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The Seattle Seahawks would not have won a Super Bowl without some smart in-season trades for veterans on both sides of the ball.
The 2025 Seahawks are represented well on the list of best in-season trades since 2020. The trade deadline is Tuesday, and there has already been a lot of action. Expect plenty more deals before next week, with teams hoping to acquire that one player who can push them into a Super Bowl.
Here are the nine best and worst in-season trades in the NFL since the 2020 season:
This trade was so good for the 49ers, it's hard to remember McCaffrey as a member of the Panthers. The 49ers paid up for McCaffrey, sending draft picks in the second, third, fourth and fifth rounds for a back who at that point was dynamic but had played just 10 games the previous two seasons combined due to injuries. It turned out to be a bargain for the 49ers.
Here's what McCaffrey has done since the trade: 6,347 yards from scrimmage and 56 total touchdowns in 4 1/2 seasons, with NFL Offensive Player of the Year and NFL Comeback Player of the Year awards. McCaffrey has cemented himself as a future Hall of Famer and one of the best running backs ever. San Francisco made one Super Bowl with McCaffrey and is a contender to do it again this season.
The Panthers used those picks to help them get Bryce Young in a big trade, and also a trade up to get edge rusher D.J. Johnson in the third round. Johnson had a half of a sack before he was out of the NFL. It was a heist for San Francisco.
Jones had a weird 2024. He was traded from the Rams to the Titans right before the season for a late-round draft pick swap. The Titans had a terrible season and then unloaded Jones to the Seahawks for linebacker Jerome Baker and a fourth-round pick. All Jones has done since then is become one of the NFL’s best off-ball linebackers. He has 301 tackles, seven interceptions and four sacks in 33 regular-season games for Seattle. He's a remarkable fit for Mike Macdonald's defense. He was a key component to the Seahawks' Super Bowl championship team. Baker played five games for the Titans and is out of football this season, and the pick became tight end Gunnar Helm, who has 517 career yards over two seasons.
Smith hasn't brought a championship to the Ravens but he has been a stellar performer. In his first three full seasons with Baltimore he was a Pro Bowler each time. The Bears got a second-round pick, used on defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr. (before this season Chicago traded Dexter to the Falcons for cornerback Clark Phillips III and a 2027 fifth-round draft pick, and since then Dexter signed a four-year, $78 million extension), a fifth-round pick and linebacker A.J. Klein, who didn't record a stat in two games for Chicago.
Miller played 12 games for the Rams, including playoffs. He had a massive impact in that short time. Miller had five sacks in the regular season and four more in the playoffs, which led all players that postseason. He had two sacks in a Super Bowl win over the Bengals. The Rams might not have won that championship without Miller. The Broncos did well too. They got a second- and third-round pick for Miller. The second-round pick became defensive end Nik Bonitto, one of the league's best pass rushers. A true win-win deal.
The Seahawks sent a second- and fifth-round pick to the Giants for Williams, which was a steep price for a 29-year-old defensive lineman. Williams made Pro Bowls in 2024 and 2025 and has been a leader and perfect fit for one of the NFL’s best defenses. Last season, the Seahawks won a Super Bowl with Williams being a huge part of it. The price wasn't so steep after all.
Too soon? Maybe. But it was undeniable that the Bears' defense looked completely different with Simmons in the middle in his debut. The price was heavy, with two first-round picks going to the Titans. But we'll project a bit and say Chicago will be happy to have Simmons, one of the top interior defensive players in the NFL.
Funny enough, had the Commanders just used the 40th overall draft pick that the Bears sent them for Sweat, the trade would have looked better. That pick was defensive back Cooper DeJean, who has become a good player … for the Eagles. The Commanders traded down and took cornerback Mike Sainristil and tight end Ben Sinnott. Neither have worked out. Sweat has 24.5 sacks in 48 games for the Bears and with Jeffery Simmons coming aboard this season, is a key part of a good defensive line for a Super Bowl contender.
Shaheed has just 351 receiving yards in 16 regular-season games for the Seahawks, since Seattle sent fourth- and fifth-round picks to New Orleans for the big-play receiver. Why is this a positive trade? Because Shaheed made perhaps the biggest play of the Seahawks' Super Bowl run, with a 58-yard punt return with about eight minutes left with Seattle trailing the Rams 30-14 in a Week 16 game. That sparked a huge comeback that led to a Seahawks overtime win, and it was a springboard to a championship. Shaheed also started the playoff run with a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on the opening play of a divisional-round rout of the 49ers. Those big returns were well worth the cost.
Toney's Chiefs career didn't end great, so you might remember the drops, penalties and controversies and think it was a bad trade. And that's reasonable. But Toney made two enormous plays in a Super Bowl win over the Eagles. Kansas City trailed 27-21 in the fourth quarter when Toney scored a 5-yard touchdown and then had a 65-yard punt return to set up another short touchdown. The Chiefs won 38-35 on a field goal as time expired. Toney might have been a headache overall, but without sending those third- and sixth-round picks to the Giants, do the Chiefs win Super Bowl LVII?
