We tend to view the trade deadline as a culmination of a very brief period of time -- the first half of the NFL season -- when in reality, it closes a window that has been open since the start of the league year back in March.
We went 19 days in October with no activity between the deal that swapped cornerbacks Greg Newsome II and Tyson Campbell (Oct. 8) and the one that sent cornerback Roger McCreary from the Titans to the Rams in exchange for draft picks (Oct. 27). And then teams were off to the races, and the Jets blew up the deadline with two blockbusters in the space of an hour Tuesday. There were 22 total trades since the start of the season, the most in-season trades since at least 1995, and 12 total players were traded between Monday and Tuesday. Three former first-team All-Pros were traded -- Sauce Gardner, Quinnen Williams and Rashid Shaheed -- the most since at least 1995.
The Jets will be the headliner of the next two drafts. They emerged on Tuesday with two first round picks and two second-rounders in 2026 and three first-rounders in 2027.
We won't know how most of these deals -- particularly those that included future draft picks -- pan out for several years. The winners and losers of the trade deadline are the teams that at least tried to address needs, or the players who were perfect fits and the people who will pay the price for all this activity. And there is still, all these months later, one trade that overshadows everything else this season.
WINNERS
Micah Parsons and the Green Bay Packers
Just days before the regular season kicked off, the Packers pulled off one of the biggest, and perhaps most consequential, trades in years, acquiring the star pass rusher in exchange for two first-round draft picks and veteran defensive tackle Kenny Clark. Micah Parsons, who had requested a trade from the Cowboys because he was entering the final year of his rookie deal with no extension in sight in Dallas, then signed a mega contract extension that made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in the league and guaranteed him $136 million. Parsons landed with a team that is loaded with young talent, meaning he is likely to be part of playoff pushes for years to come. The Packers addressed a gigantic need as it makes a Super Bowl push and Parsons has already paid off. Even after having no pressures in a loss to the Panthers on Sunday, he has 6.5 sacks and 20 pressures and is a constant menace in the backfield. There is no overstating how impactful this trade was -- players like Parsons simply do not become available in their prime.
Indianapolis Colts and Sauce Gardner
A win-win. The Colts, with just two losses, filled their greatest need in adding cornerback Sauce Gardner and they are clearly making a Super Bowl push right now after their fast start. The Colts are giving up two first-round draft picks plus receiver Adonai Mitchell so this is a huge swing for them, although Gardner's contract is entirely manageable for a top corner. This is a great thing for Gardner, who for the first time in his career, will play for a contending team. He is a long corner -- he's 6-foot-3 -- and will give Colts defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo another defensive weapon to team with, among others, Kenny Moore II, Camryn Bynum and, eventually, Charvarius Ward, who is currently on injured reserve after suffering a concussion. According to Next Gen Stats, Gardner faced opponents' No. 1 receivers on 45.5 percent of his coverage matchups, the highest rate in the NFL. And when targeted, he has forced tight windows -- less than 1 yard of separation -- at a 52 percent rate, which also leads the league.
Seattle Seahawks
They have a red-hot offense and they made it better by adding receiver Rashid Shaheed, who adds a big-play threat to an offense that is already fifth in scoring. There's little doubt that Sam Darnold's fantastic play in the first half of the season merits this kind of move -- the Seahawks have a top-level defense, too -- and Shaheed's speed will also create more space for the league's leading receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Klint Kubiak had Shaheed last season in New Orleans, so he knows exactly how to use him and that should mean Shaheed can make an immediate impact. Shaheed should also contribute on special teams. The Seahawks were off the radar until their demolition of the Commanders on Sunday night, but they are in first place in the NFC West and getting Shaheed should mean they could certainly contend for the NFC Championship.
Philadelphia Eagles fans
You never have to worry about your team becoming complacent. The Eagles first traded for running back Tank Bigsby from the Jacksonville Jaguars (he rushed for 104 yards against the Giants in Week 8). Then within the space of a few days last week, Howie Roseman, one of the most active deal makers in the NFL, got cornerbacks Michael Carter II from the Jets and Jaire Alexander from the Ravens. On Sunday night, he filled the Eagles' most glaring remaining need (they have just 16 sacks), swapping one of his third-round draft picks for pass rusher Jaelan Phillips from the Miami Dolphins. That reunites Phillips with Vic Fangio, with whom he had his greatest success in 2023, when Fangio was the Dolphins' defensive coordinator and Phillips had 6.5 sacks in just eight games. Phillips has had several significant injuries, but if healthy can still be impactful. And the Phillips move was needed to make up for the loss of pass rushers Josh Sweat and Milton Williams in free agency. Moreover, even if all the moves don't work out as hoped, there's never a doubt that Roseman is looking at everything to make even an incremental improvement to the roster.
