- This year’s trade deadline could be full of eager buyers with nearly half the league two games above .500.
- Several strong teams not only have draft ammo to consummate a trade but the cap space to absorb a big contract.
- One very old and two very young QBs could seemingly use some help.
Half a dozen weeks into most NFL seasons, generally speaking, the cream begins to separate itself – or it’s at least obvious who the primary threats to capture the Lombardi Trophy are.
Not so much in 2025.
This year, it’s readily apparent who’s curdled, the New York Jets still winless while five other teams are stuck on one victory – though even one of them, the decimated Baltimore Ravens, might actually be buttermilk if QB Lamar Jackson and enough of his injured teammates return in time to initiate a salvage operation.
Otherwise? Twenty of the league’s 32 teams are currently sitting at .500 or better – 14 of them amazingly sporting a winning percentage of .667 or better. Aside from being anomalous, this is significant for another reason: if so many squads, including a few surprise outfits, remain highly relevant as the Nov. 4 trade deadline draws nearer, a glutted market of buyers could materialize as clubs attempt to outrun the pack.
Here are seven who could be especially aggressive in the coming weeks:
Dallas Cowboys
What a surreal season already in Big D. Jerry Jones’ trade of DE Micah Parsons in late August set the tone for his season – and seemingly impacting the league at large – while simultaneously fueling the owner’s many critics. Yet Jones’ acquisition of WR George Pickens in the spring is proving to be an inspired stroke for a club that’s 2-3-1 but could easily be 5-1. Armed with an extra first-round draft pick in 2026 and more than $30 million in salary cap space, per Over The Cap, to absorb a significant contract if he chooses, Jones indicated earlier this week that he’s willing to be active.
‘We have thought all along that if we see a way to improve this year with a trade at the deadline, then we’ll take advantage of it,’ Jones said. ‘That’s what we positioned for to start this year, was to have ammunition to do things if we have an opportunity.’
Perhaps he’s just playing to his fan base. Perhaps the return of WR CeeDee Lamb and LB DeMarvion Overshown will have the same effect as infusing new players into the lineup. But Jones also knows his Parsons-less defense, which is ranked dead last in the league and currently suspect at every level, is probably untenable for a team that will officially be three decades removed from its last Super Bowl appearance next January.
Detroit Lions
The only team in the league that’s existed for the entirety of the Super Bowl era, which dates to 1966, but never played on Super Sunday views Dallas’ drought with envy. Yet despite Sunday’s loss in Kansas City, the Lions are again in a solid spot for their long-awaited breakthrough. However, a battered secondary looms as an Achilles for a team that was a No. 1 seed in last season’s playoffs but was fatally undermined by injuries on defense. Whether that means finding another pass rusher to complement DE Aidan Hutchinson, targeting healthy defensive backs or general depth, the Lions have a $27 million slush fund at a time when their historically rare championship window could – and maybe should – be cracked even wider.
New England Patriots
Look who’s sitting atop the AFC East for the first time at any point of a season since 2021. Not only are the Pats scheduled to have at least three additional draft picks in 2026, they have nearly $55 million in cap space – most in the league by far – that would enable them to go big-game hunting, if they so choose, while maximizing the flexibility to juice the roster given ascending QB Drake Maye can’t even begin broaching a raise from his rookie contract until the 2027 offseason. New England doesn’t necessarily have a glaring issue, though – as with most defenses – more production from and depth for the pass rush would most certainly help.
Philadelphia Eagles
Maybe the highly scrutinized issues of the defending champions are a bit overblown – after all, Philly didn’t really begin what turned into an unstoppable roll in 2024 until Week 7. And yet, in the absence of a Zen transplant for WR A.J. Brown, perpetually aggressive EVP/GM Howie Roseman obviously knows his roster could almost certainly benefit from another offensive lineman, depth at wideout and – most notably – help at pass rusher and in the secondary. Roseman might need to restructure a deal or two if he winds up pursuing a bigger fish like Cincinnati DE Trey Hendrickson, but he’s always willing to use his draft capital as ammunition and has an extra third-rounder in 2026 at his disposal.
Pittsburgh Steelers
As many pearls as coach Mike Tomlin has dropped in press conferences over the years, it was pretty out of character for him to single out one of his AFC North rivals – bemoaning the Browns’ intra-divisional trade of QB Joe Flacco, whom Pittsburgh will have to face in its Thursday night matchup with the Bengals in Cincinnati. But being proactive in the market has become something of a necessity in the modern NFL amid a rise of more aggressive general managers and dedicated analytics staffs which can pinpoint prime transactional opportunities. Even the historically conservative Steelers have made six deadline deals since 2020, GM Omar Khan importing both WR Mike Williams and OLB Preston Smith a year ago … for all the good it did.
Entering Week 7, the Steelers are quite surprisingly 2½ games clear of the divisional field. Yet for a team nearly nine years removed from its most recent playoff win and betting big that soon-to-be 42-year-old QB Aaron Rodgers can change that, this isn’t the time to get conservative as clustered as the AFC is and with the dormant Ravens and Bengals banking they can hold out for resurrections when and if their injured QB1s return. Barring some restructures, Khan doesn’t have a lot of financial flexibility (roughly $6 million in cap space). But it likely wouldn’t take much creativity – or money – to import, for example, another off-ball linebacker and/or depth at receiver … say WR Allen Lazard, a favorite teammate of Rodgers with the Jets and Packers who could certainly serve a tactical purpose here.
Seattle Seahawks
They made some lower-level pre-deadline deals last year, coach Mike Macdonald’s first in Seattle, but not enough to get them on the right side of a tiebreaker that cost them the NFC West crown (and a playoff berth in general) in 2024. The ‘Hawks are currently in a three-way tie atop the division and appear like the healthiest and possibly most balanced group relative to the Rams and 49ers. Now in his 16th season as GM, John Schneider has typically kicked over every personnel rock seeking an advantage – never afraid to take a risk in a bid to better the roster and now also much better attuned to what Macdonald wants and needs. And with more than $20 million in the cap bank, it shouldn’t be all that difficult for Seattle to pursue interior O-line help or certainly reinforcements for the second and third levels of a defense that was recently scalded by Tampa Bay and doesn’t have a takeaway this month.
Washington Commanders
Losers of three of five while battling the injury bug, falling to the Cowboys this weekend could drop Washington into a last-place NFC East tie at a time when expectations have spiked coming off last year’s unexpected run to the conference championship game. Like New England, the Commanders have something of a unique opportunity – flush with cap space (more than $25 million) and propelled by a young franchise quarterback, reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year Jayden Daniels, who’s at least two years away from his first significant NFL payday. A young-ish secondary needs to perform better, last year’s pricey acquisition of veteran CB Marshon Lattimore has yet to return much on the investment of multiple mid-round picks. The real issue could be a leaky run defense – one ravaged by the Bears in Monday night’s loss and surrendering nearly 150 yards per game over the past three weeks.
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