Trade Deadline - Early Thoughts

Edition #706

Good morning! ☕

When’s the trade deadline I hear you ask? Well this season's NFL trade deadline is at 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday November 5th. Why am I talking about trades? Well Davante Adams doesn’t appear very happy in Las Vegas after the Raiders got trounced by the Andy Dalton led Carolina Panthers, and when Davante Adams shows any sign of being unhappy he is inevitably linked to the Jets…which is what’s happened.

I’m not sure where I stand on a possible Adams trade, as his cap hits are north of $40 million over the next two years and we gave up assets to get a player who has provided zero return on investment as things stand (Reddick). Would I be excited about adding Davante to Garrett Wilson and Mike Williams? Absolutely, of course I would. But I don’t think I’m at the stage of banging the table for Joe D to make that move.

🟢 Interesting little nugget from Rich Cimini yesterday. The 2024 New York Jets are the only team in the last 80 years to post a winning record when starting the season with 3 games in 11 days. But, it’s a small sample size. The 2024 New York Jets are just the third team in the last 80 years to start their season with 3 games in 11 days. The other two were the 2018 New York Jets and the 2013 Philadelphia Eagles. The 2018 Jets finished with a 4-12 record and the 2013 Eagles finished with a 10-6 record. Hopefully we’re closer to that Eagles record and I’m confident we will be.

⚪ Joe Tippmann believed that the Jets offensive line is starting to hit its stride - "I think so far, we've done well," Tippmann said on Monday. "Just going from game to game, we've made improvements each game and those are the steps that we want to keep taking throughout the season. From game to game, we've done better and better. So, I'm really excited for our guys. The message is we have to keep moving up."

🟢 He also spoke about Aaron Rodgers movement around and out of the pocket - "It was awesome just to see him kind of out there playing and playing his type of ball again," Tippmann said of Rodgers' performance. "It's a great feeling for kind of us as an O-line, because maybe we're not always going to have a perfect pocket, but for him to be able to get out there, move like he's 38 again, it's a good feeling. Just to be able to see him bringing that confidence back within his game. It brings a whole new confidence to our whole offense."

⚪ Going into last night’s games the Jets ranked first in the NFL with a 56.8% conversion rate on third down, which is incredible considering where we were last year. It’s also the Jets best mark in franchise history through the first three games of the season - "It's just confidence," Tippmann said of the feeling on third downs. "The O-line's confidence in our ability to give him time and then that confidence that if we can give him time, he's going to make a play. He's going to make something happen, he's going to pick apart their defense, he's going to see what's going on before the snap and that he's just going to capitalize on those little opportunities. Those gaps and those windows are really small. It just takes a guy like Aaron to be able to split that seam and make it happen."

🟢 Chuck Clark says it’s different for the defence when you’re playing with a lead, something I hope we can do a lot this season - "It definitely is a different feeling going out there as a defensive player [when] you go up with a lead," safety Chuck Clark said on Monday. "The [opposing] offense kind of got to play to you, and that's kind of how it was, that is how it was on Thursday night. We knew that they had to try to take their shots when they had to take them, and we had to just be locked in and be ready. So yeah, it definitely feels good as a defensive player going out there and when the offense gives us some points."

⚪ Jamien Sherwood was asked what it was like to fill in for Mosley who missed the game against the Patriots with a toe injury - "Filling in for C.J. Mosley, those are big shoes to fill. I feel like, as a defense, we were able to communicate, uphold the standard that he's [Mosley] created for our defense. And, ultimately, as you saw, we played a great game on defense."

🟢 Tippmann was also talking about Braelon Allen - "He [Allen, 6-1, 235] brings the physicality, and it's not to say that Breece won't run over a dude," Tippmann said. "Breece is out there making those cuts, making people miss, and then Braelon comes in and he runs right over them. So I think it opens it up for him, and then opens it up for Breece to be able to make those plays further downfield. Because, you know, those safeties that are stepping up, they're going to be more scared to hit."

The benefit of having a TNF game is that it opens up today’s newsletter for a random topic. Tomorrow we’ll start moving on to Denver, but today I thought we’d talk trades.

The NFL trade deadline hasn’t hit the dizzy heights of excitement as the MLB, NHL and NBA ones, but we have started to see a trend towards more notable trades recently.

Last year we saw Chase Young sent to the 49ers, Montez Sweat was traded to the Bears and Leonard Williams was sent to the Seahawks. Strangely a lot of movement on the defensive line.

Now the season is up and running we are starting to understand who may be sellers and who may be buyers. Despite wins this weekend I still expect the Panthers and Giants to be sellers and despite starting 1-2, I still expect the 49ers to be buyers.

The Jets sitting at 2-1 will almost certainly be in buying mode, considering they have championship window open as long as Aaron Rodgers is in the building.

Part of the equation for the Jets will revolve around whether the Haason Reddick situation has been resolved. If it has then the Jets may believe they have everything they need to compete for a title, but if it hasn’t then they may be in the market for extra help on that defensive line.

As far as Reddick goes, a few teams have been linked to him through the media. The Jets have said they won’t trade him, but if he’s still holding out in later October, I can see them changing their mind. The Arizona Cardinals have been linked, but at 1-2 and with a young squad rebuilding, I’m not sure they’ll want to pay the price for a edge rusher who wants to be paid but is the wrong side of 30.

The Raiders, Chiefs, Bengals and Bears have also been mentioned, but not by any sources, but just the media playing trade bingo. Right now, Reddick is a headache that likely won’t ease anytime soon…but if the Jets keep winning, nobody will care.

So who could the Jets be targeting? Let’s take a guess