The NFL trade deadline came up on Tuesday at 4 pm on October 29 after the completion of Week 8 of the season and after the deadline was delayed a couple days last year for Hurricane Sandy, this one was shaping up to be exciting, but they usually aren't quite as crazy as the Major League Baseball deadline and this one was not, while the baseball one can often have big players moving to new teams despite large contracts.
This season a number of players are in the World Series that were acquired at the deadline, including Jake Peavy and John Axford on the Red Sox and Cardinals.
The NFL deadline is not as crazy for a number of reasons, including the league salary cap, the way players contracts are structured, cap hit money, team issues with player personnel as well as implications of bonuses for contracts. All of those issues and the fact that football teams really try to prepare their rosters around certain schemes makes for less of a demand during the season for trades, but this season is shaping up to be a little different. Trent Richardson has already been moved to the Colts and that was a huge surprise and two former first round picks were also traded in Levi Brown as well as Eugene Monroe and one team that looks like sellers are the Jacksonville Jaguars. Back when players like Champ Bailey and Clinton Portis were traded for each other, that was the case of needs matching up and that will be the focus in 2013.
A number of receivers came up as options in trade rumors and teams like the Ravens, 49ers and Packers will be mentioned as possible destinations and names include Hakeem Nicks, Kenny Britt, Josh Gordon and Larry Fitzgerald, although some of those deals would have been tough to pull off. Nicks is going to be a free agent and he is with a 2-6 Giants team, but after getting two straight wins, chances are the team is not going to make a move since they don't have crazy reactions like that too often. Gordon looks like the most likely to move, as does Britt, who has had attitude issues and problems with the team in the past, but neither did it.
The trade deadline is coming up and there is a chance some teams make a splash, but it is more likely that none of the big names move. The MLB deadline is all about excitement and part of that is having no cap and we shall see if the rest of the NFL season resembles baseball a bit more than people expect.
