2024 Trade Deadline Tracker: How we graded every move
The NFL trade deadline is now in the rearview mirror. Some teams got better, some teams strategically got worse, and the Las Vegas Raiders hired yet another coach familiar to fans of the NFL circa 1996 to 2005. Everyone tries in their own way, I suppose.
Winners are hard to predict during something like the NFL draft, when we know a long and curvy developmental road ultimately defines success. With the trade deadline, it’s easier to declare a team successful because acquiring talent at this time of year is often an indicator of a winning team and culture already (unless, of course, you are the Dallas Cowboys, but more on that in a second). The mere act of a midseason trade is often a net win for the locker room. It shows that management is engaged, the same way you might feel if the C-suite executives at your company ditched the Keurig for a Nespresso machine after a good quarter (game changer).
The same can be said for losers. To me, the definition of a loser at this point in time is a team with high expectations that is neither winning nor doing anything to course correct via equity-adding trades. A close second would be bad teams continuing to gut talent every handful of years, reappearing on this list time and time again.
So, it’s with that in mind that we dig in.
