The worst trade deadline in sports just ended where 5-8 relevant players were moved. The biggest trades being Chase Young to the -49ers, and Kevin Byard to the Eagles for a stapler and a half eaten sandwich. Somewhat big moves but nothing crazy.
Since a lot of teams did not address needs or what they need to get rid of there has to be some big moves coming in the off season. There are a lot of teams that have holes, but there were more people who watched the Broncos vs Packers game this year than teams that made moves.
So this offseason feels like it is going to be a big one. There are some stars that need to move on, there are some young players that need opportunities in new places and some vets that need to find places to finish their careers. Regardless of the situation the bottom line is players need to get moved.
The trade deadline is complete so it is pretty clear what teams need and what players are not in situations that are good for them. How the second half of the season and the playoff games go could change players and teams minds on what they want to do, regardless these players will most likely still want a new situation or home by the end of this year.
I’ve compiled a list of 3 players in different situations that need to be moved in the off-season. Hopefully for the sake of these players and the sake of being a fan lets hope a few of these players get moved in the offseason.
These are the top 3 players who need to be moved after this season:
#3: Kaiir Elam: New Beginnings
Kaiir Elam was a first round pick last year for the Buffalo Bills. He played a really solid rookie season recording 41 combined tackles, 4 pass deflections, and 2 picks, including a pick on league MVP Patrick Mahomes.
He only played in 13 games and only started 6.
The injury of Tre’Davious White forced Elam into the fire early and he made the best of it. He was solid all season for the Bills, and even came up huge in their first playoff game. The Bills were facing the Dolphins in the wild card.
The Bills were struggling to stop Miami’s explosive offense even though they were relying on 3rd string Skylar Thompson to deliver the ball. The Bills lacked depth at the corner position and were struggling, so they put in their first round pick to see if he was ready to be under the bright lights.
The rookie went out there and balled. Elam played tremendous coverage all game and did his best to slow down the ‘Phins offense. He recorded 2 tackles and 2 pass deflections including the game winning pass break up on 4th down on a pass to Mike Geseki.
The rookie had passed the test however for some reason his play during the year and his clutch heroics did him no good. He soon saw himself running with the backups in preseason and has only played in two games this year.
Elam was a healthy scratch for the first few games for some reason, and did not play till the Bills star corner got hurt and they had to call on Elam. In his first game back against the Jaguars he struggled and wide receiver Calvin Ridley got the best of Elam in a 25-20 loss to the Jaguars.
Elam recorded 11 tackles which looks good, but it was mostly because he was tackling the man he was guarding.
On the other hand though I am not sure what the Bills expected though. You do not play your first round pick from one season ago for the first couple games and you throw him in there with no run this year and expect him to ball out. That is absurd.
There is no reason a team should be giving up on their first round pick so early. It is uncertain why Elam is not starting over a 6th round pick, and why he is not getting the chance. It would be one thing if he had a bad rookie season, but he actually played great, especially when they needed him.
They are not letting Elam get better, because they are not letting him go out there and learn. Practice helps, but no one learns more from anything else besides in game experience. If they had him out there all year he would probably be in a groove and playing great football but they refuse to put him out there.
To prove my statement, Elam had a bounce back game the next week in a win vs the Giants and he had 3 tackles and a quiet night otherwise. For a corner having a quiet night is a great thing, it means you played great coverage.
He gave up one big play to Slayton in the first quarter, and played near perfect coverage for the rest of the game. Especially late game. The game came down to the Giants having a chance to win the game on the last drive. On one of the last plays, the Giants tried to run a pick play, but Elam sniffed it out and told the other corner to switch with him when the pick came and it ended up being incomplete.
Even though the last few plays of the game were questionable, Elam’s coverage was still great in the biggest moments of the game.
As you can tell from this storyline so far, there is only one way Elam gets rewarded for his great play. He gets put on IR even though he is healthy and playing well. If that is not enough by itself, they not only traded for Rasual Doubs, a corner from the Green Bay Packers, but they did not move Elam at the deadline.
