2021 NFL offseason trade rankings Rams push for Matthew Stafford headlines most impactful deals in offseason

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2021 NFL offseason trade rankings Rams push for Matthew Stafford headlines most impactful deals in offseason

The 2021 NFL offseason has been filled with a variety of trades. We've seen multiple starting quarterbacks change teams. We've seen one team overhaul its entire offensive line while Devan Dubnyk Jersey another O-line was completely gutted. We've seen defensive starters move all around the league.With that in mind, we're using this space today to rank the offseason trades. Two notes before we get started: First, we're only ranking trades that involved players. No draft-pick-for-draft-pick deals. We'd be here all year if I had to do that. Second, instead of ranking the deals by who got the best return, we're ranking them based on their potential impact on the 2021 season.Away we go...RankTeam 1ReceivesTeam 2Receives22James Houston, 2023 6th212021 6th ( )202021 6th ( ) , 2021 7th (traded)19Texans2022 7th18Jaguars2022 7th172022 7th16 , 2022 7th2021 7th (traded)As you can see, this group of trades includes exclusively late-round picks and swaps of players who seem very unlikely to be starters at any point this season. The one deal involving a player who had a chance to be a starter (Isaiah Wilson) ended up not meaning anything because Wilson flamed out of the Dolphins organization within days. The only reason that trade didn't land at No. 22 is because of what it told us about the Dolphins' organizational philosophy, which is likely to be more impactful this season than any of the players that changed teams here.RankTeam 1ReceivesTeam 2Receives15WFT , 2021 7th ( )Dolphins2021 7th ( )14Texans , 2021 5th (traded), 2021 6th ( )Patriots2021 4th (traded), 2021 6th ( )13Texans , 2021 6th (traded)Dolphins , 2021 7th ( )12Jaguars2021 7th (traded)112023 7thThese trades all involve potential starters and late-round draft picks, but the starters are all guys who are either below-average players at their position (Ereck Flowers), play non-premium positions (Malcom Brown is a run-stuffing defensive tackle in a pa s-focused league), coming off of major injury (Benardrick McKinney), or going to teams that have almost no chance of competing for a Super Bowl this year (Marcus Cannon, Shaq Lawson, Michael Brockers). There's the potential for Flowers to impact the Football Team, but that impact is unlikely to be positive. McKinney could rebound for the Dolphins, but he's still an off-ball linebacker going to a team that already has a player ahead of him on the depth chart (the recently Charlie Coyle Jersey -extended ) and likes to flood the field with defensive backs. Brown could help an improved Jaguars defense, but a player in his position can only make so much impact. The sixth- and seventh-rounders selected with the picks that changed hands here are more likely to not make their respective rosters than to have a major impact this season.RankTeam 1ReceivesTeam 2Receives10 , 2022 7thVikings2022 6th9Patriots , 2022 7th2022 5th8Cardinals , 2021 7th ( )Raiders2021 3rd ( )7Raiders2021 5th ( )These four trades involve swaps of players for mid-to-late round draft picks, but all of their players either play a premium position, were traded to a potential Super Bowl contender, or both. Three Erik Haula Jersey of the four players can likely be counted on as average-or-better starters (Brown, Hudson, Jackson), and the fourth (Hughes) is a former first-round pick getting a second chance with an organization that has shown the ability to coax better-than-expected play out of players at his position.Hughes is headed to the Chiefs, which gives him a chance to play a key role on a Super Bowl favorite. The Chiefs have found players like , , and over the last few years, none of whom were considered starter material before they got to K.C. Perhaps the defensive staff can tap back into what made Hughes a first-round pick. Brown is going back to New England, where he played the best football of his career. We've seen this movie before and know how it ends. He'll play well for the Patriots again. Hudson should be a key piece of the protection unit for , giving the Cardinals a major upgrade at an important position. Jackson should improve offensive line as well. All three of those offensive linemen were traded away from the Raiders, which dramatically impacts that team's chances of contending for anything because what was once the strength of the team, is no longer.RankTeam 1ReceivesTeam 2Receives6Chiefs , 2021 2nd ( ), 2022 6thRavens2021 1st ( ), 2021 3rd ( ), 2021 4th, 2022 5th52021 6th (traded)4Panthers2021 6th (traded), 2022 2nd, 2022 4th3Titans , 2023 6thFalcons2022 2nd, 2023 4th2Eagles2021 3rd (traded), 2022 2nd (conditional 1st)1RamsLions , 2021 3rd ( ), 2022 1st, Eric Staal Jersey 2023 1stNow we're into the truly impactful trades. All players at premium positions, some potentially high draft picks, and mostly involving teams that are or could be real contenders.The Chiefs' trade for Brown would have ranked higher on this list had they not already spent so much money and other resources while remaking the offensive line. Brown moves the needle, but all of the other work Kansas City did (signing , , and , drafting , getting back from his opt-out year) has a chance to be just as impactful. We're only grading the trade itself, not the overall effort to improve ' protection unit. The two swaps of quarterbacks who have been below-average players during their careers and heading to teams that are unlikely to be true contenders come next on the list. They're quarterbacks, so they are potentially highly impactful deals, and it's po sible they contributed to both the Broncos and Panthers pa sing on in the draft. But for this season, their impact might Darcy Kuemper Jersey not be that big.The Titans desperately needed to add another wide receiver. They lost . They lost . They lost offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. They were about to head into the season with , , , and not much else. That's no longer the case. They added arguably the best receiver of his generation, a player who can still play at an extremely high level... when he's healthy. That's the key.The Colts might have a Super Bowl-ready rest-of-the-roster. But it won't matter if Wentz can't rediscover his 2017 form now that he's reunited with Frank Reich. If he can, that's another contender in the AFC. If he can't -- but stays in the lineup all year -- the Eagles get a potentially pretty high first-round pick from the Colts. That's a recipe for major impact one way or the other. The Rams do have a Super Bowl-ready roster, and now they have a quarterback with enough talent to lead it. They had to pay dearly to pick up Stafford while also dumping Jared Goff's contract, and because they have such a star-laden team, that lack of depth could hurt them in future years. Their chance to win is right now. This year and next. That's why the deal for Stafford was the most important swap this offseason.
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