Proposing NFL trade deadline offers: moves for Saquon Barkley, Khalil Mack, more

Why this is trending

People are typing a mouthful into Google right now, proposing NFL trade deadline offers, moves for Saquon Barkley, Khalil Mack and more, because that is the headline on a Bill Barnwell column ESPN published today, Oct. 22, pitching eleven trade ideas ahead of the Nov. 10 deadline. The piece includes proposed scenarios built around Barkley and Mack among other players.

Worth saying plainly since the search term reads like news, these are proposals from a columnist, not completed trades. The deals that have actually happened this season are separate: Marvin Harrison Jr. went to the Texans, J.J. McCarthy went to the Giants, Joey Porter Jr. went to the Cowboys and Cam Jurgens went to Baltimore.

The Colts shake things up

Part of why the trade market is suddenly busy traces back to Indianapolis. The Colts blew a 13-0 halftime lead and lost 26-20 to the Titans at home Sunday, and the fallout cost general manager Chris Ballard his job.

Ballard's run included some rough breaks, Andrew Luck and Shaquille Leonard both retired early because of serious injuries, and two of his bigger swings late in his tenure, quarterback Anthony Richardson Sr. and cornerback Sauce Gardner, have not lived up to expectations so far. Head coach Shane Steichen and the rest of the front office are staying put, but with Ballard gone there is less pressure to win right now. Indianapolis has several pending free agents other teams could be interested in before the deadline.

Eagles lose Hurts for the season

The other shock came out of Philadelphia. Quarterback Jalen Hurts is expected to miss the rest of the season with deep vein thrombosis. The Eagles were already missing as many as nine potential starters in Sunday's loss to the Panthers, and losing Hurts on top of that turns a rough stretch into what is starting to look like a lost season.

What happens next

The deadline sits less than three weeks out, Nov. 10 at 4 p.m. ET. Entering this week, 27 of the league's 32 teams still had at least a 9% chance at the postseason after six weeks, per ESPN's Football Power Index, which looked like it might leave a thin market of actual sellers. The Ballard firing in Indianapolis and the Hurts news in Philadelphia changed that calculation fast, and more trades are expected to follow as teams sort out who is actually buying and who is actually selling before the deadline hits.

Facts per ESPN. Opinion is the taproom's.