What seemed primed to be an underwhelming trade deadline became anything but. Thank you, Jets.
Inside: Unpacking yesterday’s massive deals, which The Athletic graded here, plus Mike Sando’s top takeaways. We’ll start in New York, of course.
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New-Look Jets
“Put your seatbelts on and get ready for the ride,” said Jets head coach Aaron Glenn at his introductory news conference in January. The franchise soon tossed aside Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams and Haason Reddick. Trimming highly paid veterans is typical of new regimes.
But trading two standouts in the primes of their careers? Do the Jets no longer value Madden ratings? These were their two highest-rated players.
Yesterday, they moved their best players for a collection of picks, underachieving (but highly drafted) players and cap relief. It was all part of the return our Zack Rosenblatt called “the cross-section of value and opportunity.” The 1-7 Jets sent:
CB Sauce Gardner, a 25-year-old, two-time All-Pro under contract through 2030 ($30.1 million APY) to Indianapolis
DT Quinnen Williams, a 27-year-old All-Pro on a below-market contract through 2027 ($24 million APY) to Dallas
In return, they received:
2026 first (via Colts, projected 29th)
2026 second (Cowboys, projected 43rd)
2027 first (via Colts)
2027 first (via Cowboys or Packers, whichever is better)
WR Adonai Mitchell (a 2024 second-rounder)
DT Mazi Smith (a 2023 first-rounder)
$30 million in 2026 cap space (approximate, per my quick math on OverTheCap)
$46 million in 2027 cap space
It’s a massive bet on New York’s front office and coaching staff. Amid the Jets’ 15th consecutive season without a playoff appearance, a talented-but-underachieving roster needed a reset. First-year general manager Darren Mougey just launched it.
You might be wondering …
Weren’t these foundational players? Sure, but of what? The Jets won just 31 of the 100 games played by Gardner and/or Williams, and they’ve had the league’s lowest winning percentage since drafting Williams No. 3 in 2019.
Still, won’t it hurt their defense? What defense? The Jets allow 26.7 points per game, field the league’s worst passing defense (ranking 32nd in DVOA, which measures a team’s efficiency by comparing success on every play to a league average) and rank 29th in sacks.
The floor isn’t much lower without these two, though I’ll concede this is a big loss for their run defense. Williams was their star, graded by PFF as the league’s best run defender at his position, while Gardner is tackling better than in 2024.
Did they both want out? No. The Athletic reported Williams was “miserable” and wanted to be traded, but Gardner was the rare player who wanted to be a Jet for life. That seemed likely after his record-setting, $120 million extension, yet Mougey shrewdly made it a contract with a small signing bonus. That gave them flexibility to move Sauce.
Will this work? The Jets tried something similar before. In July 2020, they moved star safety Jamal Adams for Seattle’s two first-round picks and change. One 2022 trade-up later, and the Jets had five first-round picks within two years.
They arguably hit on four of them — OL Alijah Vera-Tucker in 2021, and Gardner, WR Garrett Wilson and LB Jermaine Johnson II in 2022 — but the big miss was the one that mattered most: 2021’s No. 2 pick, quarterback Zach Wilson.
Can they nail the QB pick this time? Justin Fields ranks No. 30 in QBR. Going forward, our 2026 NFL Draft Simulator gives them the league’s best odds to land the No. 1 choice, which would provide Glenn and Mougey their pick of this year’s class.
This offseason, Zak Keefer detailed how NFL teams ruin their young quarterbacks, and no team has better illustrated that than the Jets, who have a habit of drafting quarterbacks for other teams to develop.
So next April, whether the league has turned its eye to Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza (who might make the most sense), Oregon’s Dante Moore, Alabama’s Ty Simpson or someone else, the Jets need to give their next quarterback a chance to succeed for a change.
A few things might help. Glenn saw how Jared Goff’s surroundings transformed the Lions from 3-13-1 to a perennial NFC powerhouse: a strong offensive line, star receiver and talented tight end, plus a solid run game. The Jets have some ingredients:
This line is anchored by the league’s second-best rookie tackle, Armand Membou, who made Dane Brugler’s midseason All-Rookie team.
Top Jets receiver Garrett Wilson is just 25, rookie tight end Mason Taylor is 21 and their long-term receiving options are likely to improve, given New York’s odds of holding four picks in April’s top 50.
Even if Breece Hall exits for a compensatory pick this offseason, their highly drafted line is allowing 2.1 yards before contact, the league’s third-best mark. A plug-and-play running back should work.
