What an NFL trade deadline! Remember when the highlights were two decently sized trades including middle-round picks? Everyone say a big thank you to the Jets, as three first-round picks were dealt on deadline day! The Sauce Gardner trade is only the second in-season trade including multiple first-round selections in the past 30 years. What a thrill.

Identifying winners and losers on deadline day is always tough. The Jets will be made a winner or a loser for their efforts today not by my words, but by the picks they make over the next two or three years. Of course, we can grade the quality of their work now (spoiler, they are winners) — but this isn’t the real test. The real test is what comes next.

Aside from the fireworks over the Big Apple, I have winners and losers from the Saints’ busy day, the Patriots’ quiet one, the ever-active Ravens and the surprising Jakobi Meyers landing spot. Let’s dive in.

Jump to:
Gardner | Hall | Meyers
Cowboys | Jets | Patriots
Ravens | Saints

The Gardner trade is as stunning as it is impactful. Gardner was nowhere near the trade rumor mill until the moment the trade was announced, and with good reason: He signed a $120.4 million extension just last season.

At the time of the extension, it looked like the Jets were committed to Gardner for the long term. But as they’ve traded him fewer than five months later, the team-friendliness of the deal becomes apparent. Gardner’s signing bonus, which hit the Jets’ books in 2025 and now sits on their cap sheet as dead cap, was relatively small — $13.75 million dollars. Because most of Gardner’s guaranteed money lives in option bonuses further down the line, the Colts will be on the hook for much of his outstanding money.

It was shocking to see a recently extended player traded so fast. But the financials are far less damaging to the Jets than instinct would imply. The Colts still get a fairly good bargain, too. Gardner’s contract will cost them an average of about $26 million in the five remaining years of his deal (2026-2030), though it’s highly unlikely that contract structure sticks around long. If Gardner succeeds, the Colts will almost immediately amend the deal to guarantee him money; if he flounders, they have plenty of opportunities to release him.

But Gardner is only 25, and while he’s a bit more volatile than the true top corners (Pat Surtain II, Derek Stingley Jr.), he remains one of the 10 best players in coverage. This season has been his worst as a pro so far. He’s surrendering a completion percentage 11.1% over expectation, according to NFL Next Gen Stats data, and a passer rating of 118.8 when targeted. But he’s still forcing tight windows (61.9% of his targets), and the bulk of his coverage over the past three seasons was high quality. Gardner can be picky as a tackler and draw penalties given his grabby style of coverage, but again, these are concerns that keep him from being the absolute best cornerback in football — he’s still a great player.

Gardner was reportedly blindsided by the deal and did not ask to get out of New York, but he now goes from the one-win Jets to the two-loss Colts — as big a move up the NFL standings as a player could possibly take midseason. Gardner lands with Colts defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, a highly creative coach who will play Gardner in more zone coverages, where he’s at his best with his length, ball skills and instincts.

Gardner is a field-tipping player who can match up with opposing star receivers. Anarumo will base his defensive game plans around Gardner, who is the best CB that Anarumo has had in his long tenure as a defensive coordinator. The Colts still have a weakness at CB2 so long as Charvarius Ward is injured, and their linebackers leave a lot wanting in coverage. But if Gardner returns to his 2022 and 2023 form, he’ll erase one side of the field and allow Anarumo to use his coverage resources in those weaker spots.

The big extension was a win for Gardner this summer. Now, he has the chance to chase it with a ring.

I’m glad that Jerry Jones has recently become obsessed with solving Dallas’ run defense. It’s a worthy pursuit. This was not a good way to go about it, though.

The Cowboys sent a 2026 second-round pick and a 2027 first-round pick, along with defensive tackle Mazi Smith, to the Jets in return for Quinnen Williams. Williams is 27 years old and still a quality player, but it’s worth being detailed here. Williams has one All-Pro nod in six seasons as a pro, as well as three consecutive Pro Bowl appearances. He’s a great player who at his best has been an absolute game-wrecker. His 2023 season, in which he had a pressure rate of 16.3%, remains the most disruptive pass-rush season for a defensive tackle in the Next Gen Stats database (since 2016).

But like Gardner, Williams’ play has tailed off in recent years. He had a pressure rate of 12.0% in 2024 (still quite good) and 8.0% so far this season (quite bad). His time to pressure is also falling — 2.74 seconds in 2022 (his All-Pro season), 2.79 seconds the following year, then 3.02 and now 3.16.

