NFL Exec: 'Trade Deadline Is the Most Overrated Thing...Ultimately Makes No Impact'

Tuesday's NFL trade deadline is rapidly approaching, but at least one front-office executive believes it's the "most overrated thing" in the league.

"I think the trade deadline is the most overrated thing in the NFL," the team executive said to The Athletic's Mike Sando in his latest Pick Six column. "The media spends a lot of time blowing hot air about this event that ultimately makes no impact whatsoever on any given season."

That wasn't the case in 2022, with some notable examples including Christian McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers, Roquan Smith to the Baltimore Ravens and tight end T.J. Hockenson to the Minnesota Vikings.

The year before, Von Miller helped the Los Angeles Rams win a Super Bowl after landing in town following a midseason trade with the Denver Broncos. Shutdown cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who was also on that 2021 Rams team, landed in L.A. via a midseason trade in 2019 with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Historically, the NFL executive does make a good point, though. The majority of deadline trades don't cause much of a ripple on a season's trajectory. Many trades are made for players added for depth purposes in exchange for late-round picks or pick swaps.

"What you'll find if you go through all these midseason trades is that very few make any kind of impact on their teams, and even fewer make an impact on the league," the exec added.

The trade deadline has seen far more activity recently, though. Per Sando, "the average number of October player acquisitions has risen from 2.6 (2000-08) to 6.1 (2009-18) to 16.5 (2019-22)."

This year's big move has been the Philadelphia Eagles adding two-time All-Pro safety Kevin Byard from the Tennessee Titans.

There haven't been any other blockbusters similar to that one yet, but there's still time for teams to make moves with the deadline on Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET.