So Cleveland just traded the guy who set the all-time sacks record. Twenty-three sacks last year. They paid him $160 million eight months before doing it. And then two days later the Eagles sent AJ Brown to New England. Brown, who’s had 1,000-plus receiving yards in six of his seven seasons in the league. Both of those deals went down in the same week and now the NFL trade rumors are cranked up to a level I haven’t seen in a long time because every contender in football is looking at what the Rams and Patriots just did and asking the same question: who else is available?
I’ve got five names for you. These aren’t wild speculation guys either. These are players with real situations, real reasons their teams might move them, and real markets for them on the other side. Let’s get into it.
Could Alvin Kamara Actually Get Traded by the Saints?
Kamara is turning 31 this summer, New Orleans just brought in Travis Etienne Jr. on a four-year deal to take over the backfield, and there’s only $3 million guaranteed left on Kamara’s contract. His agent came out and said they’re planning to play for the Saints in 2026, and Kamara himself has said multiple times he’d retire before suiting up for another team. That’s where things stand publicly. Publicly.
Mickey Loomis went and acknowledged this week that the Saints might have too many resources tied up at running back. Think about what that means. The GM just told the world he’s got a cap problem at the position where his veteran star plays. That’s not something you say by accident. Loomis has been running that franchise for years and he doesn’t just talk to hear himself talk.
The retirement threat is Kamara’s only real leverage here. He’s not under a big guaranteed deal anymore. He’s not the feature back anymore, Etienne’s going to handle the carries whether Kamara’s on the roster or not. So the question is whether the retirement thing is real or whether it’s a negotiating posture that gets revisited the second an actual offer shows up. He said something similar at the trade deadline in 2025 and nothing happened. That doesn’t mean it happens now, but the Saints have already replaced him in the backfield. They usually don’t do that before the conversation.
Why Josh Sweat Might Not Stay in Arizona
Sweat signed a four-year, $76.4 million deal with the Cardinals this offseason after seven years with the Eagles. He followed Jonathan Gannon to Arizona, basically. Gannon got fired 12 months later, 15-36 over three seasons. Sweat didn’t show up to OTAs. And then the Packers and Eagles were both reportedly trying to trade for him before Ian Rapoport came out June 3rd and said no trade is happening.
I want to be real about what a Rapoport denial actually means. Rapoport kills trade rumors for a living and then a bunch of those trades happen anyway. The Garrett deal got denied and walked back and dismissed multiple times before Cleveland actually moved him. A denial is not a resolution, it’s a snapshot of where things are at that exact moment.
Sweat’s whole reason for going to Arizona was Gannon. That’s the guy who recruited him, who he played for in Philadelphia, who he trusted enough to leave a franchise he’d spent his whole career at. Gannon’s gone. Sweat’s skipping workouts. The team he’s on went 15-36 under the coach he followed there. I don’t know how you look at that situation and think it ends with him being a happy Cardinal in September. The Garrett trade just made every quality edge rusher in the league more valuable. If Sweat wants out and Arizona decides it’s not worth the headache, the market’s right there.
Alex Highsmith and the Steelers Have a Math Problem
Pittsburgh signed Nick Herbig to a four-year, $100 million deal this week. Now you’ve got Watt, Highsmith, and Herbig all getting paid serious pass rusher money at the same position, over $71 million combined in base salaries in 2026 alone. Highsmith has two years and $30 million left on his deal. The morning after Herbig’s extension got announced, Highsmith wasn’t at mandatory minicamp. The team said illness.
I’m a Steelers fan and that “illness” excuse landed in my stomach like a brick.
You don’t pay a 24-year-old $25 million a year and then keep everybody else around at full price. That’s not how roster construction works. Pittsburgh locked Herbig up because Herbig is their future and they didn’t want to lose him to free agency next year. That is a completely reasonable thing to do. But Highsmith is right there at the same position, 28 years old going on 29, coming off 9.5 sacks in 13 games, a guy who had 14.5 sacks in 2022 and has never given this organization a reason to doubt him. He hasn’t done anything wrong. He just got caught in a numbers problem his organization created.
