By Brandon Simmons
Trade SZN Updates/Review
The latest trade deadline headlines:
- The Philadelphia Eagles have been busy, as they usually are around this time. The Eagles traded for cornerback Jaire Alexander from the Baltimore Ravens for a 6th round pick this past Saturday. Monday, Philly traded for edge rusher Jaelen Phillips from the Miami Dolphins for a 3rd round pick.
- With things dwindling out of control, the Miami Dolphins have reportedly made every player available for trade except for wide receiver Jaylen Waddle. But no other deals outside of the Phillips trade has occurred.
- The Dallas Cowboys revealed their secret trade as acquiring linebacker Logan Wilson from the Cincinnati Bengals. They also put a deal in place to acquire defensive tackle Quinnen Williams from the New York Jets by sending a 2026 2nd round pick and a 2027 1st round pick.
- The Indianapolis Colts sent 2 first round picks to acquire cornerback Sauce Gardner from the New York Jets; they also sent 2024 draft pick wide receiver Adoni Mitchell to complete the deal
- Wide receivers became a focal point for a few teams. The New Orleans Saints traded away wide receiver Rasheed Shaheed to the Seattle Seahawks. The Jacksonville Jaguars acquired wide receiver Jakobi Meyers from the Las Vegas Raiders.
Before we get to the winners, let’s discuss the losers at the trade deadline. New York Jets running back Breece Hall felt some type of way seeing his 2 of the best players on his team get sent away, especially since he’s been on the trade rumor mill since the season started. Jets head coach Aaron Glenn probably shared a similar sentiment but from the angle that now his team could find themselves deeper in the loss column. This could mean a 1 and done year for Glenn, who was a highly touted candidate before getting hired but now dealing with the challenge of winning without his best players.
As for the winners, it would have to be the Dallas Cowboys, with the Indianapolis Colts getting honorable mention. Indy shocking the world and getting Sauce Gardner for their secondary, prepares them against some the more tougher offenses they could face in the postseason. Middle linebacker Logan Wilson comes to the Cowboys, as a player who led the Cincinnati Bengals tin tackle his first 3 years in the league and still had 104 tackles last year, despite missing the last 6 games. Defensive tackle Quinnen Williams boosts this the Cowboys defensive line after the team took deserved criticism for trading away Micah Parsons. Williams will line up next to defensive tackle Kenny Clark, who was acquired in the Parsons trade. It would have been nice for the Cowboys to seek help in their secondary, but putting pieces together in their front 7 could prove to be an underrated move down the line.
Reaction to the Jayden Daniels Injury
Washington Commanders QB Jayden Daniels suffered a dislocated elbow injury, and the snapping of his elbow has fans snapping at the situation. The injury occurred 7:39 in the 4th quarter, when the Commanders was driving down the field to score, while down 38-7 against the Seattle Seahawks at home. Daniels attempted to scramble but was brought down, and tried to land on his left hand but snapping his elbow in the process.
An unfortunate event that probably should have never happened to begin with. Being down 38-7 does not warrant Daniels’ services at all. In fact, Commanders head coach Dan Quinn came out after the fact, and admitted he should have pulled him sooner. These are one of those things that happen more times than what we want to believe. When the scoreboard gets a little heavy-handed on one side, it’s up to the coaches to know when to throw in the white flag and protect players from injury, especially in football. This especially the case with Daniels, whose injury history has already drawn comparisons to Robet Griffin III, whose career was infamously altered when he got hurt in a playoff game his rookie season, against the Seahawks, around the same spot that Daniels got hurt. Daniels is the franchise’s future and Washington should treat him as such, in all facets. Whether it’s protecting him with an o-line or protecting him from garbage time, you gotta make sure Daniels’ ability is his availability.
Is the AFC Crown Open?
The Kansas City Chiefs losing to the Buffalo Bills Sunday became less about KC and more about the AFC. The Chiefs – who are also the defending AFC champs – have slipped to 3rd place in the AFC West and just one spot outside of the final playoff spot. Currently atop the AFC West sits the Denver Broncos, who share the top spot in the conference with the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots, 2 teams that missed the postseason last year. The Pittsburgh Steelers, Buffalo bills and Los Angeles Chargers all made the playoffs last year but currently occupy the 4th, 5th and 6th spots, respectively.
It might be time for Buffalo to become the boogeyman that everyone have known the Kansas City Chiefs to be, especially in the playoffs. The Bills have shown year after year that they can make deep playoff runs, but those have usually been cut short by the Chiefs. The last few years, Kansas City has found themselves in some bumpy starts during the regular season then turn it around for the postseason. However, this could turn out different for them, where they might miss the playoffs entirely. The thing that works in the Bills favor is that they lost to a Patriots team, whose success might be largely built on a soft schedule. The same can be said for the Colts. Buffalo has proven they can beat the good opponents and also have softer teams to play against down the stretch of the year, to stack their wins up in hopes to position themselves for clinching homefield advantage. So the road to the Super Bowl may find itself through Buffalo again, as they are waiting for the other teams to drop.
Shoutouts/Shutouts
Shout out to Bears and Bengals putting on a classic. The Chicago Bears beat the Cincinnati Bengals 47-42 Sunday, in game where both teams had 8 lead changes, including 3 in the thse final few minutes of the game. The Bengals were actually down 41-27 at the beginning of the 2 minute warning, but scored 2 touchdowns to take a 42-41 lead. Bears QB Caleb Williams ended up throwing the game winner to rookie tight end Colston Loveland.
Shut out to YouTube TV and ESPN for their greed. Apparently, neither party could reach an agreement last week, which prompted ESPN to be dropped and plenty of subscribers to miss Monday Night Football and potentially other events as the disagreement drags on.
After a busy trade deadline, Week 10 is here for teams to roll into a chase for playoff spots. The Atlanta Falcons and Indianapolis Colts will play a game in Berlin this Sunday. However, while their records might not match to be a true showdown (3-5 Falcons, 7-2 Colts) each team will feature 2 of the league’s top rushers with Falcons RB Bijan Robinson and Colts RB Jonathan Stewart. The game of the week will be the Green Bay Packers hosting the Philadelphia Eagles. Packers are coming off a loss and looking to bounce back against an Eagles team that can be unpredictable on offense in a good and bad way. But until then…I’ll holla.
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