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senior NFL national reporter- Jeremy Fowler is a senior national NFL writer for ESPN, covering the entire league including breaking news. Jeremy also contributes to SportsCenter both as a studio analyst and a sideline reporter covering for NFL games. He is an Orlando, Florida native who joined ESPN in 2014 after covering college football for CBSSports.com.
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senior NFL national reporter- Dan Graziano is a senior NFL national reporter for ESPN, covering the entire league and breaking news. Dan also contributes to Get Up, NFL Live, SportsCenter, ESPN Radio, Sunday NFL Countdown and Fantasy Football Now. He is a New Jersey native who joined ESPN in 2011, and he is also the author of two published novels.
Week 10 of the 2025 NFL season is here, and the 2025 NFL trade deadline is past us. Insiders Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano have been making calls to sources around the league for the latest news and buzz on key situations and the biggest deals.
Here is everything they are hearing on the Jets' big deadline day and the draft-pick haul they received for Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams. Jeremy and Dan also hit on other intriguing deadline moves and share intel on players who didn't get dealt despite some buzz around their names.
It's all here, as our national reporters answer big questions and empty their notebooks coming out of the deadline and heading into Week 10.
Jump to:
Fallout from the Jets' deadline day trades
More trades receiving leaguewide buzz
Noteworthy players who weren't traded
More notes for Week 10
What are people around the NFL saying about the Jets' wild deadline day dealings?
Graziano: It wasn't long ago that the Jets' defense was viewed as a top-five unit. That is obviously no longer the case after they traded Gardner and Williams -- their two best defensive players -- on the same day. So, the Jets are going to be viewed as a desirable opponent for the rest of this season. But the return is the key here.
New York's deadline deals leave it with two first-round picks and two second-round picks in the 2026 draft and three first-round picks in 2027. The way this is being perceived by people I've talked to is that the Jets are determined to do whatever it takes to resolve their long-term quarterback situation in one of the next two drafts. Having five first-round picks in the next two years will enable the Jets to trade up if that is what's needed to finally find their franchise QB.
Fowler: Yeah, it's hard to argue with the Jets' compensation in both cases. They received significant capital, probably more than I would have forecast for both players. My read is the Jets were not proactively seeking to trade these players in the days leading up to the draft, as multiple teams that discussed potential deals with the Jets have said. But the Colts leaned heavily on the concept of a Gardner trade, and once a deal for him materialized, it became easier to deal Williams, who had endured enough in his six-plus seasons in New York.
Parting with a young star player such as Gardner is tough, but the Jets shed significant salary while stocking themselves with high picks. And they already ranked in the bottom half of the league in total defense and rushing defense with these players on expensive contracts. Might as well exhaust every option to secure a QB in the future.
Graziano: One of the most interesting aspects of this is how tradable Gardner's contract was, even though it was signed this past offseason. Because the signing bonus was relatively small ($13.75 million), the dead money cap hit for the Jets in 2026 will be $11 million. That's a small price to pay for a pair of first-round picks and a talented young wide receiver in Adonai Mitchell. The Colts will have to pay Gardner $25.5 million in fully guaranteed money in 2026, but his cap number next year will be just $9.5 million; he'll cost less against the Colts' cap than he will against the Jets' cap!
Gardner is 25 and signed through 2030, so this felt like a win-win. Williams, meanwhile, had let it be known in recent weeks that he wanted to be traded, and while the Jets weren't eager to do it, they obviously took enough calls and got the price where they needed it to be.
Fowler: Both teams will view Gardner's deal as a financial win. Indy pays Gardner the minimum this year before owing him around $70 million in total from 2026 to 2028, which is totally manageable. The Jets owed Williams nearly $22 million in 2026, and he eventually would have wanted a new deal.
I'm a bit surprised the Jets didn't find a way to deal Breece Hall, but the running back market never intensified. No backs were dealt this week. The Jets wanted a second-round pick for Jermaine Johnson, but I'm told coach Aaron Glenn said to Johnson that he wanted the edge rusher as part of the plans and valued that Johnson wanted to be a Jet long term. But it felt like one of those two moves could have happened.
Adam Schefter joins Pat McAfee to break down how the Colts were able to trade for Sauce Gardner.
