The NFL is a league of parity, and they keep expanding the playoffs, making it easy for front offices to escape reality.
Even poorly constructed teams can hang around the periphery of the playoff scene through half a season, when the trade deadline comes. Moving it back a few weeks would probably get more sellers in the mix, but with the league becoming so trade-friendly, it also stands to reason that more teams that are clearly fringy-at-best should accept the reality of how limited their postseason capacities are and move contracts now to land assets for the future.
Easy for me to say, of course. I have not invested the time and energy to construct these rosters —then again, so many of the moves these teams make are bizarre in real time, and so many franchises can never get out of their own way and they invite constant scrutiny.
Based on what I’m hearing, there are definitely some stubborn GMs who might not fully embrace this opportunity for what it is. These teams should be willing to do some uncomfortable things for the sake of their franchises moving forward.
Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens have the worst cap situation in the NFL, and it is going to be a total disaster next year whether Lamar Jackson stays on an $84 million tag or is traded. And good luck getting Jackson to agree to an extension now if he wasn’t willing to re-up before.
If you wanted to do an All-Pro list for GMs who do ridiculous contracts, Eric DeCosta is hard to beat — Roquan Smith, Ronnie Stanley, Marlon Humphrey, Mark Andrews, John Simpson, Trey Hendrickson — haunt them in the present and the future. “They are (screwed) next year,” said one longtime NFL cap manager who looked at their contract mess.
Trading Derrick Henry and Stanley and Rashod Bateman with this team going nowhere and Lamar Jackson not throwing another pass this season (the access merchants are peddling BS to keep fans interested; Jackson isn’t coming back to a 5-9 team) is the only sane path. “Yeah, he should be a seller, but you and I both know DeCosta won’t do it,” one GM told me.
Philadelphia Eagles
This is another situation where, yeah, the NFC East stinks so bad you can hang around if you don’t totally gut it, but it might be time to gut it. Howie Roseman already fleeced DeCosta for a second-round pick for Cam Jurgens and wants to move more offensive linemen, but as we hear it, he’s probably not inclined to make as many sell-side moves as he should. Saquon Barkley being off the table — especially if DeCosta isn’t willing to market Henry — might not look great this time next year.
“I don’t think Howie is going to move much,” the GM said. “Maybe one of the D tackles.”
New Orleans Saints
Their perpetual flirtation with quasi-mediocrity isn’t good enough, by a long shot. The Saints are middling everywhere at best and quite bad defensively, for the most part. Haven’t heard much about them because Mickey Loomis is a made man and doesn’t really even seem to have to do anything he doesn’t want to, regardless of the results. Ownership has critiqued the team in public, but we don’t get the impression much is changing.
Doesn’t sound like Loomis is being pushed to move pieces like Cam Jordan, but he should. “He’s part of the family at this point,” one long-term personnel exec told us. “Mickey isn’t under any pressure.” Yeah, he should be. That team should be thinking creatively about ways to move pieces in trade.
Washington Commanders
Injuries have robbed them of some trade opportunities, but they have continued to employ older rosters with limited upside, and those dudes won’t be here if/when Jayden Daniels ever does anything again like he did during his rookie year. This is still very much a rebuilding team, despite that one-year run, and Stefon Diggs and others should be on the move.
This is a bad roster, folks, devoid of blue-chip talent, and they need all the draft lottery tickets they can get. Dan Quinn is not going to be back next season — watch John Harbaugh become the dean of NFC East coaches come January — and it’s another reboot. Winning a hollow division title and being crushed in the Wild Card round isn’t going to amount to anything. This is a team that should be peddling everything it can, but it sounds like Adam Peters thinks he’s above that.
Shame for Commanders fans.
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