Did The Vikings Win The Deadline? 5 Takeaways From The NFL Trade Deadline

The NFL trade deadline didn’t have the volume of last year, but it’s rare you see a legitimate starting quarterback dealt on the final day. Kirk Cousins is going back to Minnesota, which was the clear headliner of Tuesday’s late activity. The second-biggest headline might’ve actually been a trade that didn’t happen, with Jonathan Taylor staying put in Indianapolis. Here are our takeaways from the NFL trade deadline: Greg Auman: I wasn’t an immediate fan of sitting Fernando Mendoza for half a season as a No. 1 overall pick, but the Kirk Cousins era proved to be masterful work for Raiders general manager John Spytek. Las Vegas got Cousins for next to nothing – a minimum base salary, and his contract has a $10 million roster bonus for next spring designed to circumvent the offset language in his old deal with the Falcons. The Vikings will now be the team paying for that. Cousins played incredibly well for a guy with little or no receivers to throw to – fifth in the league with 2,340 passing yards, second with 20 touchdown passes, and a 4-5 record on a team that went 3-14 last season. So the culture of the team is already much better for head coach Klint Kubiak, and Mendoza has had a half-season to watch and learn before he takes the reins with more confidence than if he’d gotten thrown right in Week 1. You paid Cousins less than a million dollars, got conservatively top-10 NFL QB production, six months of quality mentoring with Mendoza and a third-round pick? Show me a better value single season than what the Raiders have pulled off. Henry McKenna: Cousins has a history with the Vikings. Go back to 2022, when Cousins threw for over 4,500 yards and almost 30 touchdowns. When it was good, it was pretty darn good. Those were the days when Kevin O’Connell began earning his reputation as a QB whisperer. But now? Well, O’Connell is no longer synonymous with good QB play. In fact, the Vikings have done nothing but pivot from one QB1 to the next since Cousins. From Cousins to Sam Darnold to J.J. McCarthy to Kyler Murray to Carson Wentz back to Cousins, the Vikings always seem to have a “plan.” And sometimes that plan works out. Look at Darnold. But for the most part, that plan has … not worked out. The organization looks impatient and jumpy, moving on from QBs before they get an in-depth evaluation of the guy. It’s enough to make me leery of Cousins. He might know the system. He might have had success in the past. But I got excited about McCarthy at the start of 2025. I got excited about Murray at the start of 2026. I’m hesitant to pivot that optimism to Cousins as quickly as the Vikings pivot from one QB to the next. Ralph Vacchiano: Jonathan Taylor has to feel like the captain of a sinking ship, after everyone else has already secured a spot on the lifeboats. For weeks, the star running back seemed the least likely player to survive the Indianapolis Colts’ big trading deadline sell-off. In the end, though, the Colts made the smart move to keep their best player and one true star they have. No, Taylor doesn’t hold a lot of value to them right now, not in the midst of a 2-7 season that will likely get a lot worse. But he holds a lot of value for the future. He’s one of the best running backs in the league, who is still only 27 and has two years left on a relatively reasonable deal. He could be the player they rebuild around this offseason. He gives their eventual new general manager a foundation he’ll need as he restarts. The Colts did a great job shedding four players who will be free agents in March — guard Quenton Nelson, defensive tackle DeForest Buckner and wide receivers Keenan Allen and Josh Downs — for whatever they could get in return. None of those players had a future in Indy. They were spare and expendable parts as far as the Colts were concerned. Taylor is anything but that. He’s on pace for about 1,200 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns while the rest of the team around him crumbles during this disastrous season. If they can fix the offensive line in front of him this offseason, he can very quickly return to being a 1,500-yard back. And that’s way more valuable than the second- and fifth-round picks that they were reportedly offered. They were right to hold out for a first-round pick or a bigger package that never came. And if the new general manager is hired and wants to deal him, maybe he’ll have better luck in the offseason, between free agency and the draft. But losing teams shouldn’t just reflexively deal everybody. Sometimes the best move is to hold on to the talent you already have. Steven Ruiz: It’s safe to say Jaguars general manager James Gladstone subscribes to his mentor’s ‘Eff Them Picks philosophy of roster construction. Like his former boss, Rams GM Les Snead, Gladstone is more than willing to part with a premium pick or two if it lets him add proven talent to his roster. Gladstone was a busy man on Monday, trading for nose tackle Jordan Davis, safety Jessie Bates and defensive tackle Devon Godchaux to bolster a defense that already ranked in the top five in expected points allowed. The Bates deal cost them a 2027 second-rounder and a 2028 fifth. Godchaux was a lot cheaper, costing the Jags just a sixth-rounder in next year’s draft. And Davis was the biggest swing, with Jacksonville giving up its first-round pick in 2027 and a 2029 second-rounder. While Davis should be a contributor for years to come, Bates and Godchaux will likely be one-year rentals. The moves also put Jacksonville around $17 million over the 2027 cap, so the team is really borrowing from the future for these upgrades. But even if it gets harder to add to the roster in future offseasons, nobody in Jacksonville will complain if these moves propel the Jaguars to a Super Bowl. I think they could. The Jaguars needed to beef up their interior line, and they’ve done it. They needed more playmaking in the secondary, and they’ve added it. If the scheme change gets Davis back to his 2025 form—and I think a more attacking style could do just that—this defensive line should be one of the best in the league. Bates may have lost some range over the past few years, but his instincts are sharper than ever, and he just has a nose for the football. If these moves work out as Jacksonville hopes, it could go from one of the better defenses in the league to the best defense in the league, full stop. A dominant defense and an explosive offense can take a team far in the postseason. That combination won Seattle a Super Bowl last season. The Jags are making a big bet that they can replicate the formula. Ben Arthur: The Bills have their best offense of the Josh Allen era, leading the league in scoring and yardage. But their defense has been trending in a way that could lead the former MVP to finish another season of his prime without a Super Bowl appearance. It’s not that the Bills’ defense has been bad, to be clear. It’s just been average, ranking 16th in both points allowed and yards given up. And that’s not good enough for Buffalo, which faces rising pressure each year to deliver a Lombardi Trophy with Allen. That’s why I love the trade for veteran safety Amani Hooker, whom the Bills acquired Tuesday from the Titans for a 2027 second-round pick (Buffalo also received a fifth-round selection from Tennessee in the deal). Safety was the team’s most glaring issue defensively. Entering Week 10, Buffalo ranks 29th in pass defense (238.8 passing yards allowed per game) and 24th in passing touchdowns allowed (15), per Next Gen Stats. Hooker immediately changes the calculus. A longtime starting safety in Tennessee, Hooker has an NFL-high five interceptions (three came against Joe Burrow in Week 8) and has allowed just a 79.3 passer rating as the nearest defender in coverage, according to NGS. That kind of production in the back end will not only help the Bills’ other defensive backs, but should also help spur what has been an inconsistent pass rush outside of Gregory Rousseau. The Bills were a Super Bowl contender pre-Hooker. But with the veteran safety in the picture, their defense looks a lot more competent. And if the defense proves to be as competent as it now looks, raising Buffalo’s chances of winning a Lombardi Trophy, the second-round pick was worth it.