agent at this season’s conclusion

As pointed out by Adam Schefter, the Saints re-structured Lattimore’s contract over the summer to offset his cap hit this season.

Washington will acquire him at a base salary of $1.2million for this season.

Next year, Lattimore’s contract jumps up to $16million before rising to $16.5m in 2026.

Just a year ago, the Commanders won all of four games and sank to the second overall pick in the draft.

Now, their fortunes have completely changed. Over the offseason, they got a new GM in Adam Peters and a new head coach in Dan Quinn. Couple those moves with a new quarterback in Jayden Daniels and there was a recipe to make a marginal improvement from last year.

Toss “marginal” out the window. The Commanders lead the NFC East at a 7-2 record and are flying high – leading them to grab one of the league’s top man-coverage cornerbacks in Lattimore.

A four-time Pro Bowler and a former Defensive Rookie of the Year, the Ohio State product will be a welcome addition to a Commanders secondary that ranks bottom-five in interceptions.

TRADE: The New Orleans Saints are sending cornerback Marshon Lattimore and a fifth round pick to the Washington Commanders in exchange for a third-round pick, a fourth-round pick, and a sixth-round pick

Plenty of speculation has surrounded Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf, but ESPN’s Adam Schefter says that he’ll be staying put

According to separate reports from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and ESPN’s Adam Schefter, trade talks have intensified around New Orleans Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore.

Reports indicate that the Kansas City Chiefs and Washington Commanders are interested…

The Bills and safety Mike Edwards have agreed to a release if they do not get a trade done by the deadline.

“Talented. A little raw. Comp[ensation] is too much…like way too much. Basically a net 5th. Probably is most like Tolbert of the guys there,” the GM said. “Just my opinion. Not a bad player but to include a 4th is rich.”

Another NFL talent evaluator told Slater, “That should’ve been a 6 for 7 pick swap” with a puking face emoji.

The Patriots could soon be moving reciever K.J. Osborn – with the Los Angeles Chargers being named by New England media as a potential landing spot

We’ve already passed the numbers from 2020 (albeit, there was a tiny little pandemic going on). It’d be so nice if we got more action and approached that number.

A quick comparison from us: the 2024 NHL deadline day saw 30 players get traded and the 2024 NBA deadline day saw 41 players get traded (not counting draft rights).

Three of these trades have happened today. Will there be more? Only time will tell as we are about four and a half hours away from the deadline.

Norv Turner, the former head coach of the Raiders, is going back to Las Vegas to join their offensive staff.

His son, Scott Turner, is also on the Raiders coaching staff.

The added benefit of pushing back the trade deadline is that it could incentivize more teams to make moves – which would spice up what is typically a boring affair.

The Athletic conducted an analysis of the trade deadlines of the four major leagues and how many trades have been made on Deadline Day since 2000.

MLB led the way with 759 deals, the NHL has seen 499 trades, and the NBA has swapped 211 players.

With the Titans struggling, they may look to move two key defensive players

The Carolina Panthers are sellers. That’s not a surprise considering they’re in the hunt for the first overall pick… again.

On the outside, trading the guy that they picked 39th overall in the 2023 NFL Draft feels a little premature as he could have blossomed into a great piece to build around Bryce Young (or another quarterback they may choose to draft this year if the Panthers are truly done with Young).

But Mingo has struggled in his transition to the NFL. He has under 550 receiving yards in his career and has never caught a pass for a touchdown. This season, he

This could eventually be a good move for Dallas (emphasis on “could”) – who have been begging for wide receiver help [their WR2 is Jalen Tolbert, WR3 is Jalen Brooks]. But it’s hard to tell if this fresh start will be truly helpful to him this season – especially with quarterback Dak Prescott reportedly heading for the IR.

Mingo has the raw talent to develop into something great, but the fact that the Panthers got a fourth-round pick for him will likely lead many to declare that Carolina fleeced Dallas. He’s still on his rookie deal, which makes him a free agent in 2027.

TRADE: The Carolina Panthers send wide receiver Jonathan Mingo and a 2025 seventh-round pick to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for a 2025 fourth-round pick

The pass catcher was traded to Kansas City from the Tennessee Titans and broke out a dance evoking the movie “Remember the Titans” when he scored a touchdown over the weekend.

Hopkins now clarifies that this was an homage to his former team.

With the Dallas Cowboys’ season hanging by a thread, they’ll look to upgrade at the receiver position

Bengals owner Mike Brown is notorious for being stingey at the trade deadline. With one move already done, could we see another today?

• Carolina Panthers: WR Adam Thielen
• Cincinnati Bengals: WR Tee Higgins, DE Trey Hendrickson
• Cleveland Browns: DE Myles Garrett, TE David Njoku
• Jacksonville Jaguars: OL Brandon Scherff
• LA Rams: WR Cooper Kupp, QB Matthew Stafford
• Las Vegas Raiders: DE Maxx Crosby
• New England Patriots: WR K.J. Osbourne, WR Kendrick Bourne, CB Jonathan Jones
• New Orleans Saints: DE Chase Young
• New York Giants: OLB Azeez Ojulari, WR Darius Slayton
• New York Jets: WR Mike Williams
• Tennessee Titans: OLB Arden Key

Now, some of you may be wondering “why does it feel like the NFL trade deadline is later this year?” That’s because you’re right! They did change the deadline very slightly this season.

Before the season began, back during the March annual meetings, the league decided to move the deadline back one week – to Week 9 rather than Week 8.

What that does is help teams who may feel like they’re still in the race for the playoffs (and beyond) with more time to make decisions on pieces to their puzzle. It also aligns with other leagues (the NBA and NHL specifically) whose deadlines are closer to when their seasons end.

Now, all that remains is if the new NFL Trade Deadline provides the same level of excitement as the NBA and NHL ones do.

The Cincinnati running back room looked very different this season as compared to the one prior.

Out went star Joe Mixon and reliable backup Samaje Perine, in came rookie Chase Brown and Zack Moss – who is currently injured.

Herbert has over 1,700 career rushing yards and has played in Chicago his entire career after playing college ball at Kansas, then Virginia Tech.

TRADE: The Chicago Bears send running back Khalil Herbert to the Cincinnati Bengals in exchange for a 2025 seventh-round pick, as confirmed by the team.

Ever since losing Aidan Hutchinson to a season ending leg fracture, the Detroit Lions have been looking for a pass rusher.

Enter Za’Darius Smith from the struggling Cleveland Browns.He’s already got five sacks this season and will compliment James Houston by playing on the right side of the defensive line.

At a return of just a fifth and a sixth rounder (Smith’s deal expires at the end of this season) this is a great rental piece for a Lions team with Super Bowl aspirations.

TRADE: Cleveland Browns send Za’Darius Smith and a 2026 7th round pick to the Detroit Lions in exchange for a 2025 5th round pick, as confirmed by DailyMail.com. The Lions will take on the remaining $605,000 in his contract.

and a 2026 6th round pick

It might be the second most important thing going on in the United States today, but it’s certainly worth covering.

Be sure to stay tuned for all the latest news surrounding your favorite teams as they shore up their reserves for a run at glory – or look to add draft capital as they rebuild.

As a matter of fact, something just came across the desk…