Of course, a new scheme might return Williams to his preferred play style of upfield penetration and subsequent dominance. But isn’t the theory in Dallas to improve run defense? The Cowboys already had a penetration defensive tackle in Osa Odighizuwa, whom they just extended this offseason. Odighizuwa had a 14.2% pressure rate in 2023 and 11.1% in 2024 from defensive tackle alignments. Since 2023, Williams has a run stop rate of 10.9% and a stuff rate of 4.6%; Odighizuwa is at 7.9% and 3.0%, respectively.

Of course, Williams is larger and a more reliable run defender than Odighizuwa — and he’s a better pass-rush player without question. But he’s 27 and turning 28, and I’m not convinced he’s one of the five best players at his position.

Williams will play his age-28 and age-29 seasons under contract for a total of $47.25 million; if he continues to play well, he could cash in again in Dallas. But even with the value on the contract considered, the price to acquire his contract feels unforgivably large.

The Jets have the right to the better of the Cowboys’ two first-round picks in 2027, as Dallas has both its own selection and Green Bay’s pick (from the Micah Parsons trade). This tiny detail has enormous ramifications. Should the Packers make an NFC run in 2026, while the Cowboys suffer a losing season, the Jets can move 15-20 picks in the first round just by retaining that optionality.

Consider how much teams have traded to move spots in the first round in recent years. When the Saints moved from pick No. 16 to pick No. 11 to draft Chris Olave, they sent a third- and fourth-round picks to get it done. The Chiefs also included third- and fourth-round picks to move from No. 29 to No. 21 to draft Trent McDuffie. These are small distances in the first round, and they were worth multiple middle-round selections of value. Every single slot in the first round matters, and the Cowboys handed control of those slots to the Jets.

This is not a good trade in a vacuum, and it looks even worse when you remember the Cowboys traded Parsons away for two first-rounders. The only difference in trade return between the Parsons deal and the Williams deal was swapping a first for a second, and now the Cowboys are paying Williams with the money they would have used (in part) to pay Parsons.

Here’s a hypothetical. The Packers’ two first-round picks end up both at No. 29 — two losses in the NFC Championship Game. The Cowboys’ second-rounder next year ends up as the 42nd pick, and their first-rounder in 2027 ends up No. 16 — average. Different trade value charts will give you different sums, but these two packages are roughly equal. The Cowboys might have traded as much draft capital for Williams as they got for Parsons. That’s bad business.

On the entertainment value scale, this was the best trade of the day. It might bear good returns on the football field; Williams is a highly disruptive and talented player. But on the trade value scales, this deal was heavily weighted to the Jets.

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Swagu is over the moon about the Cowboys’ trade for Quinnen Williams

Marcus Spears breaks down why he loves the Cowboys’ trade for Quinnen Williams.

Meyers really wanted to be traded — he requested a move over the summer — and he actually got traded. Excellent news!

The Raiders’ passing offense was pretty unhealthy, but I’m not sure Meyers’ new home in Jacksonville is that much better. Injuries to Travis Hunter (knee, injured reserve), Brian Thomas Jr. (ankle) and Dyami Brown (concussion) have created plenty of opportunity for Meyers in the short term, but it’s hard to imagine he slots in above Thomas or Hunter in the pecking order once they return. And that’s not even including Brenton Strange, the highly productive young tight end who is returning from his own injury (knee).

Meyers turns 29 this week and has one year remaining on his deal. A productive back half of 2025, coupled with his excellent 2024, could generate a solid market for a three-year extension. Meyers’ last deal was a three-year, $33 million dollar contract, and $11 million per year is Tutu Atwell money, or Darius Slayton money. Meyers has been remarkably more impactful than that, and he is oh-so-close to cashing in.

But will he get those numbers in Jacksonville, where the passing game has yet to truly blossom? There’s some hope. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence has a 59.7% completion percentage on the season in large part because of drops. The 19 drops on Lawrence passes lead all quarterbacks, but Meyers has only four drops in the past three seasons (283 targets) combined. A sure-handed receiver should quickly earn Lawrence’s favor. If Thomas is out for a few weeks on top of Hunter’s absence, Meyers will have the time — and volume — necessary to earn and retain Lawrence’s trust.

It’s not the best landing spot; New England and Pittsburgh would have been better. But it’s workable.

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Schefter to McAfee: Jaguars, Steelers were interested in Jakobi Meyers

Adam Schefter joins Pat McAfee to break down the Jaguars trading for Jakobi Meyers.

When the Saints traded Rashid Shaheed to the Seahawks for fourth- and fifth-round selections, they got a decent return. Shaheed is a 27-year-old receiver with one year left on his deal, and as one of the league’s premier speed threats, he has significant value even as a WR2 or WR3. They probably could have gotten more — Jakobi Meyers went for a fourth and a sixth just hours before, and he’s two years older without the cardinal field-stretching trait — but it’s a fine return.

