The NFL Trade Deadline is November 4th at 4pm, about 7 weeks away. It’s not nearly as active as in other sports, but the Eagles especially are always looking to make moves. Each week we are going to look at the worst teams in the league to see if there is anything worth pilfering.
Yesterday I wrote about the Eagles lack of succession plan at tight end, and I didn’t like it. Let’s dive into the dregs of the league to see if we can find a little more than a band-aid for the problem.
Cole Kmet – Bears: Despite Kmet only being 26 and receiving an extension two years ago, the Bears drafted Colston Loveland with the 10th overall pick. The Notre Dame TE is large and athletic, while being a solid blocker. His contract has a $9.9m base salary but very little dead cap. The Eagles could fit that number in for trade purposes, but would probably restructure it immediately to lower that cap hit. Assuming the Bears don’t want too much for a superfluous player on a bad team, he seems like a good fit as a bridge to the Eagles’ next tight end draft pick.
Chig Okonkwo – Titans: Chig is in his final contract year with the Titans who just drafted Gunnar Helm. He is a dependable enough receiver but not a good blocker. Fortunately for Eagles purposes though, he is athletic enough to see game action as a fullback. He would cost a prorated $3.4m in cap, wouldn’t be a burden to trade, and won’t cost more than a late round pick.
Noah Fant – Bengals: The Bengals have 2 midline starting caliber TEs in Fant and Mike Gesicki. Despite Gesicki being from extremely close to where I grew up in South Jersey, I went with Fant because he is younger. Fant was a high draft pick because of his incredible testing numbers but has not stood out at all as a pro. He is a one-year rental who the Eagles could basically audition this year at a cheap price as the Bengals inevitably go down the crapper without Joe Burrow. (Side note, why didn’t the Eagles try to sign him in the offseason? I really don’t understand what we are doing at TE)
David Njoku – Browns: Njoku has underwhelmed as a pro despite signing a big extension a few years ago in Cleveland. That deal is up this year so his price would be low for a team going nowhere. While not being much as a blocker, Njoku can put up numbers in the passing game that our backups simply can’t duplicate.
Michael Mayer – Raiders: If the Raiders didn’t trade Mayer at the draft, they probably are not going to trade him at the deadline, but goddamnit they should. He is a starting level TE who is stuck behind maybe the best TE in football, Brock Bowers. There is no chance he is going to resign in LV unless the Raiders are one of the dumbest organizations in the league…so you’re saying there’s a chance! He would be the ideal candidate to bring in both for the team and the player. We get a TE for 1.5 years and Mayer gets to have a full year as “the guy” before hitting free agency.
Juwan Johnson – Saints: Johnson has spent his whole career in NO and just signed an extension, so he probably isn’t going anywhere. The Saints are a total mess though and a 29-year-old TE making $10m per year doesn’t make much sense (they knew this going in, but still). He would provide a solid vet TE presence as a gap filler until next year’s likely TE draft pick can get up to speed. He isn’t an upgrade over Goedert, but he is more dependable. A trade would not cause much of a burden for the Saints cap-wise and would cost the Eagles almost nothing this season. Next year his number would go up, but nothing crazy. Maybe the Saints take a 5th round pick to part with him? I just talked myself into this trade from both sides.
Jeremy Ruckert – Jets: Ruckert looks like a bust in the league, but the huge body from Ohio State might also just be a victim of being on the Jets. He is in the final year of his rookie contract and is not coming back after NY drafted Mason Taylor. He might be worth it as a possible late breakout candidate and can’t be worse than Grant Calcaterra. I can’t imagine he costs more than a 7th round pick.
AJ Barner – Seahawks: Barner is only in his 2nd season, but the Seahawk curiously picked Elijah Arroyo in the 2nd round this year which may make Barner expendable. Primarily known as a blocking tight end, Barner wasn’t a slouch catching the ball as a rookie. He may have upside in that regard which he will likely not reach in Seattle. I doubt a trade would happen, but if Arroyo pops early Barner might be expendable at the right price.
All contract information courtesy of Spotrac.com; all stats courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com
Philly Front Office 
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