5 NFL teams that got better at the 2024 trade deadline (and 3 that got worse)

The 2024 NFL trade deadline has come and gone. Over the past three weeks, we've seen a solid cache of big names dealt.

Early in the process, that meant veteran stud wideouts like Davante Adams and DeAndre Hopkins. Closer to the deadline, Marshon Lattimore left the New Orleans Saints roster he'd called home his entire NFL career and less impactful, but still notable, veterans like Tre'Davious White, Preston Smith and Mike Williams all relocated in quieter deals.

These moves changed the landscape where 23 teams remain in a playoff hunt that will only accept 14 of them. So which teams significantly improved their odds of making it to the games that count, and who went in the opposite direction?

Better: Washington Commanders

Washington's secondary has been a constant concern. Benjamin St. Juste appears to top out at "average." Premium draft picks have been spent the last two seasons on Mike Sainristil and Emmanuel Forbes. The former has a 126.5 passer rating allowed in coverage as a rookie and the latter has been a healthy scratch more often than he's been a starter in 2024.

Thus, the need for Lattimore and the willingness to trade third and fourth-round picks to get him. The veteran has struggled with injuries in recent years, but has yet to allow a touchdown in seven games this season (69.1 rating allowed). He'll be the adult in the room the Commanders badly needed among their cornerbacks.

Worse, in a way that (finally) makes sense: New Orleans Saints

For years, New Orleans has held onto the futile hope it could recreate the prime Drew Brees years without a prime Drew Brees. This saddled the team with subpar quarterbacking, records that hovered around .500 and, importantly, a perpetually maxed out salary cap that kept aging veteran talent in town while deferring payment to future years.

By firing head coach Dennis Allen and dealing Lattimore, the Saints appear to have conceded the fact it's no longer 2018. Trading Lattimore leaves a $31 million dead cap hit on the team's 2025 salary cap, but also creates the option to find young, inexpensive talent thanks to the third and fourth round picks he brought back.

Better: Detroit Lions

There was no more obvious fit on deadline day than the Lions and Za'Darius Smith. Injuries to Aidan Hutchinson and Marcus Davenport left Detroit punchless in the pass rush; over the last two weeks that group had one total sack.

The Lions didn't have a single active player who wasn't an interior lineman record more than four quarterback pressures through Week 9. Smith can change that. The veteran isn't quite as impactful as his five sacks suggest and his production may dip a bit now that he's not playing alongside Myles Garrett. Even so, he's still an above-average pass rusher who can bring the pressure Detroit has missed and make life easier for the team's secondary.

Better: Baltimore Ravens

Lamar Jackson was in line to repeat as NFL MVP even before adding Diontae Johnson. In fact, Johnson played just 17 target-less snaps in his Baltimore debut and Jackson STILL roasted the Denver Broncos' top-three defense for 280 yards and three touchdowns on just 19 pass attempts.

Still, the Ravens will need receiving depth. In their 2023 playoff exit, only one player had more than 39 receiving yards against the Kansas City Chiefs. In their 2022 playoff exit no wide receiver had more than two receptions. This team's offensive struggles have been anathema to their Super Bowl hopes each postseason.

Now Jackson gets to pick between Johnson, Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman, Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely when he's throwing downfield. He can hand the ball off to a tailback on pace for more than 2,000 rushing yards. This may be the most dangerous the Baltimore offense has ever been.

Oh, and they added Tre'Davious White for almost no cost (a seventh-round pick swap). White's been awful in 2024 and probably won't add much to the lineup, but if he can even provide average coverage for an uneven defense this will be an easy win.

Worse, in a very funny way: Dallas Cowboys

It's a rare occurrence when a trade deadline buyer finds a way to make its roster worse. Yet here the Cowboys are, dealing away a fourth round draft pick for a wide receiver who has yet to crack the top 100 at his position in either of his two seasons as a pro.

Jerry Jones saw something in Jonathan Mingo other teams did not and gave up more capital than it took to acquire veterans like Za'Darius Smith or DeAndre Hopkins this offseason. That's partially because Mingo has two more seasons on his rookie contract for a cheap cost, but that's only a benefit if he can outplay that salary.

Nothing about his Panthers tenure suggests that's the case. He's caught less than 50 percent of the targets thrown his way. His 0.67 yards per route run (YPRR) rank 104th among NFL wide receivers. He doesn't create separation and was similarly ineffective whether Bryce Young or Andy Dalton were his quarterback.

