The 2025 NFL trade deadline is behind us, and we’ve reached the midseason, where new opinions are ready to be formed and new impressions are ready to be made.

How about the Indianapolis Colts, who are in Berlin on Sunday morning to play the Atlanta Falcons? They may be the biggest winners from the deadline with the addition of star cornerback Sauce Gardner.

The Baltimore Ravens made some moves, too. Can they get back into the AFC playoff hunt? The four NFC West teams face off Sunday. How will that division unfold in the second half of the season?

The Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers end Week 10 on Monday night, too, with the winner providing some semblance of who might capture the NFC’s top seed.

Jeff Howe, Zak Keefer and Mike Sando discuss these topics and more in our latest roundtable.

The Falcons and Colts kick off from Berlin on Sunday. The Colts look like the biggest winners from the trade deadline. Is the Sauce Gardner addition enough to keep them atop the AFC this season? The Falcons, meanwhile, did nothing. Should they have moved Kirk Cousins or made an addition?

Keefer: The Colts’ bold move to send two first-round picks to New York, plus receiver Adonai Mitchell, tells us a few things. For starters, the Colts didn’t believe they could land a player of Gardner’s ability on the free-agent market. Secondly, they like their team. A lot. An elite cornerback was Indy’s biggest need, and if you throw in Gardner to a unit that already has Charvarius Ward, Kenny Moore II, Jaylon Jones, Cam Bynum and Nick Cross, when healthy, that can be one of the league’s most lethal secondaries. I’m not sure the path forward for the Falcons. After a 3-2 start that included a nice win over the Bills, they’ve regressed badly.

Sando: I’m shocked by what the Colts gave up for Gardner, and I disagree with your premise that Indy is the biggest winner from the deadline, unless coordinator Lou Anarumo can get the “sauce” out of Sauce, who had not played great lately. Would the price have been lower without the nickname? I haven’t seen him dominate, and don’t think any corners dominate in this era. Gardner will help the Colts, of course, but I thought the price was super high.

Howe: Come playoff time, the AFC is still coming down to the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills, but I’d group the Colts, New England Patriots, Denver Broncos and Jacksonville Jaguars as teams we’re still learning about. Maybe the Los Angeles Chargers, Ravens or Pittsburgh Steelers play their way into that tier. The Colts’ roster is intriguing, and their record is legit, but nobody beats one of those perennial powers on paper. As the Bills have learned, beating the Chiefs anywhere in January is the most consistently difficult challenge in the sport. If I were the Falcons, I would’ve used Cousins’ contract to buy a draft pick over the offseason, paying down whatever it cost to reel in something in the middle rounds. Not sure that allure existed this week. They also couldn’t be reckless with their future picks after trading up for James Pearce Jr. in April’s draft.

The NFL trade deadline saw blockbuster deals, intriguing moves and draft selection swaps.

Here’s who won and who lost. pic.twitter.com/7oQ3DdDbg4

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) November 5, 2025

Ravens-Vikings is interesting after it appeared both teams’ seasons were going nowhere a few weeks ago. Both are 10th in their respective conferences, outside the playoff picture. Which team has the more manageable path to the postseason?

Keefer: Look hard at the Ravens’ schedule over the next few months, and it’s not all that difficult to imagine a pretty substantive win streak. Baltimore might be getting hot at just the right time, with plenty of season left to catch Pittsburgh in the AFC North. So my answer is easily the Ravens. The Minnesota Vikings’ season gained some much-needed momentum with J.J. McCarthy’s inspiring play Sunday, but in the crowded NFC North — the only division in football with no team below .500 — the path to the postseason is much dicier.

Sando: The Ravens do because they have a superstar quarterback, while the Vikings are breaking in an unproven one with limitations. Minnesota has the tougher remaining schedule as well.

Howe: I’m buying the Ravens as AFC North winners. They’re going to play desperate in the second half, and the Steelers are in serious danger of fading against a tougher schedule with a defense that needs to play a ton better to earn trust. This is shaping up to be more of a reset season for the Vikings, which is fine as long as they can enter the offseason with confidence in McCarthy as the future of the organization.

Who’s the team to beat in the NFC West right now? The Seahawks (vs. Cardinals) or the Rams (at 49ers)? Do the 49ers, with all of their injuries, have a realistic say in the division title race?

