A handful of minor moves on a busy deadline day:
Buffalo Bills
Chicago Bears
Denver Broncos
Green Bay Packers
Kansas City Chiefs
Minnesota Vikings
San Francisco 49ers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Free Agency
Barely a half-hour after agreeing to send Bradley Chubb to the Dolphins, the Broncos are acquiring another edge player. They will land Jacob Martin from the Jets, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
This is a pick-swap agreement, with Rapoport adding the Broncos will send a 2024 fourth-rounder to the Jets in exchange for Martin and a 2024 fifth. This is Martin’s second time being traded; he was part of the Seahawks and Texans’ 2019 Jadeveon Clowney deal.
Martin, 26, is a Denver-area native under contract through 2024. The Jets signed the former Seahawks and Texans edge defender to a three-year, $13.5MM deal this offseason. In eight Jets games as a backup, Martin registered 1.5 sacks and four quarterback hits. Martin’s departure figures to free up more playing time for first-round pick Jermaine Johnson.
A former Seahawks sixth-round pick in 2018, Martin has been a decent backup rusher. He has 15 career sacks and seven forced fumbles. In his lone starter season (2021 in Houston), the Temple alum registered a career-high four sacks and forced four fumbles. Martin will be asked to contribute to a pass rush that has seen injuries and today’s Chubb trade deplete it.
Denver has Randy Gregory on IR with a knee injury and Baron Browning on the mend due to a hip ailment. With Chubb gone, the AFC West team that possessed a training camp edge surplus needed bodies. Nik Bonitto and 2021 seventh-round pick Jonathon Cooper stand as Denver’s top available rushers. Martin, who is owed less than $700K the rest of the way this year, stands to contribute going forward. Martin is tied to $4.25MM and $3.5MM base salaries in 2023 and ’24, respectively.
The Jets feature a deep pass-rushing contingent, with Carl Lawson and John Franklin-Myers operating as the team’s starting D-ends. Chosen 26th overall after the Jets traded back into Round 1, Johnson has yet to play more than 34% of the team’s defensive snaps in a game. Johnson (1.5 sacks) and Vinny Curry reside as Gang Green’s backup edges.
Barely 90 minutes before the trade deadline, the Broncos have decided to accept a Bradley Chubb trade offer. They are sending the fifth-year pass rusher to the Dolphins, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter).
Denver will receive the 2023 first-round pick Miami obtained from San Francisco, along with a 2024 fourth-rounder and running back Chase Edmonds. The Dolphins will receive Chubb and a 2025 fifth, Schefter tweets. The Broncos needed to make a decision: accept an offer including a first-round pick or attempt to extend Chubb in 2023. Second-year GM George Paton took the first-rounder-fronted package. The teams have announced the deal.
This marks the second time in two years the Broncos have traded a cornerstone edge rusher at the deadline. Chubb, 26, will join 2021 trade chip Von Miller in the AFC East. Miami has made some moves to fortify its pass rush this year, re-signing Emmanuel Ogbah and adding Melvin Ingram and Trey Flowers in free agency. Despite these moves, the Dolphins have tallied only 15 sacks this season. No player has more than three. Chubb will head to Miami after registering 5.5 sacks in his final Broncos season.
Denver’s latest seller trade wraps a swiftly developing saga. At this point last week, Chubb was expected to bring in a Miller-like haul (second- and third-round picks). But the Broncos discussed Chubb with more than 10 teams; a first-rounder was reported to be on the table since Sunday morning. The Jets and Dolphins were linked as being willing to send the Broncos a first-rounder, but while New York was believed to have backed off, Miami will pay up for the contract-year pass rusher. It is unclear if another team offered a first, but it is unsurprising the Broncos parted with Chubb for such compensation.
The Dolphins are now expected to work out a long-term deal with Chubb, Schefter tweets. Such a contract will cost north of $20MM per year. But the Dolphins are in a better position to pay Chubb his market value compared to the Broncos, who now have an expensive quarterback on their payroll.