Which other deadline moves are getting the most buzz around the league?
Fowler: Seattle acquiring wide receiver Rashid Shaheed from the Saints for fourth- and fifth-round picks generated plenty of talk. Several teams were looking for a wideout, which likely drew up the price. New Orleans wanted a third-round pick and instead got a similar value with two early Day 3 picks. Sitting at 6-2, Seattle easily could have stood pat with its current roster. But the Seahawks knew that Cooper Kupp is injury-prone (he missed Week 9) and that rookie Tory Horton, though thriving, had battled injuries at Colorado State and is on the slender side. Shaheed gives Seattle more depth for the stretch run -- and a burner to complement Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Graziano: The Seahawks believe Shaheed can help them in a variety of ways. Yes, he has the elite downfield speed; he is from a track family and received more track offers than football offers out of high school. But they also like his skills on other routes, including in the screen game. And he helps them as a kick and punt returner. So, Shaheed is an all-around useful player to add to an already strong roster.
The Jaguars landing Jakobi Meyers was intriguing. I think most believe it says a lot about where they are with their wide receiver room. Travis Hunter is on injured reserve. Brian Thomas Jr. is banged up. And the room was incredibly young to begin with. A reliable veteran such as Meyers would be a good addition for the Jaguars even if everyone was healthy. They continue to work on getting quarterback Trevor Lawrence right, and all the drops they've had aren't helping. The Jaguars lead the league with 19 drops. Meyers doesn't drop many passes, with only 11 drops in his seven-year career and a total of two since the start of the 2024 campaign.
Fowler: Meyers is a steady possession receiver who should be a friendly target for Lawrence. But I'm more interested in the teams that didn't acquire him -- Pittsburgh, Buffalo and others were in the receiver market. Meyers had enough of a market that Las Vegas knew it could get real compensation, netting a similar package to what the Saints got for Shaheed.
Adam Schefter joins Pat McAfee to break down the Jaguars trading for Jakobi Meyers.
How Baltimore played the plus-minus game was noteworthy. In the Ravens' two big trades this cycle, they essentially exchanged a high-upside edge rusher in Odafe Oweh for two solid veterans in edge rusher Dre'Mont Jones and safety Alohi Gilman. The Ravens weren't getting production out of Oweh, who is now balling with the Chargers. But Jones is on a hot streak of his own, with 4.5 sacks over the past four games for Tennessee. And Jones is only 28. Gilman, also 28, has 16 total tackles, a pass deflection, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in three games with Baltimore. So, while the Ravens' trades weren't flashy, they signaled sound decision-making from a team that usually makes sound decisions.
Graziano: The Gilman deal allows the Ravens to play safety Kyle Hamilton closer to the line of scrimmage, where they needed help. Baltimore knows how to do this. I'm confident the Ravens will run down Pittsburgh and win the AFC North in spite of their terrible start to the season.
I guess we should mention the Chargers' buzzer-beater to acquire offensive tackle Trevor Penning from the Saints. The Chargers are brutally beaten up at tackle, with elite starters Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt lost for the season due to injury. They absolutely had to do something. It's tough to find good offensive linemen (which is why they've spent so much to secure those tackles), and I don't know if Penning is the answer. But Los Angeles has to make an effort to keep Justin Herbert protected to have any chance of hanging in the AFC West race with the Broncos and the Chiefs.
What are the most interesting nuggets you heard on players who didn't get moved?
Graziano: I heard that at one point, the Cowboys were talking to the Jets about a deal that would have sent Dallas both Williams brothers -- Quinnen and linebacker Quincy Williams. But that didn't work out, and the Cowboys pivoted to former Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson.
I also heard the Dolphins got a lot of calls on wide receiver Jaylen Waddle -- along with many of their other players -- but that Miami told teams it would take a first-round pick to get Waddle, which no one was willing to give up.
Fowler: Waddle's situation was compelling. I was told the Broncos were among the teams that explored a deal for him, as an elite wideout at age 26 with a reasonable contract was enticing. The Steelers, the Giants and others either had interest or would have had interest if not for the steep price tag, which, depending on what team you asked, fluctuated between a first-round pick or a one-plus (a first-rounder and more). Some teams had a tough time getting a read on Miami's intentions at the deadline, which is understandable four days removed from general manager Chris Grier's firing.