Keefer: The Los Angeles Rams are quietly playing some of the most consistent football in the league, and they’re my pick to win the NFC West. I like Chris Shula’s defense against Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks when it matters, plus Matthew Stafford leads the league in passing touchdowns (21) to go with just two interceptions. As for San Francisco, I give Kyle Shanahan and his staff a lot of credit: they’re squeezing the most out of a battered roster. They’re finding new ways to win, including more use of Christian McCaffrey through the air (he is on pace for over 1,100 receiving yards, which would be an NFL record for a running back). But the defensive injuries have to catch up to them at some point, right?

Sando: The Rams are the team to beat until Seattle proves it can beat them. There’s a good chance the Seahawks do prove that this season, but they have to actually do it before I’m ready to anoint them. The Rams are so much farther along in their development with the coach/quarterback dynamic. Seattle is starting out and must prove it can adjust when opponents take away certain things. It’s not going to look this easy for Sam Darnold forever.

Howe: Have I mentioned how I picked the Seahawks before the season to get to the Super Bowl? The Rams’ consistency is more conducive to winning the NFC West title, but the Seahawks are really building toward being a tenacious playoff opponent with their style of play. I’m impressed the 49ers continue to overachieve with their latest rash of injuries, but they can’t sustain pressure on the Rams and Seahawks while juggling the quarterbacks’ injuries every single week.

Quarterback Sam Darnold (14) and the Seattle Seahawks have won three consecutive games, but the NFC West race is crowded at the top. (Geoff Burke / Imagn Images)

The Commanders host the Lions on Sunday, with both teams in an awkward state. Did the Lions’ loss to the Vikings change your mind about Detroit’s ceiling this season? What do you make of Jayden Daniels’ elbow injury and the blame being placed on Dan Quinn for failing to protect the QB by taking him out of a lost game?

Keefer: I don’t think the Lions’ loss reinforced anything other than the reality that this NFL season has been defined by parity. There is no juggernaut, no unbeatable team. Every contender has faltered and remained flawed. That’s what is going to make December and January so much fun. Who’s going to get hot? Detroit is absolutely a team with the firepower to reach the Bay Area for the Super Bowl. In Washington, though, there will be no stirring playoff run like a year ago. Dan Quinn was right: He should have pulled his star quarterback from Monday’s game a series earlier. Daniels has been hurt too much this season to risk it in a blowout loss.

Sando: The Lions’ loss was a red flag from my standpoint because it was at home against a fragile young quarterback. These Lions can still be good, but we might be seeing some regression.

Howe: As a general rule, virtually every team in the league is going to lose an ugly game to a division opponent unexpectedly. The Lions’ other two losses have come against the Packers and Chiefs, so it’s not like they’re rife with upsets. I’d call this a bad week more than an alarming trend, as the Lions are among the NFC powers who will have a chance in the end. As for Quinn, I appreciate his accountability for the decision. But he made a call that many coaches do in these games, and he got burned because of the outcome of the injury.

The Eagles and Packers meet on Monday night in a game that could help determine the NFC’s top seed. How do we feel about each team’s chances to earn a No. 1 seed post-trade deadline?

Keefer: Frankly, I hope America — myself included — can watch this game. (Thanks for nothing, YouTubeTV). I don’t have nearly as many reservations about the Philadelphia Eagles’ chances at a No. 1 seed as I do the Packers. Why? Philly’s been through this before, the ups and downs of a regular season, and they know how to peak at the right time. Green Bay has two of the worst losses of any contender out there — to Cleveland and Carolina — and it feels like this offense is missing something. Not having Tucker Kraft changes their ceiling, too. The Eagles remain the team to beat in the NFC.

Sando: The Eagles, Los Angeles Rams and Seahawks have a better shot at the top seed than the Packers do, at least in my mind (The Athletic’s projection model agrees). We’ll know more once the Rams and Seahawks play one another. I’m a little concerned about Green Bay because Tucker Kraft is out, and I’m not sure about the leadership/consistency of this very young team.

Howe: The Eagles know what it takes to navigate a long season while setting themselves up for a playoff run. They look like a group that’s getting some of the junk out of the way early so they can refine what they do well before clicking down the stretch. Or at least, we’ve seen them do it before. I’m not concerned about them. As for the Packers, their ceiling is as high as any team in the league, but they’ve had a dud against the Cleveland Browns, a dud against the Carolina Panthers, a shaky performance against the Cincinnati Bengals, a defensive meltdown against the Dallas Cowboys, and they start slow almost every week. It’s nice that they’re mostly winning these games when they aren’t at their best, but that won’t last in the playoffs. The NFC is too deep to think they can rip off a long winning streak in the postseason until they put together complete games weekly.