-- NFL Weather
Per my Weather Channel reports:
ATL at TEN = Rain chances have dropped to 15% or less during the game. Assume everything is fine here. Fields might get wet from pregame or a spritz during game.
JAX at PIT = Rain all leading up to the game but there will be 50-50 chances of rain during the game. Game should be wet and annoying a bit impacting the passing game some or a lot with a slick ball and tough to throw/catch at times.
NYJ at NYG = tough one here because the rain seems to be most likely right at/before kickoff and 50-70% chance of rain during the game. This one is even more likely the annoying ‘wet’ issues of the JAX-PIT game.
KC at DEN = Snow all leading up to the game but stopping before noon. The field should be fine but just kind of cold (coldest game of the season so far) in the mid-20s but not anything that really throws performance off too much.
-- Jerome Ford is pushing to play in their 4pm game at Seattle. My expectation is he doesn’t play or is quite limited. Kareem Hunt starts and Pierre Strong works the secondary role and is a sleeper for a big play...is my expectation.
-- Jalen Ramsey will be active, but Xavier Howard is iffy. The first time we see this duo together healthy for a full game might be Week 9 v. KC.
-- Brock Purdy is going to start...making it more of a fair battle with Cincy. Bumps for CMC, Aiyuk, Kittle. But it’s still a tough secondary for Aiyuk to really shine against.
-- Daniel Jones expected back Week 10...maybe.
-- Darrell Henderson was activated from the Practice Squad. Like we said earlier this week – it’s all procedural. The team is taking advantage of a rule they can use a couple times a season on a player. He is the lead in a real split with Royce Freeman...but DH is the one you want.
-- Curtis Samuel...game-time-decision. Jahan Dotson could get a bump and maybe Dyami Brown gets a few targets.
-- Taysom Hill has been questionable all week...he is expected to play.
-- Josh Palmer is expected to be tested pregame but is likely to play but Gerald Everett is in a similar boat, but odds are against him playing. If Palmer is out...it may spring Derius Davis. But this is all Sunday Night action.
-- Robert Woods is expected to be out for 2-3 weeks. Good news for Tank Dell, who is fine regardless, but taking away a slot should get Dell more slot-type looks.
-- Zach Moss is a game-time-decision with a heel issue...if he’s out, a bigger day coming for Jon Taylor.
-- Player trades coming by trade deadline Tuesday? Any FF players to sit on ahead?
Hard to say because only Carolina and Arizona are ‘out of it’ for wild card, etc.
ARI = James Conner could be on the move, but doubtful he is given his injury. But I wouldn’t rule it out 100%. More likely they will hold him/cut him to get the compensatory pick in the future. I don’t think Marquise Brown isn’t going anywhere. If a team has a catastrophic injury at QB, Josh Dobbs could fetch a decent draft pick perhaps...but that’s a big IF. Zach Ertz may be traded, but being on IR really hamstrings that...and they can just get a compensatory pick for him instead later.
CAR = Can’t afford to trade Adam Thielen...if Frank Reich continues his delusion of ‘developing Bryce’, he would really torpedo that by moving Bryce’s only WR/favorite WR. Terrace Marshall for like a 6th/7th-round pick might happen but that’s not FF-interesting. They should move Miles Sanders, but they won’t. Possibly Hayden Hurst gets moved, but ‘who cares’...might be interesting if Cincy acquires Hurst for a return from being with them last year.
Teams like TEN, NYG, DEN, NE, LAC, CHI (all the 2-win teams) are firmly in the playoff race with a win this week, so it’s hard to say which of them will lose and then would they dump any players if they do.
Tennessee is not trading Derrick Henry, as I’ve maintained all along. NYG likely can’t/won’t trade Saquon.
After the two big RB names are moved -- what do these other possible ‘trade away’ teams have that are valuable to see off that would impact FF?
Maybe Darnell Mooney to KC or San Fran or Cincy (if Tee not right)? And even then...he isn’t walking in as some #1 WR. It would take weeks to develop any relationship with Mooney as a #2-3 WR. Ditto for a Kendrick Bourne or Josh Palmer or even a Jerry Jeudy.
In the end...I don’t see any real IMPACT NFL trades for FF coming...but they are fun to talk about.
2022 trade deadline, here are the players that got traded to have any in-season impact for their new team...
Roquan Smith to BAL
T.J. Hockenson to MIN (then Detroit finally got better, but TJH WAS an FF impact move)
Chase Claypool to PIT (fail)
Bradley Chubb to MIA
Jeff Wilson to MIA
Oddly, at the time, no one cared about Zack Moss to Indy in exchange for Nyhiem Himes to Buffalo.
Hockenson had an impact. Jeff Wilson had a few good weeks. Claypool was a bust. On the offensive side...that’s it for the big ‘trade deadline maneuvering’.
NFL teams are scared to trade...and then only trade for downtrodden bodies for draft picks, when they should wheel and deal players back-and-forth all the time – like Detroit should do a simple/basic trade of Jameson Williams (prospect) to like Carolina for ____ (C.J. Henderson) need at corner, or whatever. But they won’t...they’ll be too afraid Jamo will become a star away from them and embarrass them. I hold out hope Detroit is smarter than that, but...they also ruined their 2023 high-end hopes by drafting a ridiculous RB at #12 instead of maneuvering for a high-end cornerback, which they desperately need...so, these GMs can’t even make the right decisions in free agency or the draft, typically – why do you think they’ll be swashbuckling geniuses this trade deadline season?
Trade rumors for football fans are just fun sized candy bars for kids a la Halloween. They love it, can’t get enough of it...but it’s not good for them and is empty calories and forgotten in a few days/the next 11 months.