Ogbah is signed to a $16.35MM-per-year deal, while first-rounder Jaelan Phillips (team-high three sacks) is attached to a rookie contract through 2024. The Dolphins ponied up record-setting receiver dough for Tyreek Hill, and they are set to pay Chubb as well. These accords will complement Tua Tagovailoa‘s rookie contract. With Tua not an open-and-shut 2023 extension candidate like Joe Burrow or Justin Herbert yet, the Dolphins can slow-play it with the 2020 No. 5 overall pick. Tagovailoa can be kept on his rookie deal through 2024, via the fifth-year option.
Sitting in a tie for second place in the AFC East with the Jets, the Dolphins (5-3) will be armed with a former Pro Bowl pass rusher. The Broncos chose Chubb fifth overall in 2018, and while the Nos. 6 and 7 picks from that draft became top-tier players (Quenton Nelson, Josh Allen), the North Carolina State-produced pass rusher still developed into an upper-echelon edge defender in Denver. Chubb registered 12 sacks as a rookie and bounced back from a 2019 ACL tear with a 2020 Pro Bowl berth. Chubb underwent two ankle surgeries in 2021, leading to a zero-sack season, but has rebounded again to help the Broncos form a top-five defense despite Vic Fangio‘s exit.
The pre-deadline deal closes the Broncos’ book on a decent what-if chapter in their modern history. The team’s John Elway-led regime drafted Chubb to pair with Miller, but after 2018, the two rarely ended up playing together. Chubb went down early in 2019; Miller missed all of the 2020 season. Chubb was lost early in the 2021 campaign; by the time he returned, the Broncos had traded Miller to the Rams. Denver has retooled on the edge in 2022, and each of its current cogs are Paton-era investments.
Denver signed Randy Gregory to a five-year, $70MM deal, moved Baron Browning from inside linebacker to the edge and drafted Nik Bonitto in Round 2 this year. All three have shown flashes, but both Gregory and Browning are out with injuries presently. While Tuesday’s trade depletes Denver’s 2022 edge corps, the team is 3-5 and pounced on a rare opportunity to land a first-round pick for a somewhat injury-prone player.
After losing its first- and second-round 2023 picks in the Russell Wilson trade, Denver has replenished its draft cupboard to some degree. The Dolphins have also been active with first-round selections under GM Chris Grier. They collected this 2023 draft choice from the 49ers in 2021’s Trey Lance deal, moved up to draft Jaylen Waddle that year and sent the Chiefs a 2022 first-rounder for Hill. While the Chubb move gives the Broncos a first-round pick next year, the Dolphins are now without one. The NFL stripped Miami of its original 2023 first-round pick, in the Tom Brady–Sean Payton tampering scandal, and the last of the selections obtained for Lance is now sacrificed for Chubb. The Dolphins are betting big Hill and Chubb can lead them to their first playoff win in 22 years.
Edmonds signed a two-year, $12.1MM deal this offseason but has seen ex-Mike McDaniel 49ers charge Raheem Mostert overtake him in Miami’s backfield. This season, Edmonds has 216 scrimmage yards and three touchdowns. He has not surpassed 10 carries in a game since Week 1. Edmonds, 26, showed more while playing alongside Kenyan Drake and James Conner, respectively, in Arizona. A fourth-round pick out of Fordham, Edmonds topped 800 scrimmage yards in 2020 and ’21. He averaged 5.1 yards per carry last season, but the Cardinals turned to Conner as their primary back and re-signed him this offseason.
The fifth-year back is tied to a $2MM 2022 base salary and a nonguaranteed $5.7MM 2023 salary. The Broncos could look to pair Edmonds with Javonte Williams next year, with current backfield cogs Melvin Gordon and Latavius Murray unlikely to be with the team in 2023. For now, Edmonds will join the veterans who have been sharing the backfield since Williams’ ACL tear.
Brandin Cooks is available, and Dan Graziano of ESPN.com notes (via Twitter) the Texans are in discussions involving the ninth-year receiver. But Cooks’ $18MM guaranteed 2023 salary — which came to pass after Houston re-signed him on a two-year, $39MM pact in April — has proven to be an impediment here. Teams are not moving on Cooks unless the Texans pick up a chunk of that salary. Cooks, 29, was linked to giving up some guaranteed money to facilitate a trade back to the Rams. But it is unlikely he will give up too much cash to be moved. The Giants and Vikings have also been connected to the thrice-traded Cooks. For what it’s worth, Cooks was not at Texans practice Tuesday. Personal reasons — not an imminent trade — are believed to be behind Cooks’ absence, NFL.com’s Garafolo tweets.
