By Brandon Simmons
Trade News
As the trade deadline approaches, teams are starting to make their own moves ahead of the October 31st cutoff. The New York Jets traded wide receiver Mecole Hardman to the Kansas City Chiefs, his former team that he left in free agency. The Chicago Bears sent wide receiver Chase Claypool to the Miami Dolphins while the Los Angeles Chargers sent cornerback JC Jackson back to the New England Patriots. However, just as the current moves have made headlines, the non loves have also grabbed some attention. The Las Vegas Raiders have declared they will not be trading wide receiver Davante Adams this season. That would be an absolute shame since they might have suitors in the Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers as reported by Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer. In addition to those teams, the Denver Broncos have been reportedly listening offers on all players, especially wide receiver Jerry Jeudy. The Tennessee Titans have been listed in a trade rumor to be shopping around running back Derrick Henry, but also traded safety Kevin Byard to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday.
It’s a lot of news to take in and there is still more to come. The Hardman move seems like a good move for now, considering he is familiar with the Chiefs which could n lead to a bigger role than what he had in New York. As for the teams mentioned that have not done anything yet, just give them time. The Broncos could certainly pull the trigger, given the fact they have already made some trades earlier this year but could be in the market for pass rusher, which s the perfect time to go after Danielle Hunter, whom the Vikings are reportedly shopping around.
The team that might benefit the most from this trade season is the San Francisco 49ers, that is if they can get a wide receiver. If the Chiefs go after Hunter, they will add to a pass rush that already has Chris Jones and Frank Clark. That addition would help shore things up while linebacker Nick Bolton is injured. The same can be said if they add Chase Young or Montez Sweat if they become available. If the broncos truly want to trade Jerry Jeudy, the Detroit Lions should make that move. Adding Jeudy will give them a 2nd playmaker in that receiving group and keep hem competitive against the better teams in the league, something that they were not able to do against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.
Did the Dolphins Loss Take Away Miami’s Mystique?
The Miami Dolphins visited the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday but left the city of the Brotherly Shove with a loss. Miami suffered a 31-17 loss to Philadelphia in what some considered controversial based off the officiating, however, the Dolphins were still very much in this game; they just weren’t their usual offensive explosion. Dolphins QB Tua Tagavoiloa finished the game throwing 23 of 32 for 216 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception but was sacked 3 times. Eagles QB Jalen Hurts was also sacked 3 times but finished the game 23 of 31 for 279 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. Eagles wideout A.J. Brown had himself a huge game with 10 catches for 137 yards.
Despite the talk about the officiating, this loss still points to the fact that the Miami Dolphins have struggled to beat teams with winning records. The teams they have beaten are a combined 8-25 right now, this includes a 2-5 Denver Broncos team and a winless Carolina Panthers team. The common aspect of both losses is Tua has been sacked at least 3 times in both of the matchups. Sunday, it wasn’t any better as Dolphins guard Isiah Wynn went down because of injury during the game. Those same losses also happens to be when Tua posted his lowest passing totals. He is a QB that can operate efficiently out of the pocket and relies on the timing of these speedy receivers, so when the opposing pass rush gets to him it throws everything off. While he still maintains his average of around 70% of his passes, he still does not get the allotted time to get the ball deeper down the field, which can be detrimental to opposing defenses. When the Dolphins protect Tua, they are still a dangerous offensive terror. As the season goes on, they will figure it out and compete to stay at the top of the conference.
Switching Narratives?
Wo of the biggest quarterback narratives this season have been around San Francisco 49ers QB Brock Purdy and Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk Cousins, and it appears they might have switched storylines after this week. Monday, the 2 QB’s faced each other and Cousins ended up with the win. It was the 2nd straight loss for the 49ers, who suffered their first defeat of the season last week against the Cleveland Browns. Ironically, the Vikings got their 2nd straight win after getting their first victory of the season last week against the Chicago Bears. Now, for much of the season, these 2 signal callers shave been looked at in different lights. Many hae heralded Purdy as a sight to behold, coming off an NFC championship appearance and opening the year on a 5 game win streak. The opposite has been said about Cousins, who started 0-4 and has found himself as the subject of a lot of trade speculation, and whether or not he will be in Minnesota in 2024. However, things looked completely turned around on Monday. Purdy threw for 272 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions, while Cousins threw for 378 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception.
It can be expected for the narratives to switch for a couple of reasons. First, both teams were missing their best receiver. The Niners were without wide receiver Deebo Samuel, a devastating pocket knife for their offense, and the Vikings were missing wide receiver Justin Jefferson. So both had the chance to really step into the role of lifting their team up without their best player. Also, there has been a small faction that did not believe fully in Purdy, simply because they wondered if this was a fluke after one season. Seeing the 2 losses back to back, it kind of pushes that narrative forward a little. It’s sort of the opposite intention with Cousins and his 2 straight wins. Monday’s performance even went so far as Troy Aikman calling cousins Top 10.
The bottom line is that favor is falling into Kirk Cousins right now. He’s led this team on a 2 game win streak and have the experts putting some respect on his name. Performing like this without your best weapon is what many coaches want for their QB’s and he did it on the primetime stage, a place that he has struggled on in his career. As for n Purdy, he was once the boy wonder of the league as in people would wonder when he would wonder when he would lose his first regular season game or wonder would he be the same player without all of his weapons in tow. After 2 weeks of having tp.prove himself against those questions, the answers have not been good. The season is far from.over for both of these teams but at this time, their quarterbacks are getting a slight tweak in their stories.
Shout out to Cleveland Browns quarterback P.J. Walker for saving the day in back to back games. Sunday, the former XFL QB came in for relief of Browns QB Deshaun Watson who was injured and had to be evaluated for a concussion. Walker came in and led the Browns down the field to.set up a rushing TD by Browns RB Kareem Hunt. The week before, Walker led the Browns on a game winning field goal drive to give the San Francisco 49ers their first loss of the season.
Shut out to the revelation of the Chase Claypool curse. Earlier in the week, a graphic was making its way around social media suggesting that Claypool – who was traded from the Chicago Bears a couple of weeks ago – might actually be a curse. The information lists that since Chicago acquired Claypool from the Pittsburgh Steelers, they were winless during his whole, short tenure. Once the Bears dealt him, they picked up 2 straight wins. However, since the Miami Dolphins acquired him in the trade, they have only activated him for one game, which was Sunday’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Claypool has had a promising start to his rookie year but things just seemed to have soured since then. It’s a sad tale of a young, promising career but hopefully he turns it around.
Week 8 is bringing more intriguing matchups sweeter than a bucket of trick or treat candy. The Carolina Panthers will host the Houston Texans. On paper, this is not a fight for anybody’s playoff hope, but it does feature the top 2 quarterbacks taken in this year’s draft: Panthers QB Bryce Young and Texans QB C.J. Stroud. Both players have been impressive this season, especially Stroud, who is top 10 in the league in passing yards. The game of the week will be the Cincinnati Bengals visiting the San Francisco 49ers. Cincy came out the gate struggling a bit while the Niners have hit a bump in the road recently. Both teams are looking to get back on track with their championship aspirations. But until then…I’ll holla.