The NFL trade deadline came and went with the Colts doing the kind of roster purge that leaves everyone else scrambling to sort through the fallout. Indianapolis moved out just about everybody except running back Jonathan Taylor, and that opened the door for a handful of contenders to make swings that could matter over the next few months.
At the top of the list is Keenan Allen landing with the 49ers. Allen has caught five or more passes in four of his last six games and is tracking toward his best season since his first departure from the Chargers.
For San Francisco, the appeal is obvious: more stability at wide receiver in a room that has been anything but stable. The Niners are juggling injuries all over the roster, Mike Evans sometimes suffers multiple injuries a game, and the depth chart can look different from one Sunday to the next.
Midway through the season, Brock Purdy’s second-favorite target, Deebo Samuel, has 20 targets. Just having Allen available and not carrying an injury designation is a meaningful boost.
The Jaguars also made a move that says plenty about how they view this season. Jacksonville brought in Jessie Bates III, a safety who has been one of the league’s best and earned second team All-Pro honors in two of the previous three seasons in Atlanta.
He has not missed a game since 2022 and is on pace for a sixth 100-tackle season. The Jaguars already rank second in fewest points allowed, and with a top-five scoring offense to go with that defense, it makes sense for them to push in now.
Minnesota’s quarterback situation got a major jolt with Kirk Cousins coming in. That move arrived after everyone watched Monday night through their fingers as Carson Wentz played so poorly that even Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were laughing for the first time in months.
The Vikings are one of four teams allowing fewer than 300 yards per game and are giving up just 14.5 points per contest, but the offense has lagged behind at 18.3 points per game. Their passing game has been the second-worst in football despite the presence of strong skill-position talent.
Cousins is fourth in passing yards and second in touchdown passes this season, and that kind of production gives Minnesota a real path to contender status.
Seattle used the Colts’ sell-off to upgrade its offensive line, adding guard Quenton Nelson. It is not the kind of move that grabs headlines the way a star quarterback or receiver does, but it fits the formula for winning at the highest level.
Nelson is an eight-time Pro Bowl selection and was second team All-Pro in each of the last two seasons. The Seahawks know that if you want to win the Super Bowl, like they did last season, the line has to hold up.
The Bears got the deadline rolling with their own major addition, landing Jeffery Simmons for two draft picks. At first glance, the price looked steep, but the early returns have been hard to ignore.
Chicago is 2-0 since the move, and Simmons has made his presence felt with a sack in each game. The Bears now have a dangerous defense to pair with a strong offense, and with Caleb Williams running the attack and Simmons anchoring the middle of the defense, they look like a legitimate contender.
In Other News...
Seahawks Suddenly Catch A Huge Break In Week 10
The Seahawks Week 10 matchup with the Raiders just got a different look after Las Vegas moved Kirk Cousins to Minnesota shortly before the NFL trade deadline. With the Raiders now planning to turn to rookie Fernando Mendoza for the rest of the season, Seattle is preparing for a very different kind of opponent than the one it expected when the schedule first circled this game.
Mendoza arrives with plenty of attention after winning the 2025-26 Heisman Trophy, but a midseason handoff at quarterback still changes the feel of a matchup in a hurry. Betting markets have already reacted to the switch, and for Seattle, the bigger question is how much the Raiders can keep the offense on track with a rookie suddenly thrust into the spotlight. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Face A Deadline Choice That Could Split Fans
The Seahawks already made one notable swing by bringing in Quenton Nelson, and that kind of move tends to sharpen the conversation around what comes next. With the 2026 NFL trade deadline still ahead, Seattle is in the familiar spot of weighing whether to keep adding around the roster or use the market to reshape it, especially if the front office sees a chance to turn one area of strength into more help elsewhere.
Among the ideas floating around are a Sam Darnold deal to Minnesota for draft picks, a push for edge rusher Jermaine Johnson from Tennessee, and a run at tight end Dallas Goedert from Philadelphia. None of those possibilities is locked in, but they point to the same bigger question facing Seattle: whether the team wants to stay aggressive in the short term or use the deadline to stockpile assets and make a different kind of move later. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Practice Squad Swap Hints At A Clearer DT Preference
The Seahawks made a small but telling practice-squad move this week, signing undrafted rookie defensive tackle Cole Brevard and releasing Gary Smith III. Neither player has appeared in a regular-season game, but the swap still offers a glimpse into how Seattle is sorting through its interior defensive line depth as the season moves along.
Brevard and Smith bring different body types and different styles to the table, which makes the change feel less like a simple paperwork shuffle and more like a preference call from the teams evaluators. Seattles exact reasoning is not fully clear, and some of the explanations around the move remain speculative, but the transaction does suggest the Seahawks see a clearer fit in one rookie than the other. [Read more 🡒]