If you’re a fan of an NFL team that’s currently in a bad state and/or facing a dark future, you can trace it all back to one recent blockbuster trade – or two — that backfired completely.
If NFL teams got a mulligan on these recent and disastrous moves, they’d be in much better shape. With that, here are 10 recent trades — since 2020 — that have destroyed a franchise.
Who are the unfortunate NFL players involved in these trades?
Browns Make Deshaun Watson A $230 Million Man
The Browns weren’t satisfied enough with the play of Baker Mayfield, even though he led them to the postseason in the 2020 campaign. In the 2022 offseason, the Browns decided to mortgage everything for Houston Texans QB Deshaun Watson.
Trading for Watson carried many risks that the Browns willingly overlooked. He was sued by more than two dozen women who alleged suffering disturbing misconduct from him. Watson missed the entire 2021 season dealing with the legal issues, and Cleveland knew damn well that trading for him would devastate a large portion of the fanbase.
But owner Jimmy Haslam signed off on the deal anyway. The Browns gave up a mountain of draft picks, including 2022, 2023, and 2024 first-round selections and a 2023 third-rounder. Cleveland then handed Watson a fully guaranteed contract.
Watson was suspended for the first 11 games of 2022. When he returned, Watson was predictably rusty and fared much worse than backup Jacoby Brissett.
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A shoulder injury limited him to six games in 2023. Joe Flacco, a 38-year-old who was nearing retirement, came off the couch, played lights out, and guided Cleveland to the postseason. So yeah, you can’t blame Watson’s coaches or support cast for his failures.
Watson’s awful play in 2024 was the final confirmation that the Browns completed the worst trade in franchise history. And to think that Mayfield went on to enjoy a career resurgence in Tampa Bay…and that Houston has emerged as a Super Bowl contender with young stars CJ Stroud, Will Anderson Jr., Derek Stingley, and Nico Collins.
Only the Cleveland Browns would make such a dumb move like this and set themselves back for years and years…
Panthers Begin Self-Destruction With Bryce Young Trade
I mean, what more can we say?
Looking to secure a franchise QB, the Panthers acquired the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft via the Chicago Bears for the return of a lifetime: Superstar wide receiver DJ Moore, the No. 9 and No. 61 picks in 2023 plus a 2024 first and 2025 second-rounder.
So anyway, Young had a disastrous rookie year that culminated in Carolina finishing with football’s worst record at 2-15-0. So their first overall pick goes to Chicago, who drafts an even greater and more talented QB prospect in Caleb Williams.
So basically, Carolina could have retained DJ Moore, kept their 2023 first-rounder to select another stud AND THEN gotten Caleb Williams. Think about that for a minute.
This may take over the Herschel Walker deal as the most lopsided trade in NFL history. What more can we say?
Broncos Go All-In On Russell Wilson & Fall Out
Russell Wilson became unhappy with his lack of input on personnel decisions and the offensive playbook, so he requested a trade from the Seattle Seahawks.
Desperate for a quarterback, the Denver Broncos gave Seattle two firsts, two seconds, and a fifth-round pick — along with QB Drew Lock, tight end Noah Fant, and defensive tackle Shelby Harris in exchange for Wilson and a fourth-round pick.
Denver then gave Wilson a lucrative five-year extension worth $245 million extension before he played a snap for them.
So what did the Broncos get out of all that? Wilson had an 11-19 record, throwing 42 touchdowns and 19 interceptions. Despite a solid bounce-back year under Sean Payton, the Broncos benched Wilson late in the season and wound up releasing him in 2024. That meant taking on a dead-money hit of $85 million, an NFL record, by the way.
If the Broncos never traded for Wilson, they could have snagged a top young QB prospect. Imagine if they got Devon Witherspoon instead of Seattle to pair with Patrick Surtain II. Woof, did the Wilson trade ever set this team back. He was supposed to save them.
Seahawks Get Hosed In Jamal Adams Blockbuster
The Seahawks’ secondary became a mess in the post-Legion of Boom era. Thanks to the Russell Wilson-led offense, however, the 2019 Seahawk won 11 games and reached the postseason despite ranking 22nd in scoring D.
The ‘Hawks believe that disgruntled New York Jets superstar safety Jamal Adams could single-handedly transform their defense. So in the 2020 offseason, they acquired Adams and a 2022 fourth-round pick in exchange for 2021 and 2022 first-round picks, a 2021 third-rounder and safety Bradley McDougald.
The All-Pro safety lived up to expectations for…one year. He earned a Pro Bowl nod in 2020 after notching 9.5 sacks — a single-season record for a defensive back. Adams helped the Seahawks to 12 wins and their first NFC West division title in four years.
But that was it for peak Jamal Adams in Seattle. Injuries limited him to 22 games over his next three years. Adams’ play regressed mightily, too, as he didn’t finish with a single sack over those three seasons.
The Seahawks released Adams in the 2024 offseason. They didn’t win a single playoff game during his four seasons, while the Jets used those picks from Seattle to get a stud offensive lineman in Alijah Vera-Tucker and star wideout Garrett Wilson.
In other words, two players the ‘Hawks could have used if they committed to a rebuild instead of staying in “win-now mode” for Wilson…who was a goner anyway in 2022.