It is frustrating, however, to frame the Shaheed trade relative to the Devaughn Vele trade from August. The Saints acquired a 27-year-old receiver this year when they sent a fourth- and a future seventh-round pick to the Broncos for Vele. Sure, he has three cheap years left on his deal — unlike Shaheed — so the Saints were making a move for cap health. They need to save money, and Shaheed would have been decently expensive on the open market next offseason.

But Vele has barely contributed to the Saints’ offensive efforts this season. He has five catches through eight games. His opportunity will increase with Shaheed gone, of course, but from the start of last season to today, Shaheed has 64 catches for 848 yards and five touchdowns. That’s a 17-game pace of 72.5 catches for 961 yards. Shaheed isn’t just a Marquise Goodwin or Marquez Valdes-Scantling. He’s a bona fide WR2.

The Saints got worse at wide receiver over the past few months, and their loss in talent outweighs their gain in cap space and draft capital to my eyes. Getting anything back for Trevor Penning, whom they sent to the Chargers for a 2028 conditional seventh-round pick, is a bright spot. But it’s tough to develop young quarterbacks without quality wide receiver play, and that’s the risk New Orleans is running these days.

What a day in New York. The Jets have shipped off two of their best young players in Gardner and Williams, and in return, they added three first-round picks, a second-round pick and two young players over the past four hours. This approach reveals an impressively long-term view on team reconstruction, and it offers the Jets plenty of chances to turn their roster over in a Lions-like rebuild.

Think about how well Detroit nailed that 2023 draft with two first-round picks and two second-round picks: Jahmyr Gibbs, Jack Campbell, Sam LaPorta and Brian Branch. Well, the Jets have two firsts and two seconds next year, too. A loaded draft class can fundamentally change a franchise’s future, and that’s what New York is pursuing.

That … or a QB trade package. It’s too early to say anything definitive about the 2026 quarterback class, but if there’s a player worth the first pick in it, the Jets are in the driver’s seat to go get that player. Beyond the 2026 capital, the Jets have three first-round picks in 2027: their own, the Colts’ slot and the better of Dallas’ selections.

In isolation, the Jets won both of their individual trades. Two first-rounders in return for Gardner, who needs to recover his peak form (not a sure thing!) in order to be worth that capital, is a solid move. I know others think the Colts dramatically overpaid, but I’m closer to the middle. It’s a good deal for the Jets, not a great one. But their side is the side I’d rather be on.

The Williams trade, as I detailed above, is a clear and enormous win for the Jets. Williams is older than Gardner and plays a more fungible position — you can get quality DTs in the later rounds of the draft far more easily than you can get quality CBs — yet the Jets still produced a second-round pick and a future first. For general manager Darren Mougey, this deal is the masterstroke that might launch a successful rebuild in New York.

Rebuilds don’t have infinite leashes, of course, and Mougey and coach Aaron Glenn are about to suffer through even more embarrassing losses to end the 2025 season. If they’re bad in 2026, miss on a couple of picks or draft the wrong quarterback, then none of the capital accumulation today will be worth a lick. But for right now, before the chips have fallen, the Jets have built as impressive a stockpile of draft capital as I can remember. That brings us to …

To be clear, I understand what the Jets are doing and why they’re doing it. But let’s wrench our heads from the pillowy clouds of theoretical trades and future drafts and return to the hard reality of the present. The Jets lost two excellent young players today in Gardner and Williams — two of the exact sort of players they hope to draft and develop over the next two classes. The only way to build such a hoard of draft capital is to trade legitimately excellent players, and that’s what they did.

It feels rosy now, to gaze upon those three first-round selections in 2027 and consider what could become. But lest we forget about the Jets’ 2022 draft class which featured the No. 4 pick (Gardner), the No. 10 pick (WR Garrett Wilson) and the No. 26 pick (Jermaine Johnson), here’s our stark reminder: It is possible to absolutely crush a draft with three first-rounders and still fail to find team success. Then-Jets GM Joe Douglas got those picks right (and RB Breece Hall with the 36th pick!) and was still fired two years later, as both Zach Wilson and Aaron Rodgers failed to solve quarterbacking in New York.

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Rich Eisen approves of Jets’ return in Sauce Gardner trade

Rich Eisen reacts to the Jets trading Sauce Gardner to the Colts for two first-round picks and Adonai Mitchell.

