Tuesday afternoon was the final opportunity for NFL teams to bolster their rosters — or shed weighty salaries and maybe even disgruntled players, depending on the case — by executing trades, which are now no longer an option until the 2020 league year kicks in next March.
This season's deadline day wasn't nearly as active as those of recent campaigns, but several players did switch sides over the past few weeks. Moving forward, a handful of teams may eventually wish they'd been more proactive rather than resting on their laurels or, maybe worse, being victimized by damaging misinformation and/or leaked legitimate information.
Let's assess the fallout of the league's 2019 trade deadline ...
WINNERS
Jalen Ramsey: He's gotten almost everything he wanted. The league-wide trading window was thrown open two weeks ago when the star defender forced his way out of Jacksonville, a place he didn't want to be any longer. Ramsey wanted to join a contender, and the reigning NFC champion Rams certainly qualify ... and a little more limelight and added marketability don't hurt. And with Los Angeles unloading Aqib Talib and his salary Tuesday, Ramsey may be nearing his next objective: becoming the league's highest-paid corner.
Jaguars: Good as Ramsey was, an unhappy player — particularly one with a "bad back" — ultimately wasn't going to benefit the Jags. But three extra draft picks, two of them first rounders, certainly should.
Dolphins: The Rams basically gave them a fifth-round pick to take Talib off their books. In a vacuum, it's not much. But dealing for Talib, shipping Kenyan Drake off to Arizona and engineering swaps from earlier this season involving Laremy Tunsil, Minkah Fitzpatrick and others have allowed Miami to build quite a war chest of draft capital — a bounty that includes five first-round picks and four second rounders spread over the 2020 and 2021 drafts. The rebuild here shouldn't take long at all.
Emmanuel Sanders: The 32-year-old receiver went from the last-place Broncos to the first-place 49ers and found the end zone in his first game with San Francisco, perhaps largely because he'd essentially already learned this offense in Denver. Unsigned beyond this season, Sanders also has a nice chance to position himself for one more decent contract if he can shine in his new role with a near surefire playoff outfit.
Leonard Williams: Welp ... by not exactly getting uprooted while going from the Jets to the Giants, his personal life isn't thrown into upheaval — aside from maybe learning a new commute. Williams will also get an opportunity to stick it to the Jets on the field in Week 10, when the Giants travel for the best kind of "road" game. And afterward, Williams will get to kick back for his second bye week of the season. Not bad.
LOSERS
Leonard Williams: Welp ... he went from an absolutely horrible team to one that's merely terrible. But if Williams thought he would get to test the free agent market next year once it became apparent the Jets weren't going to re-sign him, he should probably think again. For the Giants to take this kind of gamble, it suggests they're likely to franchise the talented lineman rather than let him go, barring an extension. He'll get paid one way or another, but most players would prefer to drive that decision-making bus.
Jets locker room: After Williams was sent packing Monday, nearly every other able-bodied New York player with the exception of Sam Darnold heard his name floated into the rumor mill. May not be very easy for Le'Veon Bell, Jamal Adams, Robby Anderson and others to mentally reset heading into Sunday's game at winless Miami. Adams, targeted by Dallas in a package that included first-round draft pick compensation, according to multiple reports, didn't waste much time before offering his version of events on social media ... though apparently he has no interest in being an ex-Jet. Still, water won't flow easily under these potentially burned bridges. "Let's, uh, win one for the Gaser ... " Oof.
Michael Bennett: Traded to the Cowboys, who will become his fourth team in two years, Bennett essentially got himself fired from the Patriots. Maybe that's for the best, given he apparently wasn't meshing with "The Patriot Way" nearly as well as younger brother Martellus had. (Ironically, Martellus Bennett did not enjoy his stint in Dallas, though maybe Michael will jell with a defense more tailored to his style while retaining a decent shot at reaching postseason.) Still, Michael Bennett might rue this someday, chucking golden opportunities to get his second ring and forever being associated with what may go down as one of the greatest defenses in the NFL's 100-season history.
Aqib Talib: Nine months after competing for a Lombardi Trophy — and mulling the prospect of forming an airtight lockdown tandem alongside Ramsey — the veteran corner was salary dumped to a Miami team that may prove epically bad. But it could be worse than hanging out on South Beach while on injured reserve ... with the prospect of going back into the free agent pool in 2020.
Trent Williams: The seven-time Pro Bowl tackle is still being held hostage by the Redskins, who apparently only made an 11th-hour effort to move him. He did report to the team after the deadline expired, but a player who no longer wants to forgo a paycheck isn't the ideal type to build around.
Redskins: The Williams fiasco is lose-lose for all parties. Washington isn't going anywhere in 2019 and surely could have used whatever assets a deal for such a highly regarded blocker would have procured. Perhaps more problematic, whatever message a rudderless organization thinks it's sent by refusing to capitulate to Williams' desire to leave may ultimately serve as yet another deterrent to blue-chip free agents considering Washington.
Bengals: Their player personnel modus operandi continues to entail standing pat when it comes to making trades (or signing free agents for that matter). Cincinnati, currently the NFL's lone 0-8 team, is also dead in the water yet could have derived significant future benefits by unloading unhappy Cordy Glenn if not Pro Bowl wideout A.J. Green, who's still the franchise's best player but also remains unsigned beyond this season. For a team that's effectively throwing in the towel by benching QB Andy Dalton — heck, the Bears might have wanted him — why not just take the plunge for a long-needed organizational reboot?
I HAVE NO IDEA
Far be it from me to try and divine the New England Patriots' master plan, but I do think they warrant a mention.
I wrote last week that their decision to surrender a second rounder for Falcons WR Mohamed Sanu was an admirable exercise in self-awareness even though the freight might have seemed costly at first blush. That said, the champs had visions of a three-wide formation that included Antonio Brown, Josh Gordon and Julian Edelman. Now they've downshifted, at a significant price that almost amounts to a self-penalty, to some combination of Edelman, Sanu, Phillip Dorsett, Jakobi Meyers and, perhaps soon, first-round rookie N'Keal Harry.
Meanwhile, New England is betting that a pedestrian offense that could have used an upgrade at left tackle and greatly misses injured fullback James Develin will hold up as the Patriots enter the teeth of what's thus far been a Charmin-soft schedule. After anteing up for Sanu, will Bill Belichick and Co. regret not securing Williams, Glenn or maybe even old buddy Nate Solder to energize a 23rd-ranked run game while keeping an eye on Tom Brady, 42? Banking on sophomore Isaiah Wynn, who could come off IR in Week 11 but is proven neither as a player (2 games played) or an NFL left tackle, could be quite a roll of the dice with DeMarcus Lawrence, Brandon Graham, Whitney Mercilus and Frank Clark among the pass rushers scheduled to take aim at TB12.
The Patriots almost always have all the answers. But despite their 8-0 start and emergence of a potentially legendary defense, I do harbor skepticism that they may not have asked all the appropriate forward-thinking questions this time.
***
Follow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on Twitter @ByNateDavis.
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