With the deadline in less than three hours, here is the latest from the trade front:
Again nearing a midseason point as of the NFL’s best teams, the Chiefs have already made a pre-deadline move by acquiring Kadarius Toney. But pass rusher appears to be the AFC West frontrunners’ premier goal.
Kansas City has inquired on Jacksonville defensive end Josh Allen, according to SI.com’s Albert Breer. Teams are believed to be monitoring the fourth-year defensive end ahead of the deadline, though nothing has indicated the Jaguars are holding a bidding war despite their 2-6 record.
Bradley Chubb is also on the Chiefs’ radar, according to Outkick.com’s Armando Salguero. Given Chubb’s Broncos employment, that would be an unrealistic pursuit. The Chiefs, who have Frank Clark on a year-to-year arrangement at this point, could pursue Chubb if he hits free agency in 2023. But the Broncos (or another team that acquires Chubb on Tuesday) would have the franchise tag available.
As for Allen, he is now playing in a third defensive scheme in three years. The Dave Caldwell-era draftee has three sacks and 12 QB hits through eight games this season. A former No. 7 overall pick and rookie-year Pro Bowler, Allen is under contract for two more seasons. The Jags picked up his fifth-year option in May.
No substantive extension talks are believed to have taken place between Allen and the Jaguars just yet, but while the Broncos have discussed Chubb with several teams, the Jags might not be there with Allen. The 25-year-old defender could profile as a long-term Jags piece, with a big-ticket extension pairing with Travon Walker‘s rookie contract.
With the Jags two regimes removed from the one that drafted Allen, he is worth monitoring as a stealth trade candidate ahead of today’s 3pm CT deadline. Chubb is the likelier player to move, and the Panthers have all but shut down trade inquiries for Brian Burns.
The Chiefs will return from their Week 8 bye with Clark suspended. Gun charges led to a two-game Clark ban, and the former tag-and-trade acquisition has been inconsistent in Kansas City. The Chiefs have already allocated 2022 resources to augmenting their pass rush, however, drafting George Karlaftis in Round 1 and signing Carlos Dunlap. In seven starts, Karlaftis has registered just a half-sack and one QB hit. Dunlap has two QB drops but is in his age-33 season.
The Broncos have both been linked to wanting a first-rounder and change for Bradley Chubb and receiving an offer headlined by a Round 1 choice. Less than five hours ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline, the fifth-year veteran remains a Bronco. It is worth wondering if the team is genuinely interested in moving on.
Denver GM George Paton is believed to be seeking two first-round picks for Chubb, according to Armando Salguero of Outkick.com. Several teams are interested, but it would surprise if one of them met that asking price. Only a handful of defenders — a list that includes All-Pros Khalil Mack, Jalen Ramsey and Jamal Adams over the past four years — have been traded for packages including multiple first-rounders. The Panthers are believed to have received an offer of two firsts for Brian Burns. That could be impacting the Broncos’ Chubb talks.
More than 10 teams have discussed Chubb with the Broncos, Salguero adds. This list includes the Jets, who were linked along with the Dolphins as being a team considering parting with a first-rounder for the former Pro Bowler. But Salguero notes Gang Green is not believed to be a serious suitor at this point. New York features solid defensive line depth, rostering Carl Lawson, John Franklin-Myers and Vinny Curry outside.
Paton has told teams he can keep Chubb and extend him at a later point, per Salguero. This could double as a negotiating tactic. Chubb, 26, has expressed interest in re-signing with the Broncos, and the team has explored what it would cost to retain the contract-year edge defender. The ex-North Carolina State standout is playing of a fifth-year option worth $12.7MM. His second contract will come in north of $20MM per year.
Denver can indeed circle back to Chubb in 2023, but the team has some edge depth with Randy Gregory, Baron Browning and second-round rookie Nik Bonitto. It would be interesting to see the team pass on a first-round pick for a somewhat injury-prone player. Chubb missed a chunk of last season due to multiple ankle surgeries and was sidelined for most of 2019 (ACL tear).
