At 4:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, the ability of NFL teams to make trades ends until March 2014. Plenty of potential deals have been discussed, and the fact that seven former first-round picks have changed teams via trade since August 19 (A.J. Jenkins, Jon Baldwin, Trent Richardson, Jon Beason, Eugene Monroe, Levi Brown, Bryant McKinnie) makes a potential deadline deal or two (or three) seem likely.
On Sunday, we tried to cast a wide net regarding possible deals that could be made. Even then, chances are that any deal that happens could be a deal we’re not expecting -- primarily because every trade deadline seems to include a trade the wasn’t on anyone’s radar.
Last year, for example, the Buccaneers shipped cornerback Aqib Talib to New England, catching everyone off guard. Also, receiver Mike Thomas was traded from Jacksonville to Detroit.
In 2011, an injury to Raiders quarterback Jason Campbell prompted an eleventh-hour effort to pry Carson Palmer away from the Bengals. Other deals included receiver Brandon Lloyd being sent from the Broncos to the Rams and linebacker Aaron Curry heading from Seattle to Oakland.
In 2010, the Pats dumped receiver Randy Moss on the Vikings, who would soon dump him onto the waiver wire. Also, the Seahawks traded receiver Deion Branch to the Patriots, the Browns traded running back Jerome Harrison to the Eagles for running back Mike Bell, the Jaguars traded defensive back Anthony Smith to the Packers, and the Chiefs shipped defensive end Alex Magee to the Buccaneers.
In 2009, the Browns traded receiver Braylon Edwards to the Jets, the Buccaneers traded defensive end Gaines Adams to the Bears, the Chiefs traded defensive tackle Tank Tyler to the Panthers, and the Rams traded linebacker Will Witherspoon to the Eagles for receiver Brandon Gibson plus a draft pick.
In 2008, the Bills traded defensive tackle John McCargo to the Colts and the Lions traded receiver Roy Williams to the Cowboys.
Most if not all of those trades weren’t on the media’s radar screen when they happened. But happen they did, which means that a deal we don’t expect to happen could happen today. And we’ll be here all day updating you on the potential deals that go down.
Make sure you’re here all day, hitting your refresh button and seeing whether any expected or unexpected deals will go down.