Still, Glenn needs to get more from what’s left of this defense. When he was the Lions DC, they gave him four first-rounders to work with, and he improved their points allowed from the league’s second-worst mark to eighth-best.
It’s the Jets, so the ride won’t be as smooth. But if Mougey can assemble a quarterback-friendly offense as Glenn improves their defense, it might end with a parade. Until then, buckle up.
What do Gardner and Williams bring to their new teams? The Colts and Cowboys are next, after Mike Sando’s top takeaways.
Sando’s Pick: Deadline takeaways
No one can call the NFL trade deadline boring this year. There was lots of action and those two big Jets surprises, plus some news that could affect the trade market in the coming offseason. Here are my four takeaways:
1. Kyler Murray could be traded in the offseason. The Cardinals’ decision to stick with career backup and spot starter Jacoby Brissett over their $46 million-a-year longtime starter suggests Murray will be available. GM Monti Ossenfort and coach Jonathan Gannon did not draft Murray or extend his contract. If I’m either of them, I’m lobbying ownership to let me pick my own QB in the offseason and keep building.
2. Daniel Jones is getting an extension from the Colts. Trading for Gardner confirms that Jones is the best option at QB for Indy moving forward (the Colts won’t have the draft capital to select one early anytime soon). The Colts should be looking at the Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold deals if Jones plays efficiently for the full season.
3. Gardner better not be as overrated as some evaluators think. The price Indy paid for Gardner was in line with the compensation when the Rams acquired Jalen Ramsey from Jacksonville. Ramsey was the better all-around player. Some in the league think Gardner has to play press coverage to be effective. Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo will be key for Indy getting the most from its new corner.
4. Seahawks might have helped their run game. Seattle owns the NFL’s most explosive pass offense partly because the team aligns in ways that coax defenses into loading up to stop the run. Adding speedy WR Rashid Shaheed by trade from New Orleans could wind up helping the ground game if defenses now feel compelled to keep their safeties deeper as a result.
Back to you, Jacob.
Colts and Cowboys address needs
Indianapolis is atop the AFC at 7-2. The Chiefs currently sit outside the playoff picture, as do the Ravens. The Bills, Patriots and Broncos have questions, too. If there’s any year for Indy to swing a massive trade, it’s 2025.
With quarterback Jones’ $14 million salary likely to triple this offseason, the Colts are in an obvious win-now window. Heck, if things don’t work this year or next, head coach Shane Steichen and general manager Chris Ballard might not be around long enough to miss those picks anyway.
What does Gardner bring to the Colts? An elite corner, despite the worries. Per Next Gen Stats, Gardner has faced the opposition’s No. 1 receiver on 45.5 percent of his snaps, the NFL’s highest rate, but they rarely get separation against him. He leads the league in tight windows forced at 52 percent — just ahead of 2024 Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Surtain II’s 51.2 percent.
Gardner immediately improves a defense that ranks 25th in passing yards allowed per game. If any defensive coordinator can get the Colts past quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, it might be Anarumo, now armed with former All-Pros in Gardner and CB Charvarius Ward, plus 2021 Pro Bowler Kenny Moore in the slot.
The Colts just mortgaged their future for a chance to win now, and the context of this year’s AFC meant they had to try it.
How does this help Dallas?
I might be on an island here, but what many considered a brutal offseason doesn’t look so bad now. As Sando noted to me, whether Williams is as good as Micah Parsons misses the point: Cowboys owner Jerry Jones didn’t want to go all in on a contract for Parsons.
Since April, the Cowboys …
Added Williams, WR George Pickens, DT Kenny Clark and LB Logan Wilson.
Swapped their 2026 second-round pick with the Packers’ 2026 first, also adding a 2027 sixth from Pittsburgh.
Gained enough cap savings to keep Williams and Pickens long-term.
Improving their run defense was a priority for Jerry Jones, and for good reason. Since 2020, the Cowboys have allowed the NFL’s second-most rushing yards in the regular season. Now Dallas gets the league’s best interior run defender, Williams, who pairs with the underrated DT Osa Odighizuwa to form an imposing front.
Jon Machota, who covers the Cowboys for The Athletic, wrote the following in his story on the Williams trade:
💬 “It’s probably too late to turn things around this season, but it’s not difficult to see how one of the worst defenses in franchise history could be much improved entering next season.”
For more on these deals, read our trade deadline winners and losers column.
Extra Points
👋 Still here. Plenty of big names remain stuck with their current teams. Here’s the full list.
▶️ Yesterday’s most-clicked: What’s it like to be traded in the NFL? Players explain.
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