The Broncos are facing a decision of passing on a big offer at the deadline, but they can still obtain value for Chubb — if a trade is the endgame — in a tag-and-trade scenario. The Seahawks played it this way with Frank Clark, receiving a package headlined by a first-rounder in March 2019. Of course, the Seahawks (feat. Russell Wilson) were contending at the 2018 deadline and had no reason to deal Clark at that point. Denver’s first Wilson-centered team has struggled, and its 3-5 record led to multiple big names — the other being Jerry Jeudy — coming up in trade talks.
A tag-and-trade scenario also would require the Broncos to carry Chubb’s tag price into free agency. This could be acceptable for the AFC West team, with Wilson’s $49MM-per-year contract not moving into its monster cap figures until 2024. Wilson is on Denver’s 2023 books at $22MM.
Multiple reports have connected the Broncos to a trade involving a first-round pick for Bradley Chubb, in the event they end up dealing the fifth-year edge rusher. The Broncos may now be insistent on a first-rounder coming back.
Denver is setting a first-rounder as the Chubb starting point, according to Outkick.com’s Armando Salguero, who adds the team is telling teams it must offer a first and then some to pry Chubb away. The former Von Miller sidekick is in a contract year, like Miller was in 2022. While expectations were higher for the 2022 Broncos compared to 2021, they are 3-5 ahead of Tuesday’s deadline and again in position to make a seller’s trade.
The first-round price comes in north of what a report last week indicated Chubb would likely cost. A second- and third-round package, which Miller fetched last year, was viewed as the likeliest Chubb price. But the Dolphins and Jets have since been linked to the former No. 5 overall pick. The AFC East teams, who are each gunning for playoff spots for the first time in years, have been linked to being interested to the point a first-rounder would be exchanged. A Sunday-morning report also indicated the Broncos have received an offer including a first-rounder for Chubb, putting the team to a big-picture decision.
[RELATED: Giants Interested In Jerry Jeudy]
The Broncos have gauged the cost of a Chubb extension, according to Albert Breer of SI.com, but no talks of a new deal are believed to have taken place. Chubb, 26, has expressed a desire to stay in Denver beyond 2022, but he said from London he has not made bye-week plans due to the Broncos’ trade talks. Although injuries have depleted the 2022 Broncos’ outside linebacker depth, they have Randy Gregory, Baron Browning and second-round rookie Nik Bonitto signed long term.
No edge defender has garnered a first-rounder via trade since the Chiefs acquired Frank Clark from the Seahawks in April 2019. That move came with Clark on a franchise tag and before he had made a Pro Bowl. Chubb earned such a nod in 2020 and has a 12-sack season (as a rookie in 2018) on his resume. This would be a steep price to pay for a rental, but an acquiring team would have exclusive Chubb negotiating rights until March 2023. A 2023 tag — surely a Broncos consideration as well — would be in an acquiring team’s back pocket.
Chubb’s age compared to Miller’s likely has led to a first-rounder being in the equation. The Broncos also can use the John Elway-era draftee to recoup draft capital they lost in the Russell Wilson trade. The Wilson trade leaves Denver without 2023 first- or second-round picks, and the quarterback’s $49MM-per-year extension will make high-end investments elsewhere on the roster more difficult. Gregory is signed to a $14MM-per-year deal, while Browning and Bonitto are on rookie pacts. Chubb would be expected to sign for well north of $20MM per annum.
Still, the Broncos have not committed to dealing Chubb, per Salguero, who notes such a move would be a clear sign the team is punting on 2022. The prospect of other teams’ offers falling short of the Broncos’ asking price also looms. It would then be interesting to see if the Broncos would accept a lesser haul to bolster its 2023 draft arsenal or just ride it out with Chubb and reassess the situation ahead of the 2023 league year.
The team is not expected to part with Jerry Jeudy or K.J. Hamler, who are each under contract in 2023. But a Jeudy trade is not completely off the table, per CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones, who adds tight end Albert Okwuegbunam is carrying next to no trade value. The Broncos have buried Okwuegbunam on their depth chart in recent weeks and would likely accept just about any draft capital to move him.
With less than 48 hours remaining until the trade deadline, the interest shown in some of the top available players continues to heat up. A pair of serious suitors has been identified in the case of one big-name pass rusher.
