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The movements of every offseason keep NFL fans interested in their teams. Now that the offseason is over, it's time to see the results of the work of every front office over the last seven months.
It was a challenging offseason as the pandemic ravaged the finances of the franchises and the salary cap went down as a result. Teams had to do their gymnastics to get under the cap, which resulted in some interesting trades since 2021 kicked off.
Ranging from starter quarterbacks to veteran players to draft picks, check out the five best trades of the season so far.
5 best trades of the 2021 NFL season so far
#1 - Matthew Stafford to the Rams
It was time to see Stafford playing at a contender level, and the Rams will give him the perfect opportunity to do so.
Sean McVay had enough of Jared Goff's poor field vision and decided that he needed a quarterback who could actually throw the ball deep when the receivers created separation. Stafford had already requested a trade from the Lions earlier during the offseason.
Pairing McVay's offense with Stafford's arm talent is really fun to see and he will be a big upgrade over Jared Goff. If that's going to be enough for the Rams to fight for a championship, we'll see.
#2 - Julio Jones to the Titans
It was clear that Jones' relationship with the Atlanta Falcons had deteriorated over the last few years and it was time for a change between the two parties.
Jones, alongside A.J. Brown and Derrick Henry on the backfield, will be part of a really fun and dominant offense in Tennessee. The veteran wide receiver, a surefire Hall of Famer, can get back to his best form in a team whose focus is on the play-action and the intermediate/deep game, exactly where Jones excels.
#3 - Carson Wentz to the Colts
Speaking of relationships that broke down in 2020, there was no way that Wentz could've stayed with the Philadelphia Eagles after such an awful year with leaks coming out of the locker room criticizing the quarterback.
Wentz reunited with former Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich, with whom he had the best years of his career, in Indianapolis. His price wasn't cheap, as the Colts had to trade a second- and a third-round pick to the Eagles.
If Wentz turns his career around, Indianapolis will have done the best possible deal to find a new franchise quarterback.
#4 - Sam Darnold to the Panthers
Darnold's tenure alongside Adam Gase was a reign of horror and chaos. The Panthers traded for the quarterback in hopes of reviving his career in a Ryan Tannehill-style, just like the Tennessee Titans quarterback did after being freed from Gase in the Miami Dolphins after a trade.
Darnold has a huge upside, but his play over the last two years has been simply awful. With Joe Brady, he has the perfect coach to help him reignite his potential and become a successful quarterback. His contract ends in 2023, so he doesn't have that much time to waste if he wants to prove his doubters wrong.
#5 - Michael Brockers to the Lions
This was an underrated trade for a lot of reasons. Michael Brockers was a productive player throughout his entire career with the Los Angeles Rams, but his impact sometimes went unnoticed because of Aaron Donald's presence in that same defensive line, which is understandable.
Here's the fun part of this story. When the Rams traded for Stafford back in January, Brockers was quoted in an interview as saying that "Stafford was a level up [former Rams' quarterback Jared Goff, now with the Detroit Lions]". Then, not long after, Brockers was also involved in a trade from the Los Angeles Rams to the Detroit Lions to clear cap space.
Brockers will be a productive player with the Lions as well, there should be no doubt about it. It was fun however, to see him trying to explain his former declaration and make amends with Goff as they are teammates again.
