3 NFL Preseason Trades We Want To See

With Week 1 rapidly approaching, NFL teams will quickly have to narrow down their roster to the 53 players they’ll go to battle with when kick-off arrives in just a few weeks. With cut downs, however, comes available talent, and with preseason play comes positional groups once looked upon as a strength slowly becoming a weakness after live snaps. Instead of scouring the waiver wire in hopes of plucking a diamond out of the rough, organizations will often open the phone lines, and in turn, conduct a trade in an attempt to boost lacking depth or simply insert an immediate starter in hopes of pushing a unit over the top.

With the preseason now full steam ahead, the potential trade market has developed into a vast, intriguing landscape popping with talent for teams in search of a late-summer impact move. With a mix of both youthful, hungry talent and veteran, proven options currently available, here are three potential trades that could get done before the cuts to 53 arrive.

Philadelphia Eagles Trade For James Washington 

It doesn’t get more obvious than this. In what would be a small journey east of his current home, Washington’s arrival into an Eagles receivers room in desperate need of NFL experience could factor in mightily to the success of DeVonta Smith in year one and 2020 first-round selection Jalen Reagor, who will be looked upon as a heavily featured commodity in Nick Sirianni’s offense. 

As it stands, however, Smith’s injury status for the preseason is up in the air, and although he’s shown flashes, Reagor has had an average camp—once again leaving major questions as to who will take over the role of WR1 in Jalen Hurts’ first full year under center. Travis Fulgham was a nice story last fall and quarterback-turned-wideout Greg Ward should earn snaps in the slot, but let’s slow down here… no one inside the Eagles’ facility should bank on them developing into even an average duo, right?

This leads me to ask “why not?” when projecting Washington into an Eagles offense not expected to make any waves this season. A change of atmosphere can have massive implications on a player’s future; we’ve seen it far too many times. While the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, it couldn’t hurt to entertain the idea. Plus, for Philadelphia, the pros mightily outweigh the cons.

San Francisco 49ers Trade For N’Keal Harry

Despite reports surrounding an improved relationship between Harry and Patriots brass following the former first-round selection’s trade request just a few weeks back, a change of atmosphere is needed for Harry, who doesn’t look to be in the plans as a high volume target in Bill Belichick’s offensive gameplan this fall.

San Francisco was rumored to have the former Arizona State product highly rated in the 2019 NFL Draft, and although Harry isn’t the ideal separator against man coverage that Kyle Shanahan so highly covets, his presence within a receivers room of Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk could be the perfect situation to revitalize his young career. With Trey Lance expected to sling the rock around the Bay for years to come, paired with a high-octane running game respectable enough to force defenses to stack the box, it could be a recipe for success for the 23-year-old Harry moving forward.

Los Angeles Rams Trade For Jaylon Smith

Projected to be one of the most dominant defenses in football, the Rams have failed to address their need at the second level over the last couple of seasons. With Smith, whose current role in Dallas remains up in the air with the addition of Micah Parsons, the Rams could insert a downhill, athletic, veteran linebacker to fill the gaps left from a menacing defensive line in hopes Smith could return to Pro Bowl form, if Dallas were to cut ties with their former second-round pick.