The Denver Broncos were among a host of teams not to make a splash at the 2025 trade deadline on a quiet day for major deadline trades.
The Philadelphia Eagles were winners at the trade deadline yet again, with Howie Roseman stocking up more defensive talent.
As the parity of the NFL remains incredibly close heading into the second half of the season, the trade deadline offered teams one final opportunity to make marginal gains over their rivals.
In the NFC, the ninth-seed Carolina Panthers and Bryce Young sit just over a game back from the one-seed Eagles, and just one big trade acquisition could send one of the league’s middling teams over the top and into Super Bowl contention.
However, on a relatively quiet deadline day, moves were at a premium, and as always, where there are winners, there are also a lot of losers.
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The 2025 Denver Broncos found themselves 7-2 heading into the trade deadline, and while their defence remains in the league’s upper echelons, the offence is still looking to find its feet.
Led by sophomore quarterback Bo Nix, the offence has a good foundation to succeed, so long as the 25-year-old can look to become more consistent in his early game play, and Sean Payton can release the reins with his playcalling.
In the off-season, a lot of Broncos discussion revolved around Payton finding his ‘joker’, and despite the free agent pickup of Evan Engram, we’re yet to see this joker card come to life.
J.K. Dobbins has been the brightest explosive part of this Broncos offence so far this season, but if rumours are to be believed, the Mile High club missed out on an opportunity to acquire Jaylen Waddle from the Miami Dolphins.
Waddle would have brought a genuine superstar to this Broncos offence and placed them firmly in the Super Bowl conversation in the AFC. As it is, Payton’s squad will have to try and make a push with the offensive group they currently have.
Tennessee Titans
Bad teams don’t have to be losers at the trade deadline, just look at the New York Jets, but sadly for Tennessee Titans fans, that isn’t the case.
The Titans are a team that is largely bereft of talent, and the talent they do have falls under the ‘project under development’ category.
Titans trade CB Roger McCreary to the Rams. pic.twitter.com/voyX840snG
— NFL (@NFL) October 27, 2025
As a result, their draft capital is crucial (so they can’t trade for anyone), and they have very little in the way of valuable pieces that would recoup meaningful compensation, yet general manager Mike Borgonzi still pulled the trigger on two trades away from the team.
Dre’mont Jones, a serviceable edge rusher on a bad team, and Roger McCreary, a stellar developmental cornerback, were both traded out of Tennessee for a pair of conditional fifth-round picks, leaving the team in both a hole with a lack of talent and no proper compensation to make up for it in future drafts.
New Orleans Saints
Similar to the Titans, the New Orleans Saints look like a bad team who are going to remain bad on their current trajectory.
In the offseason, the Saints traded a fourth and a seventh-round pick to the Broncos for wide receiver Devaughn Vele, and a trade that was a head-scratcher at the time has become even more puzzling due to the 27-year-old’s lack of production this season.
Trading a top 100 pick for Devaughn Vele and only playing him 29% of the snaps makes no sense to me. https://t.co/FCcFNnR5ha
— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) November 3, 2025
To boot, the trades of Rashid Shaheed to the Seattle Seahawks and Trevor Penning to the Los Angeles Chargers returned only a 2026 fourth and fifth round pick and a 2027 sixth rounder, despite giving up two good players.
While Mickey Loomis did manage to retain the services of Chris Olave, one might have expected a team that is so short of talent to try to shop their premium receiver for a sizeable return, rather than trade away two B-tier assets for moderate returns.
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears have a great chance of making it into the playoffs, with head coach Ben Johnson revolutionising Caleb Williams’ development.
The Bears are only a game back from the Green Bay Packers atop the NFC North, and as the trade deadline neared, things felt like they had fallen perfectly for Ryan Poles to snag an elite difference maker on either side of the ball.
The trade for Joe-Tryon Shoyinka from the Cleveland Browns was a nice supplementary addition, but an elite edge rusher could have propelled the Bears from perennial playoff hopefuls to genuine playoff contenders.
| D’Andre Swift | 2025 stats |
| Rush yards per attempt | 4.6 |
| Rushing TDs | 4 |
| Rushing yards per game | 66.3 |
| Receiving TDs | 1 |
| Yards per reception | 10.7 |
On the offensive side of the ball, D’Andre Swift has put up good numbers in the run game, but a trade for a more elite running back could have properly set this offence up for a deep postseason run.
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are playoff hopefuls who have, somewhat by luck, found themselves atop the AFC North, but, in a similar vein to the Bears, they need a better rushing attack.
The passing offence, led by Aaron Rodgers, has found its groove this season, while the usual characteristics of ike Tomlin’s teams of the past (their defence and running game) have dwindled.
Worst total defense rank for Steelers in franchise history
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) October 27, 2025
2025 30th
1988 28th
2021 24th
1991 22nd
1981 22nd pic.twitter.com/wkMLW5sxmO
The Steelers have the third-worst running attack in the NFL by yards per game, averaging a measly 87.3, and the third-worst defence in the NFL, averaging 383.8 yards given up per game.
Due to their AFC North rivals being hit by huge injury deficiencies, the Steelers have found themselves in pole position to make the playoffs again, but their underlying numbers and lack of trade actions to remedy those woes tell a concerning tale.
