The NFL Trade Deadline always ends up being one of the most over-hyped days in the sporting calendar. Every year we speculate about huge deals that could go down, then get disappointed as the most intriguing trade involves a 4th string depth safety only sickos have heard of before.
Things could be a little different in 2025. A landscape has emerged where the NFL is wide open, with parity ruling supreme — and the injury bug has bitten teams in a lot of weird ways. Add in a sprinkling of surprise over performance and there’s at least the groundwork in place for it to be a busy afternoon.
We thought about the deals that make a lot of sense at the deadline and who we’d like to see move teams.
Chuba Hubbard to the New England Patriots
The Patriots should absolutely be buyers at the trade deadline and throw as much gasoline on this fire as possible. I know that technically gasoline only lights when aerosolized, but you get the general idea here.
Chuba Hubbard is a much better running back than he’s shown in 2025. An injury-ravaged offensive line in Carolina caused a lot of the bonds to break down that Hubbard built in his 1,000+ yard season a year ago. Now he’s on the outside as Rico Dowdle has become the feature back in Carolina, with the potential that he could see even less reps depending on how the Panthers use rookie Trevor Etienne.
New England needs an offense that’s deeper than “Drake Maye throws another bomb” when they eventually get to the playoffs. As a team they rush the ball quite well, but need someone better than Rhamondre Stevenson, who is also nursing a toe injury. Having a deep pool of running backs fits right into Mike Vrabel’s ethos when it comes to football, and Hubbard could likely be had at a low, low price.
It’s simply a case where the Panthers are probably looking in a new direction at RB for someone who is a little more of a dynamic pass catcher, the Patriots need a smash mouth between-the-tackles back.
Adam Thielen to the Seattle Seahawks
The Vikings had a feel-good story when they brought back Thielen for the 2025 season via trade, and have proceeded to do absolutely nothing with him for half the season. If this is indeed Thielen’s last season then he deserves to go to a contender, then sign his one-day contract to retire in Minnesota.
Seattle is a really intriguing pick here. As it stands they’re playing phenomenal offensive football, but the receiver spot is really shallow. If the Seahawks are able to ride this wave into the playoffs then having Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp, and Adam Thielen as a top three grouping is extremely intriguing.
While Sam Darnold and Thielen’s paths didn’t cross in Carolina, they still have elements that complement each other really strongly. Also it would be really hilarious to see Darnold and Thielen hook up in Seattle, when they could have been doing it in Minnesota. Never underestimate the power of comedy.
Jakobi Meyers to the Green Bay Packers
The Packers made one huge trade this season by acquiring Micah Parsons, so how about another to cement themselves as a legitimate Super Bowl contender? A lot of teams have been linked to Jakobi Meyers, but his $11M cap hit is a little problematic for a lot of teams. However, it slots in perfectly with the Packers available space, and could be the move to put them over the top.
It’s truly remarkable that Green Bay has done this well with Romeo Doubs and Matthew Golden as their top two receivers. Doubs has been sporadically effective — but Golden really hasn’t shown he’s ready to take on a full load. With Christian Watson coming back it opens the door for another receiver to step in, take the pressure of Tucker Kraft to catch as many passes as he is, and stretch the field even more to open up the running game.
There’s a lot to like about a potential deal here.
Riq Woolen to the Detroit Lions
A trade like this might be the best of both worlds for both Riq Woolen, and the Detroit Lions.
Woolen burst onto the scene as a rookie with six interceptions, putting him in the mix for Defensive Rookie of the Year Honors. But since the arrival of Mike Macdonald his production has slowed, perhaps due to a schematic tension between player and system. Macdonald’s system is heavy on zone coverage — the Seattle Seahawks have run zone coverage on 81.3% of their snaps this season, third-most in the league — and Woolen is more of a man coverage cornerback.
To that point, Woolen has allowed an NFL Passer Rating of 100.0 this year when targeted in zone coverage, according to charting data from Pro Football Focus. Contrast that with the 57.6 NFL Passer Rating allowed when targeted in man coverage, and you start to see the difference.
Cornerbacks Devon Witherspoon and Joshua Jobe are the focus now in Seattle, which could make Woolen a player to watch at the deadline. The fit in Detroit might be near-perfect, as the Lions have run man coverage on 32.5% of their snaps this year, sixth-most in the league. And with Detroit slowly getting some coverage players back from injuries, adding Woolen gives them another player in the secondary as well.
Rashid Shaheed to the Buffalo Bills
According to several reports, the Buffalo Bills are one of several teams looking for WR help as the deadline approaches. “We’ve got the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Buffalo Bills, the Denver Broncos, other teams that have made calls about wide receivers,” said ESPN’s Adam Schefter on his podcast Tuesday.
As Schefter also noted, one team that has a few options at that position is the New Orleans Saints. Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed are two options at WR that could be moved, but Schefter pointed to the speedy Shaheed as the more likely of the two receivers to be traded.
Pairing him with Josh Allen might be a match made in heaven.
Shaheed has been targeted on ten throws over 20 air yards this season, but only two of those resulted in receptions. Put Allen on the other end of those targets, and you might see the Bills’ offense reach new heights.
And it could not come a moment too soon for Allen. This season on throws of over 20 air yards, the Bills passer has completed just 9-of-23 such passes for 238 yards, no touchdowns, and three interceptions.
The sooner Buffalo can improve their downfield passing game, the better.
Kevin Zeitler to the Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks do not have a long list of pressing needs ahead of the 2025 NFL trade deadline.
But upgrading at right guard might be on that list.
Sam Darnold has played extremely well for Seattle — the veteran passer leads the NFL in Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt (8.74), Net Yards per Attempt 8.44), Yards per Completion (13.4), and Yards per Attempt (9.1). His QRB of 72.2 places him sixth in the league, and when looking at quarterback efficiency (which examines Expected Points Added per Play and Completion Percentage Over Expectation) Darnold is among the league’s best:
Darnold has even fared well this year when pressured, but there is a dropoff in his play from when he is kept clean, to when he is pressured. Kept clean in the pocket this year Darnold has posted an Adjusted Completion Percentage of 84.4%, which drops to 66.7% when pressured.
Adding a guard to shore up the right guard spot might be a good move for Seattle. The Tennessee Titans have already started moving players, and with Kevin Zeitler set to hit free agency next season, the Titans might be willing to get what they can via a trade rather than seeing him walk away in the spring.
A.J. Brown to the Pittsburgh Steelers
Let’s get this out of the way: The financials make it nearly impossible for the Philadelphia Eagles to move A.J. Brown.
That being said …
For pure content reasons we would love to see Brown move across Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh, to play alongside DK Metcalf and catch passes from Aaron Rodgers.
Just imagine the kind of social media posts that would follow. Please, we need this.