In the moment, this trade didn't seem so bad. The Colts were 7-2 when they traded for Gardner, one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL. The price was huge, sending two first-round draft picks and receiver Adonai Mitchell to New York. But it looked like the Colts were getting an impact player for a playoff push. Since then the Colts are 3-13 and have fired general manager Chris Ballard. Mitchell has dealt with injuries but is coming off a 142-yard game. The Colts' collapse isn't all Gardner's fault, but he has been injured and has not done much for Indianapolis. Meanwhile, the Colts continue to trade players, and their first-round pick next year that will go to the Jets could be in the top five. Meanwhile, it's arguable that Mitchell's value has caught up to Gardner, or at least made it close for a player whom Indianapolis included as a rage throw-in after Mitchell dropped the ball before scoring a touchdown against the Chargers. Given the cost and return on investment, it's probably the most damaging trade on this list.
Even in the moment it seemed questionable that the Bears would send what would end up being a high second-round pick to the Steelers for Claypool, who was inconsistent on the field. It ended up being one of the worst trades in the NFL over many years. For the rest of Claypool's career he had 22 catches for 117 yards and one touchdown. Claypool was out of the NFL at age 26. Meanwhile, the pick sent to the Steelers ended up being 32nd overall and was used on Joey Porter Jr., who became one of the league's best young corners (and was traded to the Cowboys for a second- and sixth-round pick this season).
When the Jets traded for Adams, everyone wondered what they were thinking. The trade was made the day after the Jets fell to 2-4. They had already fired head coach Robert Saleh. They still sent a third-round pick to the Raiders for Adams. He played well, with 854 yards, but the Jets predictably went 5-12 and the team released Adams the next offseason due to salary cap reasons. The Raiders didn't exactly put that pick they got to good use. They traded it to Seattle for Geno Smith. And the Seahawks burned that on quarterback Jalen Milroe, who has had no impact.
Washington traded third-, fourth- and sixth-round picks to the Saints for Lattimore and a fifth-round pick. At the time Lattimore was considered a top cornerback. But the Commanders quickly found that Lattimore was in decline. He did not play well in 11 games with the team, tore his ACL during the 2025 season, was released for salary cap reasons this past offseason and remains unsigned.
Part of the error of this trade was the Eagles seemingly miscalculating the market on Phillips, who was to be a 2026 free agent. The Eagles traded a third-round pick to the Dolphins for Phillips. He played eight games for Philadelphia and had two sacks for a team that faded hard at the end of the season and did not win a playoff game. Phillips then left the Eagles in free agency, signing a four-year, $120 million deal in Carolina. The Eagles didn't expect that, and reacted by trading two third-round picks to the Vikings for Jonathan Greenard, a 29-year-old edge rusher who has two tackles and no sacks this season. Greenard signed a four-year, $98 million extension after the trade. So it can be argued the final cost of the Phillips deal was three third-round picks and $98 million for a total of two sacks from a pair of players.
The Bills thought they were getting a key weapon for Josh Allen when they traded a third- and seventh-round pick to the Browns for Cooper and a sixth. Cooper was almost immediately hurt with a wrist injury and made practically no impact. Cooper had 297 yards and two touchdowns with the Bills, Buffalo lost the AFC championship game to the Chiefs (Cooper had 33 yards in that game) and Cooper never played another down in the NFL after that season. The third-round pick was used by the Browns on quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who hasn't worked out either.
The Cowboys' trade for Mingo was surprising because they sent a fourth-round pick to Carolina for a player who had done very little in the NFL. And Mingo has done even less with the Cowboys. Since that trade two years ago he has nine catches for 101 yards and no touchdowns. The Cowboys might have thought they were outsmarting the rest of the NFL with that deal, but it turns out everyone else was correct in thinking Dallas had just made a mistake.
At the time the Jaguars seemed to be buying low on Ridley, who was serving a year-long suspension for betting on NFL games. The trade compensation was conditional and ultimately Jacksonville sent the 79th overall pick of the 2024 draft to the Falcons for Ridley. What the Jaguars got for that was a modest 1,016 yards in one 9-8 season with Ridley, who left for Tennessee as a free agent.
It might be harsh to put the Chubb deal on this list. He was productive, with 22 sacks in 41 games. But the Dolphins swung big on a deal to improve their chances of a deep playoff run, and that didn't happen. The Dolphins sent a first-round pick along with a fourth and running back Chase Edmonds to Denver for Chubb and a fifth. The Dolphins didn't win a division title or playoff game after the trade, tore the roster down this past offseason and Chubb's $10.97 dead cap hit is part of the overwhelming overall dead cap hit of more than $188 million for the 2026 Dolphins.
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