Graziano: The Dolphins feel like they're in some kind of awkward in-between phase. Firing Grier, who had been with the team a quarter-century and had apprenticed under the previous three Dolphins GMs, felt like ownership signaling a desire for an entirely new vision and organizational philosophy. We don't know if the Dolphins will also move on from the head coach or even the starting quarterback in the offseason, and I thought they'd make more moves to accumulate draft capital as they pivot into whatever they decide is their future.
Instead, only edge rusher Jaelan Phillips was dealt, and the Dolphins seem like they're still trying to make something out of their season at 2-7 while chasing the 7-2 Patriots and the 6-2 Bills. Unlike the Bengals, the Fins don't have reason to feel like they can win their division, and I wonder if Miami will regret not making more moves.
Fowler: Tuesday seemed poised for edge rusher movement, but teams decided to hold onto their pass rushers. And speaking of Cincinnati, the 3-6 Bengals had a compelling case to move Trey Hendrickson. Teams I spoke to believed Cincinnati wanted a second-rounder for him. Dallas, which pursued Hendrickson, considered that steep.
Graziano: I honestly don't blame the Cowboys, especially once the price for the less-accomplished Phillips turned out to be a third-round pick. As devastating as the past two losses have felt for the Bengals, they have reason to believe all is not lost. They're 2.5 games behind a first-place Steelers team that is 28th in the league in total offense and has a plus-7 point differential over eight games. The Bengals have a head-to-head victory over Pittsburgh already and both games against Baltimore still to come, and they're averaging 38 points per game since Joe Flacco took over as their starting QB. (Talk about pre-deadline impact deals, by the way.)
The "Get Up" crew reacts to Jerry Jones and Cowboys finalizing a trade for Logan Wilson.
If the Bengals can just find a way to play decent defense over the final two months, and if they believe Joe Burrow has a chance to come back in December, they still have a shot. Giving up on a season in early November is a heavy decision, and I can't blame them for not wanting to make it.
Fowler: Also, the running back market simply didn't move on Tuesday. Along with the Jets keeping Hall, the Chargers seemed comfortable riding with Kimani Vidal until Omarion Hampton returns, and New England stood pat. I figured some combination of Hall, Cleveland's Jerome Ford, Tennessee's Tony Pollard, Miami's Jaylen Wright and Baltimore's Keaton Mitchell had a chance to land new homes, but none of them did.
Graziano: Yeah, I heard the Jets held firm on their request for a third-round pick for Hall, whom they might look to sign to a contract extension instead. (Although, Hall had been tweeting all Tuesday about the team's other deals in a way that makes one think the feeling might not be mutual.)
Lastly, I heard the Giants dangled former first-round pick Evan Neal but couldn't generate any interest for the tackle, even though several teams were looking for offensive line help.
What else are you hearing this week?
Graziano's notes:
• One other aspect of the Colts' deal for Gardner that a few people have mentioned to me: This signals that they're fully convinced on Daniel Jones at quarterback. If they felt Jones wasn't going to be the answer and they were going to need a QB of the future, they wouldn't have traded their next two first-round picks. I continue to be on the lookout for a Jones contract extension this offseason, if not sooner.
• A couple of people wondered, in the wake of the Quinnen Williams deal, how Dallas planned to use all three of its defensive tackles. The Cowboys have Williams now along with Osa Odighizuwa, who signed a lucrative long-term deal with them in the offseason, and Kenny Clark, who they got from the Packers in the Micah Parsons trade. What I'm told is that the Cowboys will play all three when they use five down linemen, will rotate them when they're in four-down-linemen sets and that Williams will play on passing downs with the other two rotating in alongside him.
The Cowboys could have used edge rush help more than interior defensive line help, but the edge rush market wasn't as attainable, and Williams is a good enough player that they felt they needed to make the move and get creative with their personnel packages to maximize what should now be the strength of their defense. They believe Williams will help the pass rush, both by rushing the passer himself and by drawing attention away from their edge guys. The Cowboys have played 43 defensive snaps with five linemen this season, which is the third most in the league. But perhaps more interestingly, 27 of those 43 snaps were on Monday night against the Cardinals, in a game the Cowboys promised defensive scheme adjustments.