Instead they put him on the IR and probably will not look at him again for the rest of the season for no apparent reason. He needs new scenery and a team and organization that is actually going to believe in him and not hurt his career.
The Bills messed up when they drafted a man corner in Elam to a defense that is zone heavy. A few teams I could see him going to are the Ravens, the Lions, and the
Cowboys.
The Ravens are a contending team that plays some of the most man coverage in the league. They need corners, and they play Jamar Chase, Amari Cooper, and George Pickens two times a year each.
So they probably are looking for another corner to put up against some of the league’s best.
The Lions are a top 5 team in terms of running man coverage, and they are also in need of another corner. They are coming off a season where they had the league’s best offense but worst defense.
This year their defense has gotten so much better and the Lions are a real contender. They could get even better by adding a corner like Elam who can get better with the young Lions defensive core.
Lastly the Cowboys could be a sleeper team. Trevon Diggs just tore his ACL, and Stephon Gilmore is on the last year of his contract.
If they do not want to spend big money on re-signing Gilmore, and they want some depth they could be in the running to land Elam as well.
The Bills could look to get some linebacker depth or maybe another weapon for Allen. Either way I hope Elam gets moved and gets an actual chance to prove he’s a staring corner and a first round pick.
#2: Jerry Jeudy/Courtland Sutton: Free Them!
This is a PSA to pretty much any Broncos starting receiver please get on your hands and knees and beg for a trade. The Broncos are in one of the toughest divisions and do not look like they will make the playoffs for at least 5 more years.
The team’s defense is honestly really good, the main problem is the offense. That’s why if you are Jerry Jeudy or Courtland Sutton and you have to deal with this for 
multiple years then you need to get out of there.
Russel Wilson has no future and is past his prime. Sometimes when he passes the ball you question if he was puffing on zooties. He is 34 years old, I will NOT wait for you.
Even the great Sean Payton can not save them. That means they are really ! Even in their big upset victory over the Chiefs they put up a whopping 14 points in a game where the defense held one of the best offenses to 9 points. Also Justin Simmons seems to have a Mahomes voodoo doll that he uses twice a year.
Both Sutton and Jeudy have had their ups and downs in Denver, but they would most likely be better in a better system, with a better quarterback, on a team with some hope.
Jeudy is an elite route runner and is explosive with the ball, but has had some problems with drops over the years, and playing with Russ, you can not really afford to drop the accurate ones. Sutton is a great big body, goes up and gets it as a receiver, but has struggled with consistency.
Juedy has totaled 184 receptions, over 2,600 yards and 10 touchdowns in 48 games through his 4 years so far. Sutton has had 272 catches, over 3,800 yards and 20 touchdowns in 73 games over his 6 years in the NFL.
Those stats include having to deal with Broncos quarterbacks over the last six years. Jeudy is only 24 and Sutton is 28, both still in their prime years and could be very useful if they were actually used right.
Both can unlock their full potential in new situations. Teams that could potentially try to trade for one of them are the Patriots, the Bills, or the Colts.
The Patriots have zero receiving weapons besides Kenrick Bourne who just tore his ACL and upcoming free agent Hunter Henry. Bill Belichick for some reason will trade for J.C. Jackson who has about 70 million left on his contract, but refuses to get a real offensive weapon.
So he might as well trade for one. One of the receivers could be a big help to revive Mac Jones’ career and actually give him some help, or if they decide to move on from Jones then they can help the new QB smoothly transition in.
The Bills have been in a lot of talks about getting a new receiver. Even though they have a top 5 receiver in Stephon Diggs and a really good second option in Gabe Davis, along with two good tight ends.
Nonetheless you can never have enough weapons and I am sure Josh Allen would love to either throw a go ball to Sutton or hit Jeudy off of a crazy double move.
The Colts liked what they saw this year from Anthony Richardson and watched him make something out of nothing. Their best receiving threat Michael Pittman Jr. is going to be a free agent this year.
If they can bring him back and trade for Jeudy or Sutton then all the sudden their receiving core jumps up a tier. Giving the young quarterback weapons could lead to a top offense especially with Richardson’s ability to extend and make plays.
