It was one of the craziest trade deadlines in National Football League history.  In total, twelve players were dealt before the 4:00PM deadline. We even saw a suspended player find a new home. It was at that time we were able to see who are the real contenders and who is already looking to next season.

Contenders

Philadelphia Eagles

Just a few seasons ago, analysts and fans questioned if Jalen Hurts was “the guy” in Philly. Now a potential MVP candidate, Hurts has silenced all that doubted him. After beating the Texans, Houston head coach Lovie Smith had high praise for the quarterback.

“I think he’s improved more, maybe more than every player in the NFL.”

The Eagles are off to their best start in franchise history and it’s no surprise why. This team hasn’t stopped making major moves. In the offseason Philadelphia picked up WR A.J. Brown and OLB Haason Reddick. At the trade deadline, the team beefed up their defense adding Roquan Smith.

Buffalo Bills

When the Bills opened the season with a dominating win over last year’s champions it was clear this team had a chip on its shoulder like they had to avenge their loss. It’s really hard to find a flaw with the Buffalo Bills.  They didn’t make any big trades, but they didn’t need to.  Buffalo did end swapping out Zack Moss for Colts running back Nyheim Hines. Hines will make this already electric offense even better by being able to catch passes as a running back and return punts. Bills GM Brandon Beane told reporters the trade came about only an hour before the deadline. His team had been in contact with many of the players that ended up being on the move including Christian McCaffrey, but the price was too high.

Dallas Cowboys

After seeing QB Dak Prescott get injured during the first game of the season, everyone was quick to assume this was another lost season for Dallas.  Instead in the five games Prescott was out for, his backup Cooper Rush excelled even causing a fake starting QB controversy.

Despite desperately needing a second receiver to complement CeeDee Lamb, the team chose not to make a move before the deadline. According to the team’s Vice President Stephen Jones the team wanted to make a move, but just couldn’t agree on terms with other teams.   It’s understandable the team didn’t want to part with valuable assets, but their time to win is now so it’s a little strange to see the team act conservatively especially Dallas.

Enough about the offense, this team is a playoff contender because of their defense. They rank in the top ten in most defensive categories except stopping the run. The team did address that by adding defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins.

Pretenders

Green Bay Packers/Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Maybe this is all of our fault for putting too high of expectations on both Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. I think we all assumed both Brady and Rodgers are so talented they would figure out how to win with flawed rosters. They have not up until this point. Fans who waited to see if either team would try to improve this roster before the deadline were left disappointed with both teams choosing to do nothing.

I really bet the Packers regret letting Davante Adams walk. If we’re being honest, he probably has some regrets about leaving as the Raiders continue to struggle as well. Green Bay tried to acquire Steelers WR Chase Claypool, but he ended up going to NFC North rival Chicago.

Check on Packers fans this season. They don’t know what it’s like to suck.

Tampa Bay is in a better position than Green Bay being only one game out of first in the NFC South. The Bucs have the talent to win their division, but do they have the motivation?

Denver Broncos

To say it’s been a rough start to Russell Wilson’s career in Denver would probably be an understatement. Things just have not worked out well in Denver. Like many disappointing teams, there has been plenty of finger pointing, but if we’re being honest the blame can definitely be shared by multiple people.

Perhaps one of the biggest trades of the day was Denver OLB Bradley Chubb to Miami, a team that is quite literally all-in. On the other side, Denver is throwing in the towel on this season despite having Super Bowl goals to start the season. That will have to wait at least another season, but at least the team has a first-round pick to get some cheaper talent.

Baltimore Ravens

After all the offseason drama surrounding QB Lamar Jackson and a contract extension, I think we all expected Jackson to light up the field every week. Jackson started off the season strong, but has struggled since week three. It’s not necessarily Jackson’s fault. He lost playmaker Rashod Bateman week four to a foot injury while Mark Andrews will likely be out this week after not practicing this week.

This isn’t a bad team by any means, but they’ve let games slip away from them which makes it hard to believe they will make the necessary plays to win playoff games. Baltimore did make a big move in acquiring linebacker Roquan Smith who will really help a struggling defense. Smith will likely be their middle linebacker of the future, but is it enough to win this season? Probably not, but last year the Rams made a huge splash before the trade deadline in acquiring linebacker Von Miller and we see how that worked out. It does help that they have the easiest remaining schedule in the league.

Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings might have pulled off the biggest surprise acquiring tight end T.J. Hockenson from NFC North rival Detroit.  Cousins is surrounded by playmakers, but does anyone trust Kirk Cousins in primetime?  Minnesota will make it into the playoffs, but that speaks more to how terrible the NFC North as a division is. The Vikings got demolished week one against Philly.

One honorable mention goes to New York football. Both New York teams have absolutely crushed expectations, but I still wouldn’t call either team a contender. Similar to the city’s baseball teams, it’s good to see New York fans have something to cheer about because it’s been so long.

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