A record number of moves were made by NFL teams at the trade deadline earlier this season, and the league may be looking to encourage even more action in 2023 and beyond.
The NFL’s general manager advisory committee held discussions at the owners’ meetings last week about potentially pushing the trade deadline back a week or two, according to a report from Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. There is said to be “momentum building among some clubs” to approve the change as soon as this offseason.
If an official proposal is made to move back the trade deadline, at least 24 of 32 team owners would need to be in favor for the motion to pass. A vote could be held at the league meetings in either March or May.
The trade deadline is currently the Tuesday after Week 8. Prior to 2012, the deadline was Week 6.
A total of 12 players changed teams in 10 different deals at the trade deadline this year, which was an NFL record. The idea behind pushing the deadline back would be to give teams more of an opportunity to see where they stand and whether they want to be buyers or sellers. That could be a concern for the NFL’s competition committee, as bad teams may be more likely to dump star players and tank.
One thing is for certain — this year’s trade deadline was packed with excitement. We saw multiple star players change teams, which is always good for buzz and headlines. That obviously was viewed by many NFL executives as a positive.
