NFL trade deadline winners and losers: Vikings go full dadcore with Kirk Cousins in Super Bowl quest

After what happened on Monday night, the Minnesota Vikings had to do this. In a dispiriting loss to the Buffalo Bills, the Vikings saw their tremendous defense go to waste, as Carson Wentz completed eight of 25 passes for 81 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 8.9. It was one of the worst quarterback performances in recent history, and it continued a run of recent QB futility for the Vikings, from JJ McCarthy to Kyler Murray to Wentz. Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores is out-scheming every other coach in the league right now with his laboratory of blitzes and coverages. But it’s starting to matter less and less, because opposing offenses know that you can wait that defense out when there’s no juice on the other side of the ball. The Vikings rank first in scoring defense (116 points allowed), but they’re 27th in points scored (146).

This is not sustainable, which is why Minnesota welcomed ur-suburban dad Kirk Cousins back to the team he led from 2018-2023 by sending a 2027 third-round pick to the Las Vegas Raiders. The 38-year-old is in his 15th NFL season, and he’s not quite the player he used to be, but he’s a massive improvement over everyone else in the Vikings building at his position. This season, Cousins has completed 202 of 315 passes for 2,340 yards, 20 touchdowns, eight interceptions, and a passer rating of 97.1. The rest of the Vikings QBs this season have combined for 137 of 225 passes for 1,286 yards, eight touchdowns, five interceptions, and a passer rating of 82.0.

Cousins enters an NFC North that may be the most brutally competitive division in NFL history, but if he plays like he has this season so far, the Vikings have more than a puncher’s chance.

Do the Vikings like that? We suspect that they do. And in addition to his play on the field, he should bring a maturity and calm to the quarterback position in Minnesota, something that McCarthy and Murray’s critics have said they have lacked at points during their careers.

As for the Raiders, they essentially pick up a free third-rounder after signing Cousins to a one-year, $11.3m fully guaranteed contract, and selecting Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the first overall pick in the 2026 draft. The plan all along was for Cousins to start until Mendoza was ready for the rigors of the NFL. We’re about to see if he is.

The Bears go all-in (and win) with the Jeffery Simmons trade

It usually takes a minute for a traded player, no matter how good he may be, to make a considerable difference with his new team. That player has to deal with a new city, teammates and schemes– it’s not an easy adjustment. But when the Chicago Bears traded 2027 and 2028 first-round draft picks and a 2027 fourth-rounder to the Tennessee Titans for defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons and a 2028 fifth-round draft pick … well, it cost a lot, but it made Chicago’s defense better – immediately. Per SumerSports, the Bears have gone from 6.39 to 4.45 yards per play allowed with Simmons on the field, and he’s made other Chicago defenders better, from edge rusher (and former Mississippi State teammate) Montez Sweat to linebacker Devin Bush.

In Chicago’s 27-24 Sunday night win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it was that defense which took over, as the usually potent Bears offense had its issues against the Bucs’ top-tier defense. Caleb Williams threw four interceptions, and Chicago won a game in which they committed five or more turnovers for the first time since they did so twice in the 2006 season – including a 24-23 win over the Arizona Cardinals that led to the greatest postgame press conference ever, courtesy of Cardinals head coach Dennis Green.

With the offense playing at its usual pace and the defense at an entirely new level, the Simmons trade is a prime example of what a big-time trade should do – turn a good team into a great one.

Seattle’s Quenton Nelson trade may hit its own unfortunate deadline

The Seattle Seahawks needed to revive a run game that has been below average since the team let last season’s Super Bowl MVP, Kenneth Walker III, walk to the Kansas City Chiefs. They believed they can solve their rushing problem by sending a 2027 third-round draft pick and a 2028 fifth-round draft pick to the Indianapolis Colts for offensive guard Quenton Nelson, the eight-time Pro Bowler who will eventually find his way to the Hall of Fame.

Nelson still has plenty to offer at the age of 30. But these deals don’t always work out the way teams hope. Seattle’s first game with Nelson was a 34-17 loss to the Bears, who came into Lumen Field with Simmons in tow, and wrecked any offensive plans the Seahawks made. Nelson is a left guard, which meant that the Seahawks moved 2025 first-round pick Grey Zabel to the right side, where he hadn’t played since 2023, when he was at North Dakota State.

Moving from one side to the other is never as easy for offensive linemen as people may think, and the Bears wisely lined Simmons up more on Zabel’s side than Nelson’s – 88% to 12%, per Pro Football Focus. This allowed Simmons and his energized cohorts to pressure Sam Darnold ceaselessly, and the quarterback is now out with a quadriceps injury and a cracked rib.

