The Dexter Lawrence trade happened. Giants get the No. 10 pick, Lawrence gets a fresh start in Cincinnati, and now every front office in the league knows this draft is a two-way market. More 2026 NFL draft trades are coming. Three of them are obvious. Here they are.
2026 NFL Draft Trades Should Start with Alvin Kamara
The Saints already made this decision. They just haven’t announced it yet.
New Orleans told Kamara before free agency that they were adding a running back regardless. Then they signed Travis Etienne to a four-year, $52 million contract. Then they restructured Kamara’s deal using the CBA’s 50-percent rule, dropping his cap number from $18.6 million to $10.5 million. That restructuring exists for one reason: it gave the Saints the flexibility to cut or trade him without getting buried. Head coach Kellen Moore said Kamara is “certainly on the roster,” which is the most noncommittal thing a head coach can say about a player he actually wants to keep.
Kamara is 30 years old. He played 11 games in 2025, caught 33 passes for 186 receiving yards, and hasn’t finished a full season since 2017. He hasn’t been a three-down back in years. Etienne ran the ball 260 times last season and scored 13 touchdowns. He is the starter. What Kamara is right now is a specialized pass-catching back who needs 8-10 touches a game on a team that deploys him correctly. New Orleans is not that team anymore.
At $10.5 million on a one-year deal, he should draw a mid-round pick from somebody. The Vikings, Bears, and Eagles all run spread offenses that would put him in the right role and keep him healthy. A team like that gets a legitimate weapon they cannot draft or sign at that price. The Saints get something back instead of nothing. Kamara gets to compete. The math works. Pick up the phone.
George Pickens and the Cowboys Are Replaying the Micah Parsons Situation Beat for Beat
Last season Pickens caught 93 passes for 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns. Career year. First Pro Bowl. His first season with a quarterback who could actually get him the ball. The Cowboys responded by putting the franchise tag on him at $27.3 million with no contract extension talks, no negotiations, and Jerry Jones publicly saying at the annual meetings that Pickens would save money if he just dropped his agent.
His agent is David Mulugheta. Mulugheta also represented Micah Parsons. Jones told Parsons he had “long-term plans” for him too. Said all the right things publicly. Avoided actual negotiations. Tried to deal directly with the player and cut the agent out. Parsons is now a Green Bay Packer.
The situation is identical. Same agent. Same Jerry Jones public relations strategy. Same absence of real contract talks while the clock runs. Dallas has until July 15 to work out a long-term deal or Pickens plays on the tag. They’re already committed to $34 million per year for CeeDee Lamb. Two receivers at market rate on the same roster means Pickens would be looking at something in the $30 million range annually on top of that. Jones has not shown any appetite for that number, and Mulugheta is not getting paid to let his client take a discount.
The Patriots have been the frontrunners on AJ Brown for months. The Eagles’ asking price has stayed too high. Pickens is younger than Brown, coming off a better season, and would cost less to acquire. New England gets Drake Maye a legitimate No. 1 receiver. Dallas avoids a holdout, avoids a circus, and gets draft capital to work with. Someone just has to make the trade that ends the story everyone can already see coming.
Any Team About to Reach for a QB on Day 2 Should Call Houston About Davis Mills Instead
Fernando Mendoza goes No. 1 to the Raiders and the quarterback class is basically over. Ty Simpson out of Alabama is a first-round candidate, but he had 15 career college starts before this season and evaluations are split. After those two, teams are looking at Day 2 and Day 3 swings on developmental quarterbacks with real question marks and no track record.
Davis Mills has a track record. When Stroud went down with a concussion last season, Mills went 3-0. He beat the Bills on Thursday Night Football. He beat the Titans. He threw five touchdowns and one interception in those three games. He is under contract through 2026 at a $6 million base salary. The Texans just exercised Stroud’s fifth-year option through 2027, and the general manager called trading Stroud “moronic” when someone asked. Mills is not seeing the field in Houston.
The Cardinals released Kyler Murray this offseason. Jacoby Brissett started 12 games for them last year and is currently skipping voluntary workouts trying to get paid like a starter. Arizona is not paying Jacoby Brissett like a starter. They have the third overall pick in this draft and genuine roster needs all over the place. Trading a fourth-round pick for a quarterback who has already won three NFL games in a row is a better use of resources than drafting a developmental prospect on Day 2 and hoping it works out in two years. The Browns have two first-round picks and a defense that can keep them in games. Same argument applies.
A fourth-round pick probably gets Mills out of Houston. The longer teams wait, the less leverage they have once the draft ends and the quarterback market dries up.
