All-In Jaguars Were Smart To Pounce At Trade Deadline To Give Them Title Shot

The NFL takes great pride in its parity, in the any-given-Sunday belief that no lead is safe and the biggest underdog has a shot to win. The NFL trade deadline seeks the exact opposite. The deadline wants to split the league into clear buyers and sellers — teams so close to a championship they’ll give up future first-round picks, and teams so clearly out of contention they’ll garage-sale their expiring assets to at least have the hope of draft picks. It’s essentially a competitive balance in action, with good teams seeking a short-term fix and willing to overpay to bad teams looking for long-term solutions. Bad teams get worse, move up higher in the draft, and improve the value of their own picks. That brings us to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who were front and center as the big all-in spenders on Trade Deadline Eve, giving up a second-round pick to the Atlanta Falcons for Pro Bowl safety Jessie Bates and a late-round pick to the Saints for defensive tackle Davon Godchaux. And that was just a tease compared to a huge trade with the definitely-selling Eagles, landing defensive tackle Jordan Davis for a 2027 first-round pick and a 2029 second-rounder. Already a very good team with a great defense, Jacksonville has upgraded a strength. And thanks to an easy remaining schedule in a bad division, the Jaguars now have a real path to a high seed in the AFC playoffs. The Jaguars went 13-4 last year and barely lost on their home field to the Buffalo Bills in the wild-card round, but now have set themselves up for a deeper playoff run. The Falcons are a half-game back of first place in the woeful NFC South, but made the decision that a high draft pick helps them more than a slightly higher long shot at a division title. The Eagles have been selling for a while, jettisoning receiver A.J. Brown and center Cam Jurgens already this calendar year before they’d lost seven games in a row. But for the Jaguars, this is a chance to elevate their franchise to more than just part-time Londoners. The second-year combo of coach Liam Coen and general manager James Gladstone is young and wildly confident, and this is a testament to that. Jacksonville’s Everbank Stadium is in the middle of massive renovations that will have the team playing in Orlando in 2027. So, no matter when the Jaguars’ playoff run ends, they can look into the camera and, yes, say they’re going to Disney World. They’re smart to trust their instincts. After a breakout 2025 season, they were willing to let two of their biggest young free agents walk: linebacker Devin Lloyd and running back Travis Etienne. Lloyd got $15 million a year from Carolina and is Pro Football Focus’ No. 20 linebacker with a pick-six this season. But his successor in Jacksonville, Ventrell Miller, is PFF’s No. 1 linebacker, stepping in remarkably well. Etienne has been mostly injured for the Saints, totaling 128 rushing yards in three games, while his in-house replacement, Bhayshul Tuten, has rushed for 521 yards and four touchdowns, close to Etienne’s production last year. And to continue with their all-in approach for this year, the Jaguars didn’t even move one of the most highly speculated trade candidates ahead of this year’s deadline. They kept wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr., who went from being a promising first-round rookie in 2024 to logging 10 catches so far this year. The Jaguars could’ve commanded a third-round pick back in a trade for Thomas. Instead, Jacksonville has made it clear that it’s focused on the present, keeping a player who was drafted before Coen and Gladstone arrived in Thomas. It’s an exciting time in Jacksonville. Best trade that wasn’t on Tuesday? It must be the Eagles getting a sixth-round pick from the Bengals for backup edge rusher Arnold Ebiketie, then Cincinnati pulling out of the trade only because an astute writer noticed something. Nick Korte, who works for Over The Cap, has as good an understanding of the complicated math of the NFL’s compensatory pick system as anyone, projecting which teams are due to get what picks every year. Korte noticed that in adding Ebiketie, the Bengals would be canceling out the third-round comp pick they were due to get for losing Trey Hendrickson to the Ravens in free agency. Korte posted that to X, showing that the effective cost to the Bengals wasn’t a sixth-rounder, but a third and a sixth, and within the hour, the trade had been rescinded, and entirely because someone outside the franchise had noticed something the front office had overlooked. There’s a lot of fine print in how the NFL’s comp picks work, and some teams understand how to game the system better than others. At the very least, they need to make sure they have Korte on notification, if not on retainer. Strangest NFL story in Week 9? That must be running back Audric Estime, who was waived by the Browns on Monday, claimed by the Saints on Tuesday, arrived in New Orleans for practice Wednesday and then rushed 15 times for 72 yards and a touchdown in the Saints’ overtime win … against the Browns. “It was honestly a blessing to be able to come in and have a team welcome me with open arms. I appreciate the coaches allowing me to be out there for the snaps I was out there. It’s always a great feeling to win in this league, especially with a great group of guys,” the 23-year-old Estime told me. Estime has already been with five teams in three seasons in the NFL. He was drafted by the Broncos, spent six weeks on the Eagles’ practice squad, played a year with the Saints, spent two weeks on the Vikings’ practice squad, played three weeks with the Browns, and is now back in New Orleans. When the Vikings played at the Saints in Week 5, he was there with Minnesota, again facing an old team and coming out with a win. The Browns had signed him as short-term injury help, but he was still surprised to see them move on from him after only three weeks. “It’s the NFL. Things happen fast in this league,” Estime told me. “I wouldn’t call it a revenge game, but I definitely had a chip on my shoulder going into the game Sunday.” The Saints were seeking a spark, having fired their run game coordinator after their previous game, and Estime had shown promise with them in his first stint, getting cut the day before the season opener with a thigh injury. New Orleans trusted him enough that he got more carries than veteran Alvin Kamara and had nearly as many snaps, even with the game on the line. His 2-yard touchdown gave them the lead with 58 seconds left in regulation. New Orleans was 2-5 when it entered its Week 8 bye. But Sunday’s win means they’re tied for first place in the NFC South, and Estime could be part of a second-half resurgence for the Saints. One of the quirks of a midseason trade is that a player can go from a team that hasn’t had its bye yet to a team that’s already had a week off, which allows him the rare chance to play 18 games in a 17-game season. That will be true for a few trade deadline acquisitions. Kirk Cousins, who returned to the Minnesota Vikings on Tuesday, didn’t get a chance to experience a bye week with the Las Vegas Raiders this season. With the Vikings already having their bye week, Cousins could now make 18 starts this season. He’s on pace to throw for 4,680 yards, 40 touchdowns and 16 interceptions if he winds up starting the Vikings’ remaining nine games. And new Jaguars arrivals Bates and Davis have already played nine games this season, but have nine games remaining with Jacksonville. Davis’ first four games with the Jaguars will be against teams he already faced with the Eagles. He had a sack against the Giants on Sunday and will face them again next week, and his Jaguars debut will be against a Titans team he already beat in Week 2. Bates will have a chance to avenge the Falcons’ losses to the Bears and Steelers with his new team.