So, given that and the addition of Williams, it stands to reason that you can expect them to continue to use a relatively significant number of those formations.
• An interesting trend a few people are watching is teams' willingness to trade away players they've recently signed to contract extensions. Gardner to the Colts was the prime example; the Jets traded him away three months after his lucrative extension. But he wasn't the only defensive back traded this season soon after an extension. The Jets also traded Michael Carter II, whom they signed to an extension in September 2024, to the Eagles, and the Jaguars traded Tyson Campbell, whom they extended in July 2024, to the Browns. The Jaguars will take a dead-money cap hit of $19.52 million in 2026 as a result of trading Campbell. The Jets will take a $6.8 million dead-money hit for Carter, in addition to the $11 million they'll carry for Gardner.
The Gardner situation is a bit different because it was the current Jets front office that signed Gardner to his extension, while Carter signed under the previous front office, and Campbell was signed by a Jaguars front office that has also since been replaced. But the common thread is that these are owners and organizations who understand the difference between cap spending and cash spending in an era when the cap continues to rise astronomically every year. And the willingness of teams to trade away recently extended players and take dead-money hits to do so indicates a shared expectation that significant cap growth year-over-year will continue.
• The Kyler Murray situation in Arizona got more interesting Tuesday when coach Jonathan Gannon announced that Jacoby Brissett would get another start in Week 10. The reason the Cardinals continue to give is that Murray's foot injury hasn't fully healed, and that may be true. But it's also true that the Arizona offense is performing better with Brissett at QB than it was with Murray. And that creates a conundrum if that continues to be the case.
The Cardinals are in last place in the ridiculously competitive NFC West in Year 3 of Gannon's tenure. But the growing sense around the league is that, even if they miss the playoffs and get to the end of the season without Murray proving he can be their QB of the future, the Cardinals are likely to give Gannon and GM Monti Ossenfort a chance to stick around and pick their own QB. (Murray was in place and signed long-term when they got there.) That would mean moving on from Murray and his contract, which is a little bit tricky.
The "Get Up" crew discusses whether the Cardinals are better off sticking with Jacoby Brissett even after Kyler Murray is ready to return from injury.
There was no way Murray -- injured and not playing especially well before the injury -- was going to be traded before Tuesday's deadline. Not with $36.8 million in fully guaranteed salary on the books for 2026 and another $19.5 million in 2027 salary that guarantees next March. But if at the end of the season the Cardinals still feel they've been better with Brissett than with Murray, they'll surely consider a change. That would mean either absorbing some of the $36.8 million for 2026 or releasing Murray and taking on $54.7 million in dead money.
That's a lot less than the $80 million the Broncos took on when they cut Russell Wilson in 2024, and the Broncos have a 17-10 record since then, made the playoffs last season and look to be headed that way again. So the dead money, again, isn't likely to be an obstacle. The bigger question is whether some team -- the Jets or Dolphins? -- would trade for Murray, who's still only 28 years old and has obviously shown flashes of being a good starting NFL quarterback, even if he hasn't shown the consistency.
• A couple of fantasy-relevant running back notes:
The Bears could get D'Andre Swift back as early as this week's game against the Giants, but rookie Kyle Monangai has earned a larger role in the offense than he had in the first half of the season. I'd expect coach Ben Johnson to find ways to keep them both involved. Chicago's run game is operating at a high level, and they'll likely lean into it the rest of the way while Caleb Williams continues his development.
The Patriots don't know when Rhamondre Stevenson will be back from his toe injury, but they didn't go out and get a running back at the deadline, and they liked what they got Sunday from Terrell Jennings and rookie TreVeyon Henderson. Fantasy managers who were hoping Stevenson's injury would open the door to Henderson as a full-time starter were disappointed and will continue to be, as the Patriots like Henderson but still need to see more from him before they fully trust him with the between-the-tackles work. Henderson is a stronger recommendation for fantasy dynasty formats than he is for 2025.