Now he gets to play the first four games of his Cowboys career with Cooper Rush behind center. Maybe Jones is a visionary and this will all work out. It really, truly, does not seem like it will.

Better in a terrifying way: Kansas City Chiefs

Hey, let's check in on how that DeAndre Hopkins addition is working out for Patrick Mahomes!

Yep, yep. Cool. Mahomes has another trusted target to turn to on third downs, leaving opponents the choice between doubling Hopkins or Travis Kelce. The veteran wide receiver had 173 receiving yards in six games as a Tennessee Titan and got nearly halfway there on Monday night, hauling in eight catches for 86 yards and a pair of touchdowns in Kansas City's overtime win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

For reference, it cost the Chiefs less to add Hopkins than it did for the Cowboys to trade for Jonathan by-god Mingo.

They also added situational pass rusher Josh Uche to the mix. He played only 13 snaps in his team debut but still had a pair of solo tackles vs. Tampa Bay. He won't have the same kind of impact Hopkins will, but he remains a capable pocket-crumpler on passing downs who, if history is any indication, will eventually come up with a huge play for Kansas City in a spotlight moment.

Better, but more data are needed: Buffalo Bills

Buffalo didn't need Amari Cooper to win the AFC East -- that puzzle has pretty much sorted itself out. But for Josh Allen to slay his postseason demons he'd need a trustworthy target capable of creating space downfield and coming up with contested catches.

Cooper hasn't quite been that guy yet, but there are extenuating circumstances. He was out of sync with a new offense in his Bills debut but still managed to find the end zone. He had a single catch in his second week with the club and missed the third due to a wrist injury. That leaves him with a small sample size with his new team in a season where he's posting career lows of 1.3 yards per route run (YPRR), a 48.3 catch rate and -0.19 expected points added (EPA) per target.

There's plenty of time to get this back on track. Cooper was a positive force despite being surrounded by negative ions in the Cleveland Browns' passing attack the previous two seasons. The hope is he can be the reliable presence Stefon Diggs once was for the MVP-caliber quarterback. But so far his lasting impact remains to be seen, leaving the Bills leaning toward "better" but not fully there yet until we see more.

Worse in a way that needed to happen: Carolina Panthers

Diontae Johnson and Jonathan Mingo are out. In their place came fourth and fifth round picks (while shipping out sixth and seventh rounders). There's still a long way to go to rebuild this team, but the fact is:

• Johnson was a pending free agent who rightfully would have run screaming from Charlotte this offseason, and

• Mingo was demonstrably bad as a Carolina Panther.

Thus, Carolina picked up some draft capital necessary to take a shotgun blast approach next spring as it searches for the young talent to end an interminable rebuild. The Panthers resisted the urge to sell on Bryce Young, realizing the second-year quarterback is more valuable on the roster than the Day 3 pick he'd likely fetch in a trade. Young was decent in last week's win over the Saints. While that's a very small sliver of optimistic light in a kingdom of darkness, there's still logic in keeping him with head coach and quarterback rehabilitation expert Dave Canales for another few months.

The Panthers got worse, which is like watching your home get destroyed by Godzilla, then sucked into a sink hole. But they brought back some tools to help them get better, and that's a rare positive in an otherwise hopeless season.

Pretty much the same, and that kinda stinks: New England Patriots

The Patriots were natural sellers before the 2024 trade deadline. Then reports suggested they could be buyers if the right receiving or blocking help emerged. In the end, they moved Josh Uche early in the deadline process and... that's it.

New England didn't deal away an annoyed K.J. Osborn. It didn't reunite Kendrick Bourne with the San Francisco 49ers. Davon Godchaux, a space-eating defensive tackle who could have helped a contender through the playoffs, will instead play out a string of increasingly meaningless games in Foxborough.

On one hand, the Pats are building around rookie quarterback Drake Maye, who deserves something approaching a pro-caliber roster. On the other, losing games will only help a team that would benefit greatly from auctioning off the top pick of the 2025 NFL Draft. New England needs a widespread infusion of talent. Piling up draft assets would have been a great way to do that.

Instead, New England mostly stood pat. That's fine. It's boring, but fine. As long as they don't break Drake Maye, this will all work out.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: 5 NFL teams that got better at the 2024 trade deadline (and 3 that got worse)