Ever since the NFL moved the trade deadline back a few weeks to midseason, we’ve annually seen a flurry of deals before its expiration. This year’s total of 18 midseason trades involved 23 of the league’s 32 teams, with 19 players and 34 draft picks changing hands. These were the biggest moves Tuesday.
Reunited and It Feels So Good
After an embarrassing offensive showing in a Monday Night Football loss to the Buffalo Bills, the Minnesota Vikings upgraded their biggest weakness by digging into their past. They reacquired QB Kirk Cousins from the Las Vegas Raiders for a third-round pick. Cousins, 38, has the most season passing touchdowns (20) and career passing TDs (318) of any player in NFL history who was traded midseason.
Of course, Cousins’s familiarity with Minnesota played a role in the franchise seeking his services as he made three Pro Bowls in his six seasons with the Vikings (2018-23). This also continues a trend for the franchise, which isn’t hesitant about reuniting with former stars. Cousins follows in the path of the likes of Randy Moss, Chris Doleman, Adam Thielen, and Everson Griffen as players to depart the Vikings, only to then return at the ends of their careers.
A New Weapon for Patrick Mahomes
The Chiefs have the No. 2 total offense, but that’s on the strength of their run game rather than their passing game. With injuries to Rashee Rice and Tyquan Thornton, Kansas City wideouts rank 28th in the league with just 117.5 yards per game. So trading for Josh Downs by sending the Indianapolis Colts fourth and fifth round picks was more of a necessity than a luxury.
Downs is a master of the slot, despite playing with mostly subpar quarterbacks in Indy. Downs has the second-most receiving yards from the slot (1,995) since entering the NFL in 2023, behind only Detroit’s Amon-Ra St. Brown. Kansas City currently ranks last in the league by averaging just 3.8 yards before catch per reception, while Downs is averaging nearly twice that with 7.0 YBC per reception.
Another Graybeard Heads to The Bay
The receiving room for the San Francisco 49ers has been a MASH unit all year, with the likes of Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel, Ricky Pearsall, and Christian Kirk spending time sidelined. To help fill the gaps, San Fran traded a sixth-round pick to the Colts for veteran Keenan Allen, whose 1,095 receptions lead all active wideouts and, to the surprise of many, ranks fifth among wide receivers in NFL history.
At 34, Allen is the oldest active receiver, and he’s joining a roster filled with veteran pass catchers. In fact, with Allen, Evans, Cooks, Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle, the Niners now have five of the 12 active leaders in receptions. Allen gets to return to the Bay Area after playing college ball at Cal as he seeks his first Super Bowl and first postseason win in eight years.
Bills Give Up Aplenty for Amani
Outside of Jeffery Simmons (two first rounders) and Jordan Davis (one first, one second), no player cost more to acquire than safety Amani Hooker. The Bills gave up a second rounder and a fifth rounder for the Tennessee Titan, who has emerged from a 2019 fourth-round pick to becoming one of the league’s best safeties.
Hooker leads the league with five interceptions, including picking off MVP candidate Joe Burrow three times in his last game. Hooker is just the third player in the last 40 years to rack up five interceptions and 50-plus tackles through a team’s first seven games, and playmakers of this magnitude aren’t moved often. Not since George Cheverko in 1948 has a player with at least five picks changed teams midseason.
A Rarity in Today’s NFL
As mentioned, there have been a total of 18 midseason trades involving 19 players. That means one trade involved two players, and it was a swap of offensive linemen. The only player-for-player trade had the Baltimore Ravens acquiring Ryan Neuzil from the Atlanta Falcons for Andrew Vorhees and a sixth-round pick.
Neuzil gives Baltimore depth, and possibly a starter, at center, which has been a position of weakness for the team since letting Tyler Linderbaum go in free agency. With Baltimore also trading for Jacoby Brissett last week, the team could very well have a new center-to-quarterback exchange come the Ravens’ Week 10 game on Monday night. Meanwhile, Vorhees started all 17 games at guard last year but had primarily been a reserve lineman this year, as Atlanta likely valued the late-round draft pick in the deal as much as Vorhees.