Fowler's notes:
• The Commanders and quarterback Jayden Daniels are sorting through his dislocated elbow injury and how to proceed. My early sense is the injury is not considered season-ending at this time. But the team and Daniels must decide whether to place him on injured reserve (out a minimum of four games) and when exactly to bring him back. One factor that looms large is Washington's downward spiral sitting at 3-6. Will the Commanders be motivated to place Daniels back into the lineup if the slide continues and the team is well short of playoff contention? The player and team must weigh that question.
Rex Ryan questions why the Commanders didn't pull Jayden Daniels before he got injured.
After a brilliant rookie year, Daniels' sophomore campaign has been marred by three separate injuries (knee, hamstring and elbow). The Commanders must consider the totality of that as well. On deck, Washington hosts Detroit in Week 10, plays Miami in Madrid for Week 11 and gets a much-needed bye in Week 12. The Commanders' season could go a number of different ways from now until then.
• We discussed Hendrickson earlier. Among other pass rushers who generated trade interest at the deadline were Atlanta's Arnold Ebiketie and Green Bay's Kingsley Enagbare. Both teams valued the players enough to keep them, though. Enagbare once appeared the odd man out in the Packers' pass-rush rotation but will be needed in the season's second half, particularly when teams try to run the ball more.
• The Titans had interest from teams on both tight end Chig Okonkwo and wide receiver Calvin Ridley, but they needed something significant to part with offensive playmakers for their rookie quarterback, Cam Ward. They weren't eager to trade either one for that reason. Tennessee was a bit stuck, because while it badly needed more draft capital for the future, it didn't want to engage in late Day 3 pick swaps of little value. Plus, its biggest asset -- defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons -- was off-limits. So the Titans squeezed value where they could, getting a pair of fifth-round picks from the Roger McCreary and Dre'Mont Jones trades (while sending a conditional late-sixth-rounder to Los Angeles with McCreary).
• The Colts targeted Gardner but had contingencies in place at corner. They were dedicated to land help at a depleted position. One possibility was Saints cornerback Alontae Taylor. The Colts were in the mix on him. One team in the CB market said the Saints were looking for an early Day 3 pick for Taylor, who is a free agent after this season. If the Gardner deal fell through, I believe there was a decent chance Taylor would have been a Colt, allowing him to play more outside while Kenny Moore II manned the slot.
• The Giants stood pat for a few reasons. They were open to trading guard Neal, a former top-10 pick who's trying to revitalize his career, but did not receive enough interest. Not only are the Giants keeping wide receiver Jalin Hyatt, but my sense is he'll have a bigger role moving forward. New York evaluated the wide receiver market, but this is a 2-7 team without a third-round pick in 2026. Making a splash trade at receiver -- even if it would have helped Jaxson Dart in the short term -- probably doesn't help New York over the next one or two seasons.
• One team I suspected would be active but wasn't: the Bills. Word started to circulate early in the week that Buffalo was working on clearing cap space for a potential move. The Bills were linked to wide receivers and edge rushers. At one point, they inquired about corners and showed interest in Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson before he was moved to Dallas. A deal just didn't come together.
• The Jets' blockbuster trades dominated the deadline, but the team is low-key excited about a series of small moves attached to trades. Last month's late-round swap with Tennessee for corner Jarvis Brownlee Jr. has paid off. Depth at wide receiver has been an issue for New York, but John Metchie III and Mitchell have major upside. These are the types of chances the Jets are taking in the rebuild -- low-risk, late-round fliers that they hope pan out and result in productivity on rookie-scale contracts.
• Meanwhile, in Dallas, the hope is that a series of defensive moves redirect the franchise's fortunes this season. The team could be getting four impact players into the fold over the coming weeks: Wilson and Williams from Tuesday's trade deadline, as well as linebacker DeMarvion Overshown (knee, eyeing a Nov. 17 comeback) and rookie corner Shavon Revel Jr. (who has generated buzz in Dallas and could return the same week). Couple all of that with the eventual returns of safeties Donovan Wilson and Malik Hooker, and maybe Dallas has the spark it needs. Philadelphia has a sizable lead in the NFC East, but Dallas is best-positioned among the rest to make a divisional play.