6 Trades We Wish We Would Have Seen at 2025 NFL Trade Deadline

An action-packed 2025 NFL trade deadline is now history.

While plenty of interesting moves were made, several potential blockbuster and/or season-altering trades didn't transpire.

Here are six high-profile deals we wish had taken place.

Lions Acquire Edge Trey Hendrickson From the Bengals

AP Photo/Jeff Dean

Trey Hendrickson

There's a good chance Trey Hendrickson is done in Cincinnati after what appears to be a lost 2025 season anyway, and the Lions could have used one more prime defender to complement Aidan Hutchinson on the edge in their quest to finally get to a Super Bowl. 

Hendrickson, 30, is a four-time Pro Bowler coming off consecutive 17-plus-sack campaigns. He could have worked situationally with Al-Quadin Muhammad and provided some critical injury insurance to a team that missed that when Hutchinson went down in 2024. 

It's possible the price tag was too high here. Nevertheless, the Eagles added Jaelan Phillips to their pass rush, and the Seahawks and Cowboys made trades while the Lions ultimately sat on their hands at the deadline.

Patriots Acquire WR Jakobi Meyers From the Raiders

AP Photo/Jeff Lewis

Jakobi Meyers

The Patriots have overachieved this year, and the best way to keep that going would have been to add another weapon to young quarterback Drake Maye's arsenal.

Jakobi Meyers is an accomplished receiver coming off a 1,000-yard 2024 campaign who made a ton of sense considering he's in a walk year for a bad team and has history with the Pats and New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. 

Stefon Diggs is Stefon Diggs, but there's a significant drop-off to the unproven Kayshon Boutte, and to Mack Hollins, who is at his ceiling. 

Instead, the Patriots made no offensive additions at the deadline, while Meyers landed with a Jacksonville team that could well wind up battling New England for a playoff spot down the stretch.

Chiefs Acquire RB Breece Hall From the Jets

AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel

Breece Hall

This was another potential "over the top" move that failed to come together, with Breece Hall remaining in New York despite the fact that the Jets held a fire sale. 

Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt aren't moving the needle in the offensive backfield for a Chiefs team that is clearly all-in right now. Those two veterans are averaging 4.2 and 4.0 yards per carry, respectively, while Hall is at 5.0 and coming off a 133-yard, two-touchdown performance in Week 9. 

The 24-year-old, in a contract year, would have been an ideal rental for the Chiefs. They made no moves this week while playoff rivals such as Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Indianapolis all improved.

Steelers Acquire WR Chris Olave From the Saints

AP Photo/Erin Hooley

Chris Olave

It could have been Chris Olave, Meyers, Rashid Shaheed. In a dream scenario, it could have been Jaylen Waddle—anyone to give Aaron Rodgers another respected option to complement DK Metcalf in a Pittsburgh receiving corps that lacks depth ahead of the home stretch.

Olave is two years younger than now-former teammate Shaheed (who was dealt to Seattle), and he has a lot more pedigree. He's also under contract for 2026, which might have played a role in terms of price tag and financial commitment (his fifth-year option is worth $15.5 million). 

Regardless, Olave would have represented an upgrade over Calvin Austin III. Any of the guys mentioned above would have. And now the Steelers are left razor-thin in a critical spot as they try to hold off the charging Ravens in the AFC North title race. 

Panthers Acquire Edge Kayvon Thibodeaux From the Giants

AP Photo/Daniel Kucin Jr.

Kayvon Thibodeaux

There just isn't much room for Kayvon Thibodeaux in New York, but the 24-year-old has room to grow and remains under team control through 2026.

That would have made him a nice fit for a Carolina team that is in the NFC playoff race but is likely (smartly) still thinking about the future more so than 2025. 

This would have been a sensible approach to bolstering a pass rush that has the NFL's second-lowest pressure rate (14.2 percent) and is still guaranteed nothing from rookie Day 2 draft picks Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen. 

Maybe the Giants weren't willing to budge, though Jermaine Johnson of the Jets would have made similar sense. However, the Panthers did nothing while edges like Jaelan Phillips and Dre'Mont Jones moved ahead of the deadline. 

Raiders Acquire QB Anthony Richardson From the Colts

AP Photo/Stew Milne

Anthony Richardson

It's still possible Anthony Richardson ends up in a spot like Las Vegas next year, once the Colts are sure Daniel Jones is their guy and are ready to move on. Maybe they are, but the Raiders and others aren't convinced there's much there. Maybe they aren't prepared to throw in the towel on Geno Smith.

Regardless, Smith has failed miserably thus far with the Raiders, and the franchise has to realize there's no future with the 35-year-old NFL interception leader (11). They should have gone bold and dealt for Richardson to give the 23-year-old a trial run in November, December and January. 

That could have made it easier to determine how they'll approach the quarterback position in the 2026 offseason. Now, though, they're riding or dying with Smith, and that's likely to lead to even less certainty in a few months' time.