#1: Devante Adams: Failed Experiment
Devante Adams was brought to Las Vegas just a season ago to play with college teammate Derek Carr. This was supposed to revamp the Raiders and the Carr to Adams chemistry was supposed to make them a top offense.
Instead they went 6-11 and Carr threw for 3,500 yards, 24 tds and 14 picks. That was good enough to earn him a spot on the trade block and he is now on the Saints.
Safe to say that experiment failed miserably and now Adams has been playing with Jimmy Garoppolo, who I personally think is pretty good and a career winner and he did not deserve to get booted out of the 49ers.
He could have won something there!
Regardless he has played horribly this year and should be incriminated for what he’s done to Devante Adams career this season. He has missed Adams on a plethora of deep balls and threw 9 interceptions in 6 games.
Adams would be the league’s leading receiver if Garoppolo threw the ball to Adams even semi-accurately. Now Adams is wasting his prime years on a bad team, not with the quarterback he was supposed to be with, most likely crying to Aaron Rodgers 2020 Highlights.
To make things even better Garoppolo just got benched for rookie quarterback Aiden O’Connell. I think O’Connell has a real chance to be good, but I think the timing is just not a good match. While he is learning and making rookie mistakes Adams should be somewhere he can win now.
Another note, I am not sure if this is a good thing or bad thing, but the Raiders also just fired Head Coach Josh McDaniels, and General Manager David Ziegler. This could potentially make the Raiders better, but a new coach with a new game plan and the trade deadline passed it might be too late for Adams in Vegas.
Adams is in a situation and it keeps getting worse. I think the Raiders need to realize that their Devante Adams and Derek Carr experiment did not work and they need to start over.
The Raiders are just prolonging a rebuild trying to be good. It is not working. They might as well trade Adams for literally any defensive player or picks to get younger and they should start the rebuild process immediately.
With two time Superbowl champion Patrick Mahomes and electric quarterback Justin Herbert in their division, they are going to have to be really good in order to even sniff the playoffs.
Them just sitting around mediocrity is a terrible way to run your team and it is a disservice to the fans that want to see their team just take a step in the right direction.
Adams still has glue hands, the ability to take it off your top, and the ability to not have a defender within 5 yards of him. He is still a top 5 receiver, he just might be in the worst situation for elite receivers.
Almost every team would love to have Adams, but hopefully the Raiders will do the right thing and trade him to a contender. It would be a shame if Adams went to another doomed franchise.
Adams has recently said that he needs a change and even asked the Raiders about exploring trade options. I think eventually they may have to trade him.
I think a few realistic suitors for Adams would be the Chiefs, the Ravens, and the Panthers.
The Chiefs are obviously a yearly Super Bowl contender and a top offense in the
league. However they have slightly slowed down this year even if it is ever so slightly. Kelce is still amazing but getting older and hurt and having zero weapons at wide receiver can not sustain forever.
The Chiefs have been a part of a lot of trade and free agent rumors when it comes to
wide receivers. They even just traded for Mecole Hardman back. We have already seen what Mahomes looks like with a top 5 receiver and I think football fans would not mind getting that again.
The Ravens who are mentioned here once again are another team that has been in all the rumors when it comes to wide receivers. Their next biggest need after corner is wide receiver and they could take care of that with this trade.
The Ravens tried to make some moves at wide receiver in the off season, but it has not lived up the hype. Their receiving core has put up some of the worst receiving performances in the last 25 years. Odell is not what he used to be, Rashod Bateman has not had the third year jump he looked like he was going to make and Nelson
Agholor is…well Nelson Agholor.
Zay Flowers was the only hit. They are arguably the best team in the NFL right now, imagine them with Devante Adams.
The Panthers are a young team however they are on the rise. Bryce Young is only going to get better and a real number one alongside Adam Thelin’s amazing play their offense will get significantly better.
Elam, Jeudy/Sutton, and Adams’s could all be potential movers this off-season. All in different situations, looking for new homes.
Luckily for NFL fans the trade deadline might suck, but the off-season is normally great. Hopefully we will see these three get moved to somewhere where that better fits their play styles.
ONWARD!
TRU-YAK
