The NFL trade deadline always comes with the same mix of wishful thinking and real intrigue, and this year is no different. Big names get floated, fans start imagining fits, and then the league usually gives us a smaller haul than the buzz suggested. Still, every so often, a player pops up who feels like he needs a fresh start more than anyone else.
That’s the idea behind this group of five. They probably won’t all move before the Nov. 10 deadline, but they’re the kind of players you can picture looking even better somewhere else. And at the top of that list is a running back who has already done plenty in Indianapolis.
Jonathan Taylor remains one of the NFL’s best backs, but the Colts are spiraling around him. Indianapolis just fell to the previously winless Titans, a loss that triggered the firing of general manager Chris Ballard on Monday.
Quarterback Daniel Jones hasn’t helped matters. In Sunday’s game, he threw for 269 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, and posted a QBR of 24.5.
For the season, Jones is averaging 215.0 passing yards per game with four touchdowns and six interceptions. That kind of production has naturally raised the question: At what point do you consider throwing Anthony Richardson back in the lineup?
Taylor, meanwhile, keeps producing. Through six games, he has 655 scrimmage yards and seven touchdowns.
He also just became the fastest player to reach 8,000 career rushing yards since Adrian Peterson. If there’s a back who ought to be carrying the ball for a team with real Super Bowl hopes, it’s him.
There’s another name in the AFC South who belongs on this kind of list, even if moving him would be a lot harder to pull off. Jeffery Simmons has been the best interior defensive lineman in football for two straight seasons, and the average fan doesn’t get enough chances to appreciate him because so few Titans games show up on RedZone.
He led all defensive tackles last season with 11.0 sacks and 17 tackles for loss, which earned him first-team All-Pro honors. This year, he’s off to another strong start with 4.0 sacks and six tackles for loss through six weeks.
On Sunday in Indianapolis, Simmons got to the quarterback twice and added SEVEN pressures from the interior. He also made one of the game’s biggest plays when he stripped Taylor on the first snap of the second half and recovered the fumble himself.
He’s the Titans’ longest-tenured player and the emotional center of the roster, and he signed a three-year, $105.8 million extension four months ago, so a deal does not feel likely. Still, if he were doing this on a contender, he’d be talked about like one of the best players in the sport.
Possible fits mentioned: Chicago Bears and New England Patriots.
Justin Herbert is the next star who could use a better situation, and the Chargers’ collapse has made that impossible to ignore. Los Angeles is 0-6, and there isn’t much optimism that the season can be salvaged.
Offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel is on the hot seat, and the same can be said for head coach Jim Harbaugh. The injuries are piling up, too.
If Herbert couldn’t get much going with Ladd McConkey, Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt healthy, what does that offense look like now that those pieces are out or banged up?
Herbert leads the league with eight interceptions and is averaging a career-low 190.2 passing yards per game. He also became the first quarterback in NFL history to begin a season 0-6 while throwing an interception and taking at least two sacks in every game.
That’s a brutal line. He even led the Chargers in rushing yards against the Chiefs on Sunday, which says plenty about the state of the offense.
Herbert is not Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson, and he can’t be expected to drag a team to wins on his own. He’d look a lot more comfortable in a situation that gives him more support - maybe one with a Brian Flores defense and Justin Jefferson.
Budda Baker has been one of the Cardinals’ constants since Arizona drafted him No. 36 overall in 2017 out of Washington, and he keeps stacking up the kind of résumé that makes you wonder how many more years he’ll spend in the desert. He made the Pro Bowl as a rookie, and that was the first of what has become eight Pro Bowl selections. Very few players have hit 1,000 tackles before turning 30, and the list includes Bobby Wagner, Roquan Smith, Luke Kuechly, Lavonte David, Ray Lewis, Fred Warner and Baker.
He showed it again in Sunday’s upset win over the Rams. Baker finished with six tackles, one sack, two tackles for loss and one pass defensed.
He also prevented at least one touchdown, while making life miserable for quarterbacks and running backs alike with his blitzing and run support. The line from the source says it best: Someone come get him.
Possible landing spots: Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals and Jacksonville Jaguars.
And then there’s Maxx Crosby, who briefly seemed to have his change of scenery lined up in March before the deal fell apart. The Baltimore Ravens had agreed to send two first-round picks to the Raiders for Crosby, but the move was canceled after their doctors allegedly found something concerning during the in-person physical.
Crosby is exactly the kind of edge rusher teams dream about. He rushes the passer with relentless energy, has four double-digit sack seasons - including in 2025 - and he stays on the field at a high rate while helping against the run.
Since he was drafted in the fourth round in 2019, no player has more tackles for loss than Crosby’s 135. Maybe he still wants out of Las Vegas.
Maybe he sees the canceled trade as proof he was always meant to stay in silver and black. Either way, the Raiders are more competitive this year than they’ve been in a while, but he’s still the kind of player who belongs on a winning team.
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