Less than a decade ago, it was common for the NFL to offer single-digit deals during the regular season. The trade deadline was usually a snoozer compared to that of other major American professional sports leagues, and the number of moves made at the buzzer could often be counted on one hand. This couldn’t be further from the case.
Twenty-four hours before the 2026 trade deadline, there were 10 in-season trades on the books. This number will increase in the final hours before the clock strikes 4 p.m. ET on November 10. Star players could be on the move as Super Bowl contenders prepare for the final stretch and non-contending teams look to jumpstart their rebuilds with premium draft capital. Basketball and baseball fans are used to seeing this whirlwind of deals, but it’s still relatively new to football fans. Just like in other leagues, this boom is becoming the new norm in the NFL.
Last year, there were 22 trades from the first day of the regular season until the deadline. This is the highest number on record since at least 1995, according to NFL Research. A total of 12 players and 14 picks were traded on deadline day alone. General managers were busier than ever. This is an extreme continuation of a trend that has been going on since the mid-2010s, in which front offices mortgage their futures for instant impact players or, conversely, sell off their most valuable assets to accumulate draft picks.
According to trade tracker Spotrac, only once between 2010 and 2017 did the NFL record 12 or more in-season trades. Something shifted towards the end of the decade, as this figure now represents the lowest level since 2018.
CBS Sports
Why this sudden increase? There are fundamental processes in the NFL that make this league more trade averse than other sports leagues, but schedule changes and new front office philosophies have created avenues for teams to get around some of the obstacles.
Here are the factors at play.
Why in-season trades were rare
Trading players in the NFL isn’t as simple as matching salaries. This is a large part of why player-for-player trades remain so rare. The way contracts are structured, with teams spreading bonuses over multiple years, taking dead money and having to pay part of the salary owed to the players they trade, is sometimes prohibitive. Additionally, the NFL has a strict salary cap, so unlike the NBA, where teams use exceptions to go over the cap, or the MLB, where wealthy owners can shell out as much money as they want, all deals must result in both teams staying under that firm number.
Football is also not as plug-and-play as other sports. There are huge playbooks to learn, especially at the offensive skill positions. There is extremely important timing to perfect, especially for the quarterback’s receiver tandem. With 11 players on the field at any time and complicated schemes to understand, anyone joining a roster mid-season has a lot to learn on the field.
The brevity of a 17-game regular season also keeps a greater percentage of the league in playoff contention later in the year, compared to 82- or 162-game campaigns. The lack of non-competitors means that fewer teams are willing to sell and therefore there is a smaller volume of players available.
Draft picks are also extremely valuable since teams have many spots to fill. And at the same time, the rosters are so large that fringe players around the 53-man limit can simply be released if the potential trade deal is undesirable.
Calendar changes shift conflict windows
Until 2011, the NFL trade deadline was extremely early in the season. He landed the Tuesday following Week 6, well before the halfway point of the campaign. Teams were often still trying to figure out where they fit in the hierarchy when it came time to lock down their rosters. How could a general manager buy one of his stars with an expiring contract when he didn’t know whether or not his team was in the running for a playoff spot? They rarely did it.
That changed in 2012 when the NFL and NFL Players’ Association agreed to move the deadline back two weeks, to the Tuesday after Week 8. And shortly after the league adopted a 17th regular-season game, it moved the deadline back another week to where it currently sits: the Tuesday after Week 9, which is effectively the midseason point.
Teams’ position in the playoffs is much clearer after Week 9 than after Week 6. Look no further than the Indianapolis Colts, who have become one of the most aggressive sellers in the NFL this year. Through six games, they were 2-4 and were competitive enough in a few of their losses to believe they could right the ship. Now, after nine games, they sit at a measly 2-7 and own a five-game losing streak. Clearly out of the playoff hunt, they left perennial Pro Bowlers Quenton Nelson and DeForest Buckner.
“F their choice”
Perhaps the most notable change in the rise in in-season trades comes from the mentality surrounding draft picks. While the value of day one picks in the NFL is still enormous, it’s more common than ever to see general managers move that hallowed capital for players who can help them win at the highest level immediately instead of a few years later. Nowhere is this clearer than in Los Angeles, where Rams general manager Les Snead gave birth to the “F them picks” mantra.
The Sneads’ Best Successful Careers
Each of these moves opened or extended the Rams’ championship windows. These are bets on current stars and their ability to continue playing at a high level, versus the risk of boom or bust picks at the end of the first round. In order to balance the roster, Snead relies on finding diamonds in the rough in later rounds, which he managed to achieve.
This model won a Super Bowl and proved to other teams that it was a viable strategy for team building. In the copycat league that is the NFL, the Rams are no longer the only team going all out to fuel championship runs.
Snead even has direct disciples who put his methodology into practice elsewhere. Jacksonville Jaguars general manager James Gladstone worked under Snead in various roles for nine years before landing his own general manager job. On Monday, he made two trades in which he traded his draft picks for immediate impact players. They may not have been day one picks, but they were a capital project nonetheless.
General managers get crafty
Draft picks are still golden, even in this era where they are being moved around like never before. General managers who want the best of both worlds – accumulating picks and achieving immediate impacts – can balance the two, but they have to get creative. Enter the selection swap. Instead of one team gaining a draft pick while the other loses one, pick swaps allow teams to generate overall value while retaining at least some capital. If a player is valued around a late day 2 pick, the buying team could send a second rounder and receive a day 3 pick with that player in return.
Compensatory picks also give general managers the ability to alter available players. If there is a veteran whose contract is expiring and who can join a team on a half-season rental, the acquiring franchise can give up a third-round pick or worse to acquire him, knowing that they can get the pick back if the player leaves in free agency.
Gladstone himself pulled off a masterful move before Tuesday’s deadline by factoring compensatory picks into the equation. He made a deal with the New Orleans Saints that sent Davon Godchaux to Jacksonville in exchange for a conditional sixth-round pick in 2028. That pick would become a sixth-rounder in 2027 if the Jaguars acquired one via another trade or via the compensatory package. Essentially, Gladstone traded a pick he doesn’t even own yet.
Is this the new normal?
So much in football is cyclical, but the proliferation of actions linked to commercial deadlines continues. League-level changes to the schedule have made it more viable, and general managers are more aggressive than ever in a world of “what have you done for me lately.” Now that front offices have another tool for roster building, it will only become more common. The cat’s out of the bag, and it’s going to be hard to put it back in.
Gn sports
