5 trades we want to see happen in the 2019 NFL offseason
We’ve got the perfect landing spots for players like Antonio Brown, Odell Beckham Jr., and Derek Carr.
By James Brady
Feb 22, 2019, 7:49pm EST
Jason Bridge-USA TODAY Sports
The Los Angeles Rams didn’t win the Super Bowl, but they came as close. The 2018 runner-ups had a remarkable season, and it was built on a strong, youthful core and several big-name additions through free agency and trades. The Rams went all-out.
Trades are often pipe dreams for fans, but they’re happening more frequently in the NFL. Hot off the Rams’ success, you can expect teams to make splashy moves on the trade market this offseason.
There are a lot of potential trades that make sense — perhaps Antonio Brown and Odell Beckham Jr. — but rather than talk about what trades we think are going to happen, we’re going to talk about the ones we WANT to happen.
Odell Beckham Jr. to the 49ers
The 49ers and Giants aren’t out-of-division rivals to the extent of, say, the Cowboys, but the 49ers have some history with the Giants that make the team a natural enemy of San Francisco’s fans. That’s only a small part of why I, a 49ers fan, would love to have Beckham (the January 2012 NFC Championship Game still haunts me).
Why in the world do Odell Beckham Jr. trade rumors keep popping up?
He is a fit for essentially any offense in the NFL, and Kyle Shanahan would love to have him on hand for Jimmy Garoppolo in 2019. Beckham would help them be competitive immediately, too. The team has both the cap space and draft capital to make a deal for him, and decent supporting receivers that could flourish with Beckham covered by multiple defensive backs in Marquise Goodwin, Kendrick Bourne, Trent Taylor, and tight end George Kittle.
Antonio Brown to the Cardinals; Patrick Peterson to the Steelers
The Cardinals’ eight-time Pro Bowl cornerback isn’t looking for a trade anymore. Peterson even apologized to Arizona fans for asking for one in the first place. But if the team’s inability to get wins was the reason for his frustration in 2018, he should probably buckle up for more losing in 2019. So let’s give him his escape and send him to a contender that could use a boundary cornerback to start opposite Joe Haden.
As compensation, the Steelers could send Brown to the Cardinals. The receiver can get a ton of targets in Kliff Kingsbury’s presumably pass-happy offense and give Josh Rosen another much-needed weapon.
If the Cardinals and Steelers wait until after June 1 to make this swap, Pittsburgh would save more than $15 million in cap space and absorb $11.25 million of Peterson’s salary. That’d make the money of the trade even enough that both teams could afford the deal.
Derek Carr to the Jaguars
I’m not as interested in what this means for the Jaguars — buying low on a quarterback who was an MVP candidate in 2016 — as what it means for the Raiders. Jon Gruden’s first year in Oakland was defined by his willingness to tear down an existing team and ship away its stars build a franchise in his image. And trading away Carr means that image could be a West Coast super-villain.
Imagine, Gruden — a noted quarterback connoisseur — searching through 2019’s NFL Draft prospects before settling on his franchise building block with the No. 4 pick. A dynamic dual-threat quarterback who can potentially run a 4.3-second 40-yard-dash. A former Heisman winner, perhaps.
What better way for his Raiders to leave the city of Oakland than by stealing away its baseball team’s 2018 first-round draft pick? Shipping away Carr allows Gruden and team owner Mark Davis to give the franchise’s former home one last giant middle finger by drafting Kyler Murray, the player who could have been the Athletics’ cornerstone centerfielder. And it all starts with finding Carr a good home — like with a Jacksonville team with a powerful enough defense to cover up his recent shortcomings.
Josh Rosen to the Buccaneers
Like ships passing in the night, Kyler Murray and Kliff Kingsbury have, regretfully, never gotten a chance to couple up as a QB-coach duo. That could — nay, should — end in a few months. They deserve to have a chance, to see what kind of magic they can work together.
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Kyler Murray says he has a great relationship with Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury. Says he would be happy to play any where but acknowledged a natural fit with Kingsbury from the wide open offense to their personal connection. He would allow me to be me.
That’d also mean the Cardinals would have to jettison the quarterback they used a first-round pick on last year. Josh Rosen’s rookie season was slightly above the Nathan Peterman line: He completed just 55.2 percent of his passes and had a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 11:14. Blame the Cardinals for most of that, though. Their offense didn’t do Rosen any favors, ranking last in about every metric that matters.
The best thing for Rosen would be to get a fresh start, and what better place than with a former Cardinals head coach — and one who has a history of developing quarterbacks? With Bruce Arians in Tampa Bay, Rosen would get a chance to hone his skills while not being under pressure to start right away. He’d also be comfortable with the Bucs’ offensive coordinator: Byron Leftwich, who took over the same position with the Cardinals midway through the season when Mike McCoy was fired
Not only that, but Rosen would be valuable insurance in case Jameis Winston still can’t put it all together. Then the Bucs could see, up close, another young quarterback and decide if they want to move on from Winston after 2019.
Leonard Williams to the Falcons
The Jets and the Falcons are two teams that are kind of on different ends of spectrum. Both teams have a quarterback they believe in, but the Jets aren’t as close to competing for a championship as the Falcons are. New York could acquire more draft picks for the 2019 and 2020 drafts by sending away one of their only valuable pieces not named Sam Darnold or Jamal Adams.
Leonard Williams falls into that category. Williams hasn’t turned into the dominant defensive tackle that the Jets expected when they selected him sixth overall in 2015, but he’s still a solid player. Currently, he might be more useful to a team like Atlanta that’s one solid defensive tackle away from having one of the best units in the league.
Grady Jarrett, Leonard Williams, and Deadrin Senat would instantly be a fantastic trio of defensive linemen — and the Jets could get something in return for him if they aren’t interested in extending his contract.