Picks and plans are gambles. You should try to make smart ones — and the Jets have. But we can say, concretely, that the Jets got remarkably worse on defense today. They lost young stars, All-Pro players still in their prime. We should not pull punches here. Some of the best players in football were shipped out of New York so that the new front office and new coaching staff could have a better chance — not a guarantee, but a better chance — of building a competitive roster. One that Gardner and Williams will never see.

The team is worse than it was 24 hours ago — a lot worse. It’s understandable and defensible that it happened, but trading good players away is always risky. And it always hurts.

The Ravens executed three trades before the deadline this year. They acquired edge rusher Dre’Mont Jones from the Titans on Monday, and while I like the theory of that trade, we haven’t seen Jones take a snap in a Ravens uniform yet. We have seen Alohi Gilman, the safety the Ravens acquired with a fifth-rounder from the Chargers in exchange for Odafe Oweh and a seventh-rounder — and he has made a big impact. The Ravens also sent Jaire Alexander and a seventh-round pick to the Eagles for a sixth.

Since Week 6 — when Gilman entered the starting lineup — the Ravens are second in points allowed per game, seventh in EPA per play and ninth in success rate. Gilman has been solid. He forced a fumble and recovered another against the Dolphins last Thursday, but his greatest value has been in the unleashing of Kyle Hamilton.

Before the Gilman trade, Hamilton spent over 70% of his snaps playing safety, according to NFL Next Gen Stats positional data. That means he was off the line of scrimmage and in the middle of the field, playing in space. He was only in the box on 17.4% of his snaps. This was never the plan with Hamilton, as he’s at his best using his length, explosiveness and instincts to destroy plays at the point of attack. But the Ravens lost safety Ar’Darius Washington in March to an offseason Achilles injury, and Hamilton had to backfill the position.

After the Gilman trade, Hamilton is back where he belongs. He has lined up at a safety position only six times in three weeks (3.4% of his snaps). He has been in the box on 56.9% of his snaps and has spent another 36.2% at slot corner. The ultimate Swiss Army knife, Hamilton can be an outside linebacker-esque edge setter on first-and-10, a suffocating slot corner on second down and a devastating blitzer mugged up in the A-gap on third down — all while Gilman and rookie safety Malaki Starks occupy the defensive backfield.

Baltimore has been thin along the defensive line all season, and Jones will provide snaps on both the edge and in the interior. But even if that’s the ceiling on the acquisition, and all he provides is depth, the Ravens are still deadline winners for the impact of the Gilman trade.

Of all the teams that stood pat at the deadline (notables such as Tampa Bay, Denver and Pittsburgh), the Patriots are the team that surprised and disappointed me the most. The Colts’ decision to get aggressive acquiring a blue-chip player is defensible, but controversial. If the Patriots, who look like a legitimate AFC contender with an MVP contender quarterback playing on a rookie contract, took a similar leap, it would be universally cheered.

The Patriots have good depth along their offensive skill positions and are getting solid play out of fringe starters along the offensive line, but any and all plus starters should have been of interest to Mike Vrabel. I understand passing on Meyers, whose skill set is quite redundant with that of Stefon Diggs — but Shaheed would have brought a speed element to the Patriots’ offense currently absent.

I’m sure more trade deadline dirt will get kicked up now that the hour has passed. Maybe the price to trade for Chris Olave was so exorbitant that the Patriots are forgiven for standing still. But a legitimate AFC playoff push is in the cards for this team, and if it runs out of gas between here and the Super Bowl, I’m confident it will be because it lacks the requisite offensive firepower around Drake Maye to hang with the big dogs of the conference.

A tough day for Hall, who watched two teammates escape New York, sent a tweet clearly implying he wanted out of New York as well and then sat by his phone as the deadline expired. Still a Jet — at least for the rest of the season.

It’s surprising the Jets didn’t move Hall. Perhaps they’re more enthusiastic about extending him than they seemed this offseason. He’s having a strong season, after all. Hall is still only 24, so he should have another full contract’s worth of good football ahead of him. As always, the franchise tag ($14.1 million) and transition tag ($11.4 million) figures are quite small at the running back position, so even if Hall makes a stink this offseason and tries to get out of New York to join a more competitive team, the Jets can retain team control over him for at least another year.

Hall would have been an exciting addition to many offenses, but most especially the Chiefs, who need better play from the running back position desperately. Instead, he’ll grind away his 4 yards per carry in New York.

Deadline loser: Me … in bingo

In my column earlier today, I built myself a deadline bingo board based on the scuttlebutt of the hour. Grading only on trades that happened today, we were almost a winner — I just needed a player-for-player swap (which is pretty rare). If the 49ers had traded for Trey Hendrickson, that would have cashed my board, as well.

Alas. There’s always next year.