The NFL trade deadline was plenty explosive, with the Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars taking the boldest swings. Now comes the second half of the season, riddled with unanswered questions. What about the trade candidates who didn’t actually get traded?
Let’s dive into the latest buzz from around the league, with notes on San Francisco 49ers quarterback Mac Jones, Philadelphia Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert and failed trades.
49ers set impossibly high price for Mac Jones at trade deadline
Before reuniting with Kirk Cousins, the Vikings called San Francisco about the availability of backup QB Mac Jones, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport. The Niners set the price tag extremely high. Some would call it unreasonably high.
“When the Vikings called San Francisco as part of due diligence in their search for a quarterback, sources told ESPN that Niners general manager John Lynch informed Minnesota brass that it would take a second-round pick and more for Jones,” Schefter and Rapoport write. “Perhaps a second-rounder and a middle-round pick might have gotten a trade done.”
Of course, the Vikings did not wish to burn a second-round pick and more on a 28-year-old backup, so Minnesota hung up the phone and burned a third-round pick on Cousins.
In a vacuum, asking more for Jones than Cousins is at least understandable. He’s a decade younger and there’s a potential future as a starter, whereas Cousins is little more than a half-season rental. But Jones is also a free agent at season’s end, with no guaranteed future in San Francisco or elsewhere. In fact, the Niners probably won’t pay enough to keep him, assuming a team without MVP candidate Brock Purdy comes knocking.
So, the Niners would rather have Jones for nine more games than a third-round pick, or maybe even a second-round pick and nothing extra. While there’s value in the security Jones provides as a proven performer in case of emergency, the Niners are 7-1. There’s a built-in cushion if Purdy misses a few weeks. If Purdy gets knocked out for the season at any point, it takes a whole lot of confidence to believe Jones can guide San Francisco to a Super Bowl in his stead. Maybe he can — he was great last season! — but the odds are stacked in opposition.
It feels like simple business sense to flip Jones at a premium when he’s not playing, but clearly the Niners love him. Love makes us do foolish things.
Eagles rejected trade offers for Dallas Goedert
The Eagles eagerly emptied the vault at the trade deadline, trading veteran cornerstones Cam Jurgens and Jordan Davis for an absolute haul. The Eagles did not, however, trade tight end Dallas Goedert on his expiring contract.
“Sources said several teams inquired about the pass-catching tight end, including the 49ers,” write Schefter and Rapoport. “But Goedert, 31, never got close to being traded. He remains in Philadelphia and could even re-sign with the Eagles for 2027.”
Eagles GM Howie Roseman is not one to rebuild. He was opportunistic in a lost season, but he was never going to completely tear down the roster. Despite QB turnover and general offensive turmoil, Goedert has produced reasonably well this season. He has 31 receptions for 308 yards and two touchdowns in seven games.
Goedert is a staple of the Eagles’ pass-catching corps, made all the more important amid the DeVonta Smith injury. While his return next season is far from guaranteed, Philadelphia has staved off rumors of his imminent departure in the past. Clearly he is beloved in the clubhouse and an important part of the puzzle, even if Nick Sirianni and others in the building are on the chopping block.
NFL competition committee will address botched trades
The NFL trade deadline featured its share of hiccups, with several trades agreed to and then abandoned.
Most egregious of all was the Cincinnati Bengals‘ almost-trade for Eagles linebacker Arnold Ebiketie. Cincy agreed to send out a sixth-round pick for Ebiketie, but backed out after OverTheCap’s Nick Korte revealed that the trade could cost them a compensatory third-round pick, which the Bengals received after Trey Hendrickson’s departure in free agency.
In short: Bengals GM Duke Tobin did not fully understand the rules and had to issue an apology to the Eagles are backtracking on a deal.
The Denver Broncos also voided a trade for L.A. Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley after injury concerns cropped up.
“Now front office executives are complaining,” write Schefter and Rapoport, “and the competition committee is expected to address the issue during the offseason.”
This all comes on the heels of the Baltimore Ravens‘ voided trade for Maxx Crosby last summer, which was also injury-related. While it’s hard to fault a front office for flagging medical concerns, the Crosby trade felt suspiciously like a conservative front office second-guessing itself — at least in the moment. Perhaps that’s unfair, but clearly folks in the NFL are fed up with this new trend.
We could see revised trade rules come about as a result.
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