A league GM informs NBC Sports’ Peter King that the Jets and Dolphins are “interested” in acquiring Broncos linebacker Bradley Chubb. He adds that both teams could be willing to part ways with a first-round pick to land the 26-year-old, whose contract is set to expire at the end of the season.
While that fact has made Chubb a prime trade candidate amidst the Broncos’ unexpected struggles, it also makes a Day 1 selection a steep price to pay for a midseason rental. For that reason, King adds, a deal involving a first-rounder would only be consummated if an extension were to be in place. It was reported last week that second- and third-round picks were likely to end up being the price for the former No. 5 pick – just as they were last season for Von Miller.
[RELATED: Chiefs, Rams Expected To Pursue Edge Rushers]
From a financial standpoint, both Miami and New York would need to undertake in some financial maneuvering to land Chubb. The Dolphins and Jets rank mid-pack in terms of current cap space, and neither has the room to fully absorb the $7.1MM remaining in Chubb’s 2022 compensation. Small extensions and/or restructures could open the door to a deal being possible, though.
Chubb has enjoyed a resurgent 2022 season, one in which Denver’s defense has played as one of the league’s elite units. He has 5.5 sacks, a welcomed sight after he was held without one last season. Ankle surgery limited him to seven games played in 2021, adding further to his injury troubles (resulting in 24 missed games across his first four NFL seasons).
Yesterday’s win over the Jaguars may have eased concerns about the Broncos’ offense and head coach Nathaniel Hackett‘s job status slightly, but at 3-5 the team could still very well find themselves in selling mode over the next two days. Denver is reportedly willing to move a number of players, a list which could include not only Chubb but also wide receivers Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler, running back Melvin Gordon and tight end Albert Okwuegbunam. Regardless of the market for those players, however, an enticing offer for Chubb could be coming soon.
The Chiefs and Rams are involved in the Brandin Cooks market, and both clubs are also seeking upgrades to their pass rushing contingent. Per Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, Kansas City and Los Angeles would like to add a pass rusher prior to Tuesday’s trade deadline.
The most notable pass rusher that has the best chance of being moved within the next several days appears to be Denver’s Bradley Chubb. Indeed, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com classifies the 2-5 Broncos as the most likely team to make a trade, and he further reports that one club has offered Denver a package headlined by a first-round pick in exchange for Chubb. Even though two of Chubb’s first four professional seasons were marred by injury, his fifth season has proven that, when healthy, he is one of the game’s better edge defenders. Through seven games in 2022, he has posted 5.5 sacks and two forced fumbles.
As Jones points out, Denver would almost certainly not trade Chubb to the division-rival Chiefs, though the Rams would be a viable trade partner. LA, however, lacks a 2023 first-round pick due to last year’s Matthew Stafford trade, so it remains to be seen if it would be able to present Broncos GM George Paton with a winning offer. Jones says the Rams, as is their custom, are willing to trade future first-rounders.
Since Chubb is in the final year of his rookie contract, any acquiring club would want to work out a contract extension with him, according to Schefter. Of course, if Paton holds onto Chubb, he would want to come to terms on a multi-year pact as well (as Parker Gabriel of the Denver Post writes, Chubb is amenable to a contract that keeps him in the Mile High City for the long haul). Regardless of where he ends up, Chubb’s next deal is expected to pay him more than $20MM on an annual basis.
Other pass rushers that could be available for the Chiefs and Rams include players like the Panthers’ Brian Burns and the Jaguars’ Josh Allen. Jones echoes recent reports that Carolina seems unwilling to move Burns, and the NFL.com trio of Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero, and Mike Garafolo report that Jacksonville wants to retain Allen, whom it views as a foundational piece.
While Chubb could be dealt, Schefter says the Broncos do not plan to trade wideouts Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler. Tight end Albert Okwuegbunam, meanwhile, is still likely to be traded, per Troy Renck of Denver 7 (via Twitter). The asking price on Okwuegbunam is “minimal.”
Here are the minor moves leading into Sunday’s slate of games:
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Carolina Panthers
Cleveland Browns
Dallas Cowboys
Denver Broncos
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Houston Texans
Las Vegas Raiders
Los Angeles Rams
Miami Dolphins
Minnesota Vikings
New England Patriots
New Orleans Saints
New York Jets
Philadelphia Eagles
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks
Washington Commanders