Backup Drew Lock started Seattle’s win over the Arizona Cardinals last week, and Zabel moved back to the left side, because Nelson is now recovering from a knee procedure, and is week-to-week.

Why is this a problem? Because Nelson won’t have time to acclimate to his new line, and Zabel won’t have time to acclimate to his new right side. Plus, Nelson is in the final year of the four-year, $80m contract extension he signed in 2022. If Nelson misses significant time, and the 5-4 Seahawks can’t find their way into the playoffs, whatever positive effects Nelson’s acquisition might have provided will be meaningless in the long term.

The Jaguars go all-in with big deals

It has become more than apparent that the Jacksonville Jaguars are all-in this season. Which makes sense. The 6-2 Jags lead the NFL in point differential (+108) and turnover differential (+9), and after their 33-10 win over the Baltimore Ravens last Thursday, they rank first overall in DVOA for the first time in the history of the franchise – which goes back to 1996.

Which is why general manager James Gladstone made the call to trade a 2027 second-round pick and a 2028 fifth-round pick to the Atlanta Falcons for safety Jessie Bates III. Jacksonville have been assembling their safety rotation with spit and baling wire of late and have a lot of injuries to deal with, and Bates is one of the NFL’s better and more versatile players at his position(s). He’s an expert defender everywhere from the box to the slot to the deep third.

The Jags also traded a sixth-round pick for New Orleans Saints interior defensive lineman Davon Godchaux. This also works because the 6ft 3in, 330lbs Godchaux is a good rotational run defender, and the Jags recently lost DaVon Hamilton, the heartbeat of their run defense, to a season-ending injury.

But as it turns out, those moves were just the opening acts. Gladstone then made a massive deal with the Philadelphia Eagles, trading a 2027 first-round pick and a 2029 second-round pick for defensive lineman Jordan Davis.

And this is where Gladstone and the Jaguars may be a bit over their skis.

Selected with the 13th overall pick in the 2022 draft out of Georgia, Davis was a highly-regarded interior disruptor based on his college work, but that promise never quite developed in the ways in which the Eagles hoped. The 6ft 6in, 336lbs Davis has all the athleticism and power you’d want, but the results have been middling to disappointing. Davis has never amassed more than five sacks and 28 pressures in a season. Those totals both came in 2025, after which the Eagles signed him to a three-year, $78m contract extension.

Davis has become an above-average run defender, but when you’re giving up future first- and second-round picks for a player, you want more than that, right? Especially when you consider what the Bears paid for Simmons, and what they’ve gotten out of that deal already. Simmons is a truly transformative player; Davis at his level best is more of a well-turned cog in a machine.

Maybe Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile can extract more from Davis than his Eagles counterpart, Vic Fangio, ever did. But given Fangio’s overall expertise (more than half the defenses in the NFL apply at least some of Fangio’s principles), it’s a steep bet at that price.

Other deals of note

– The San Francisco 49ers poked around the Colts’ fire sale and plucked out DeForest Buckner for a fourth-round pick, and receiver Keenan Allen for a sixth-round pick. These weren’t what you’d call franchise-transforming moves, but Kyle Shanahan’s offense can really use some receiver help with all the injuries they’ve seen this season, and Buckner can add to a defensive line that has been similarly beat up. As always, it is impossible to write more than two sentences about the 49ers without mentioning injuries, and that dastardly substation curse.

– Speaking of Colts receivers, the Chiefs acquired Josh Downs and a seventh-round draft pick for fourth-round and fifth-round picks. Patrick Mahomes’s team have been in receiver purgatory for a long time, and while Downs won’t blow you away with his production (33 catches on 57 targets this season for 354 yards and a touchdown), he can be one of those sneaky-good guys with an understanding of the nuances of his position. The Chiefs’ leading non-Travis Kelce receiver this season is Xavier Worthy, who has 278 receiving yards and a touchdown. Maybe Downs fills in the gaps. He certainly seems happy about his new home.

– The Bills made one of the day’s smartest moves when they sent a second-round pick to the Titans for safety Amani Hooker and a fifth-round pick. Buffalo’s safety situation has been less than optimal in 2026 – between CJ Gardner-Johnson (who was released after poor play and a spitting suspension), Cole Bishop, and Damar Hamlin, defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard has had issues. Hooker comes in with far more of a pedigree – this season, he’s tied with Xavier McKinney of the Green Bay Packers for the NFL’s most interceptions with five, and the veteran will help to knit the entire pass defense together.