Huge NFL trades last week as trade deadline looms
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The New York Jets acquiring wide receiver Davante Adams will hopefully prove to be just what the Jets need to get a fire burning beneath them this season.
On Tuesday, Oct. 15, two of the league's most recognizable receivers were traded. Former Las Vegas Raiders receiver Davante Adams was traded to the New York Jets, and former Cleveland Browns Receiver was traded to the Buffalo Bills. These names went from two of the worst teams in the NFL to true AFC East competitors on the same day. These deals took place exactly three weeks before the NFL trade deadline, so what does this mean for both teams, and what other possible moves might occur before the Nov. 5 trade deadline?
In terms of the New York Jets, Davante Adams was a must-have for the organization. Adams cost the team nothing to acquire since they traded a pick so late in the NFL draft, so it is a low-risk, high-reward situation. Adams is a 31-year-old receiver. Even so, the veteran has shown signs of being that elite-level playmaker he was earlier in his career. Adams has exceeded 1,000 receiving yards every season since 2019 and has caught 10 or more touchdowns in three of the last four seasons. The main takeaway from this move is that Davante Adams is now reunited with quarterback Aaron Rodgers after two years apart. Adams was Rodgrs’s go-to receiver through both of his Most Valuable Player (MVP) award-winning seasons, in 2020 and 2021. The duo will look to catch fire in the second half of the season, as the Jets will need a miracle to make the playoffs after a 2-5 game record start.
On the other hand, the Bills may not have a superstar receiver like the Jets, but they still have a very handy receiver and are in a much better position. Amari Cooper ironically costs more for the Bills than acquiring Adams did for the Jets; it is still a small cost for a potential big gain. Amari Cooper is coming off arguably his best season after a career-high 1,250 receiving yards in 2023. Cooper hasn’t been able to get much going to start 2024 with the Browns’ abysmal quarterback play, but he showed in his first game with the Bills that he was never the problem as he caught his first touchdown in his first game with Buffalo. The Bills are 4-2, and after all three teams in their division lost last Sunday, they are sitting pretty comfortably at the division top.
Those two massive trades happened weeks before the deadline, so what can we expect as the deadline gets closer? A big name thrown around on internet fantasy trades is Rams Wide Receiver Cooper Kupp. Kupp is in a similar position to Adams and Cooper because he is an aging, incredibly consistent receiver who happens to play on a bad team. The Rams are 2-4 and sit at the bottom of their division, and with Kupp coming back from injury very soon, the team can look to get rid of him fast before teams see how he has dealt with his injury. Still, it will be very challenging for the Rams to let go of their former Super Bowl MVP talent.
Finally, a non-wide receiver NFL trade rumor is Las Vegas Raiders’ defensive end Maxx Crosby. The main reason Crosby has been so talked about is that the Detroit Lions’ superstar defensive end, Aidan Hutchinson, suffered a season-ending injury a couple of weeks back. Hutchinson was the rock of the Lions' defense, and the team now needs to figure out how to fill that void with division rivals Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers, and Chicago Bears all having winning records. Crosby may not be able to step in and directly replicate what Hutchison did for the Lions' defense; he, however, is still an amazing talent who would help the team keep their spot at the top of their division.
The NFL is just a week or two away from reaching its halfway point of the 2024 season. Teams are showing that they are either competing for a championship or competing for a top pick in next year's draft. This sentiment will be the driving force behind teams' deals with each other for the next two weeks before the trade market is closed for the year.