The day after the Herbig news, he’s not at practice. And then Ray Fittipaldo, who covers the Steelers for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette every single day, goes on 93.7 The Fan and says he thinks Highsmith gets traded before the season. Fittipaldo isn’t throwing that out there for content. He hears things. The Bears have been connected. Other teams are making calls. Omar Khan knows that Highsmith’s trade value is as high as it’s ever going to be right now, before a contract year, coming off a productive season. If this is happening it’s happening soon.
The NFL Trade Rumors Around Maxx Crosby Keep Coming Back for a Reason
Crosby asked for a trade this offseason. The Raiders agreed to send him to Baltimore. The Ravens backed out after the physical, something came up on his knee. He recommitted to Las Vegas. The Raiders went out and took Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 pick and are full-on rebuilding. Crosby’s entering his age-29 season and has made it pretty clear he wants to be on a team that’s trying to win. The Garrett trade has people calling again.
Here’s the part of Crosby’s situation that I don’t think gets enough attention: he didn’t change his mind. He asked to leave, the Raiders said okay, the trade was literally done, and then Baltimore’s doctors looked at his knee and pulled out. So he’s in Las Vegas right now not because he wants to be there and not because the Raiders wanted to keep him, but because one team’s medical staff got cold feet. That’s the only reason. He’s there by accident.
Las Vegas finished with the worst record in football last year. They’ve got Mendoza now and their whole thing for the next few years is developing him and stockpiling assets. Crosby, who is legitimately one of the best pass rushers in football when healthy, doesn’t fit a rebuild. He knows it, they know it, and the Garrett trade just reminded every contender that acquiring elite defenders is possible if you’re willing to pay. The Bears are watching what the Rams did and making calls. The Raiders’ ask is going to be around two first-rounders based on what Baltimore was offering. If someone meets that price and Crosby’s knee clears a new physical, the only thing that stopped the first trade is gone. I’d watch how patient his recommitment actually is when Las Vegas is 2-7 in October.
Are the Cowboys Going to Run the Parsons Playbook on George Pickens?
Pickens had 93 catches, 1,429 yards, and nine touchdowns in his first season in Dallas, all career highs, and they made him a Pro Bowler. The Cowboys’ response was to slap him with a $27.3 million franchise tag and tell him they’re not negotiating a long-term deal. He signed the tag. Stephen Jones says no trade is coming. Stephen Jones said the same thing about Micah Parsons.
In August 2025 the Cowboys traded Parsons to the Packers because they couldn’t get a contract done. Green Bay handed him $186 million guaranteed on the day of the trade. He went out and had 12.5 sacks in 14 games before he tore his ACL. Stephen Jones said they feel great about how it all went. And I’m sure they do, because what they’ve figured out is that collecting first-round picks and letting someone else pay the star works out fine for them on paper.
So now look at Pickens. He just had one of the best wide receiver seasons in the NFL. 25 years old. He wants a real contract. Dallas’s answer is a one-year tag, no negotiations, figure it out later. He signed it, he’s saying the right things, he likes Dak, he likes the situation. What he isn’t saying is that he’s happy about it, and no player in that spot ever is. The Cowboys have now done this with a pass rusher and they’re doing it with a receiver. If Dallas stumbles out of the gate and a team shows up with a young player plus a first, Jerry Jones knows exactly what to do with that call. He’s taken it before. Pickens is one bad month of Cowboys football away from having the exact same conversation Parsons was having last summer. The blueprint’s already written.
Look, one of these five is going to be in a trade headline before September. Maybe more than one. The Garrett deal broke the seal on what’s possible this summer and every front office in football felt it. Teams that were stuck at the window are making aggressive moves now, and the guys stuck on bad rosters or bad contract situations are going to end up somewhere new. The only real question is which domino tips first.
My money’s on Highsmith. But I’ve been wrong about the Steelers before and it hurts every time.