Pittsburgh Steelers
They pulled off their own blockbuster during the dog days of summer, acquiring All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey and tight end Jonnu Smith in exchange for All-Pro safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and a pick swap. How important has Ramsey been? Because of injuries to teammates, he played exclusively at safety against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 9, which was the Steelers' best defensive effort of the season. Then, last week, they got safety Kyle Dugger from the Patriots and he played all but one defensive snap in the win over the Colts three days later -- Dugger received a game ball for his part in the best defensive effort of the season.
Joe Flacco
His trade, from Cleveland to Cincinnati, was one of the biggest surprises of the cycle -- why would Cleveland trade a quarterback to a reeling division rival? -- but for Joe Flacco, this was a clear win. At nearly 41 years old, Flacco has proven his value by keeping the Bengals competitive, throwing 11 touchdown passes and just two interceptions, and he's almost certainly shown enough to earn himself at least a backup job somewhere in the league next season.
Jakobi Meyers
A few months ago, Jakobi Meyers asked the Raiders to trade him because he wanted a contract extension. The Raiders declined and Meyers played on. Now he goes to the Jaguars. He has 33 receptions for 352 yards this season and now joins a Jaguars team that badly needs him because of injuries to their wide receivers room, including to Travis Hunter, who is on injured reserve. Meyers gets a fresh start with a team that should be in the playoff mix with a staff that has familiarity with him -- wide receivers coach Edgar Bennett used to be with the Raiders -- so Meyers has a chance to make a quick impact that could help his future contract demands.
LOSERS (Hopefully just short term)
Jets fans
Unless they are big fans of delayed gratification, this was a tough day for Jets fans, who watched two favorites and two of their best players go in Sauce Gardner (to Indianapolis) and Quinnen Williams (to Dallas). This has already been a brutal season, and it's probably only going to get uglier in the short term with two of their top defensive stalwarts gone. It is, after all, the defense that has kept them competitive in the last few weeks. Having said that, the draft pick haul is immense and Jets draft parties should be lit. There is hope that if the Jets can hit on these picks, a turnaround could follow quickly. Jets fans would be wise to cover their eyes during games for the rest of the 2025 season, but they should start paying very close attention to college football.
Breece Hall
The Jets running back was not traded. He is on an expiring contract and has wanted an extension, which the Jets have not given him so far. And he just watched two of his best teammates get traded as the Jets lean into their rebuild. Breece Hall did nothing to conceal his disappointment Tuesday, posting that he was sick, although happy for Gardner and Williams. We'll see what the Jets do with Hall in the future, but for now, they have a clearly unhappy running back to manage.
INCOMPLETE
Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys
There's no sugarcoating the immediate effect of trading Micah Parsons -- it was a huge step back for the Cowboys defense, which has struggled, including against the run, which Jones insisted was part of the reason to make the trade that included Kenny Clark. But the Cowboys made big moves at the deadline, first getting Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson, who had seen his snaps decrease in Cincinnati as his production has waned in recent seasons. Wilson is a solid veteran and team leader type who should help a struggling Cowboys defense immediately. And then the Cowboys hit their home run, getting Quinnen Williams from the Jets, who should help both the run and pass defense immediately. The Cowboys got two first-round draft picks out of the Parsons deal, but sent a first-rounder to the Jets for Williams. The Cowboys get an incomplete for the entire cycle because we don't know if they will hit on that first-round selection -- there is no room for another Taco Charlton swing and miss -- and they still don't have a game-wrecking pass rusher like Parsons. This series of moves, especially the Parsons trade, was an enormous risk for the Cowboys. But Jones loves his image as a gambler and until we know for sure whether he has hit or gone bust, this one is TBD.
New York Jets
A rebuilding team would have been foolish to ignore the blockbuster trade haul the Jets were offered for Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams, especially because Williams had grown weary of the losing and will soon want a new contract. But now the Jets have to hope that GM Darren Mougey can draft like Ozzie Newsome and those draft picks can be parlayed into players like ... Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams, consistently top-level players at their positions. The Jets have all the ammunition and a lot of the flexibility they'll need for a quick turnaround if they nail all these picks. That's a very big IF -- can they identify a quarterback, a cornerback, an elite defensive lineman all in short order and then get them to perform at a high enough level to make a stripping of young cornerstone talent from the roster worthwhile? We'll find out starting in the spring.
