Photo by Kathryn Riley/Getty Images
Grading every deal made at the 2023 NFL trade deadline.
Everybody loves grades.
Especially yelling about them.
With the NFL trade deadline closing in, it is time to start handing out some grades. What teams actually improved themselves, and what teams still have a lot of work to do if their Super Bowl dreams will be realized? What players are going to be producing in a new home, and what general managers might want to take a refresher course on the various value charts you can find floating around the internet?
As we saw last season, moves started early, kicking off with Kevin Byard to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Let’s dive in, and follow along over the next two days as the deadline approaches
Kevin Byard traded to the Philadelphia Eagles
Full deal: Philadelphia Eagles acquire safety Kevin Byard. Tennessee Titans receive safety Terrell Edmunds, a fifth-round pick in 2024, and a sixth-round pick in 2024.
Titans grade: C+
Eagles grade: A
This was a massive move for the Eagles. Byard is one of the NFL’s better safeties, and offseason departures coupled with injures over the first few weeks of the season made secondary a clear position of need for Philadelphia.
As for the Titans, they remain in a strange place. Are they sellers — as this move indicates — or are they going to try and make a run in an AFC South that is still within reach. If they decide to start preparing for a bit of a rebuild, adding a few later-round picks is at least something.
Leonard Williams traded to the Seattle Seahawks
Full deal: Seattle Seahawks acquire defensive tackle Leonard Williams. New York Giants receive a 2024 second round pick and a 2025 fifth round pick
Seahawks grade: B+
Giants grade: C+
This was a great trade for the Seahawks. They were lacking another interior presence next to Dre’Mont Jones, and Williams can absolutely fit that bill. He’s not an elite defensive tackle, but he has some formational versatility and upside on all three downs. As good as Seattle has been defensively, they can use more from that position. With this trade, the ceiling of the Seahawks defense gets raised higher.
The Giants are probably beginning to tear it down, and I just wonder if they could’ve gotten more for Williams. He wasn’t going to get a future first round pick, but for an impactful player like Williams, he could’ve netted more than a Day 2 and Day 3. This is the beginning of the rebuild for New York, and it’s off to a bit of a shaky start.