Also Read: 9 WORST Quarterbacks In The NFL This Year
Saints Strike Out On Move-Up For Trevor Penning
Less than a month before the 2022 NFL Draft, the New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles agreed to a blockbuster trade involving multiple first-round picks.
New Orleans acquired the No. 16, No. 19, and No. 194 picks from Philly in exchange for 2022 and 2023 first-round picks, a 2024 second-rounder, plus the No. 101 and No. 237 selections that year.
With the No. 19 pick, the Saints drafted Northern Iowa offensive tackle Trevor Penning, who has gone down as a massive bust up to this point.
Meanwhile, Philly used New Orleans’ 2022 first-rounder — No. 18 overall — to acquire superstar wide receiver AJ Brown from the Tennessee Titans. Then, with the No. 10 pick via New Orleans in 2023, they traded up to snag future superstar defensive tackle Jalen Carter.
And with the No. 50 pick they got from New Orleans in 2024, Philly traded up to snag an elite cornerback prospect in Cooper DeJean.
The Saints selfishly ignored the need to rebuild and went all-in with the Penning pick. If GM Mickey Loomis held firm, he could have drafted another stud at No. 19, gotten Jalen Carter, and used his 2024 second-rounder to pick up another potential franchise cornerstone.
Ah well. At least they were awfully generous and kind in helping the Eagles build up a new NFC powerhouse.
Cowboys Dump Amari Cooper To Cleveland
Facing a cap crunch, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had to choose between Pro Bowl wideout Amari Cooper or Michael Gallup, who had one good season under his belt.
Jones selected Gallup and traded Cooper to the Browns for a 2022 fifth-round pick and a swap of sixth-round picks. To make this issue worse, the Cowboys made the mistake of handing Gallup a five-year extension worth $62.5 million.
The Cowboys didn’t completely crater without Cooper…but look at their playoff losses to San Francisco and Green Bay in 2022 and 2023, respectively. They lacked a No. 2 option to superstar CeeDee Lamb because Gallup was unproductive and unable to stay healthy.
It’s not a stretch to say the Cowboys could have gone further if they maintained the Prescott-Cooper tandem. Opposing defenses have had a much easier time defending Dallas by focusing entirely on Lamb, whereas a perennial Pro Bowler like Cooper could have helped them take that next step in the postseason.
Panthers Gift Christian McCaffrey To The 49ers
The Panthers were 1-5 at the time when they traded their superstar running back to the San Francisco 49ers ahead of the 2022 trade deadline.
So the trade seemed to make sense. They got second, third, and fourth-round picks from San Francisco in 2023 plus a 2024 fourth-rounder. Hindsight, however, lets us know that this trade wound up destroying Carolina.
Think about this: Carolina finished a respectable 7-10 in the year after Steve Wilks replaced Matt Rhule as head coach. The Panthers finished just one game behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for tops in the NFC South. If they kept Run CMC, Carolina would probably win the division.
And even if Carolina still makes the trade for Bryce Young? Hey, maybe he wouldn’t be such a bust if he had the league’s best running back, ahem, Christian McCaffey, at his disposal. And the Panthers would have avoided the awful Miles Sanders free-agent signing.
Got all that? Good. The Panthers did this to themselves with the disastrous Young and McCaffrey trades.
Giants Trade Down With Bears To Draft Two Busts
This doesn’t get much attention, but hindsight has proven that the New York Giants really screwed up during day one of the 2021 NFL Draft.
Believing Daniel Jones could still grow into a franchise quarterback, the Giants passed on promising quarterback prospects Justin Fields and Mac Jones and dealt the No. 11 pick to the Chicago Bears.
Chicago gave up four picks in return, including the No. 20 selection and their 202 first-rounder. The Bears then used that pick on Fields.
The Giants drafted a massive bust in wide receiver Kadarius Toney at No. 20 overall. A year later, they used the No. 7 pick via the Bears on Alabama offensive tackle Evan Neal, who has also entered bust territory.
We’ll never know for sure, but maybe Fields or Jones would have flourished in the Meadowlands with Saquon Barkley and Brian Daboll. OR, they could have kept their 2021 first-round pick and taken another superstar like Micah Parsons or Rashawn Slater.
Even if Fields or Jones didn’t work out? The Giants would’ve tanked and landed a top QB prospect by now instead of being stuck with the Daniel Jones disaster yet again. And if you’re the Bears, Fields basically led you to Caleb Williams — and that counts for something.
Colts Swing And Miss On Carson Wentz
Following Philip Rivers’ retirement, the Colts needed a new starting quarterback for 2021.
Despite a promising draft class for signal-callers, GM Chris Ballard and head coach Frank Reich believed the solution was Philadelphia Eagles signal-caller Carson Wentz.
The 2016 second-overall pick had lost his starting job to rookie Jalen Hurts late in the 2020 season. Wentz played his best football when Reich was the Eagles’ offensive coordinator, so one could understand why Indy could revive his career.
Indianapolis traded their 2021 third-round pick and a conditional 2022 second-rounder that became a first for Wentz.
Wentz’s final stat line wasn’t bad by any means: 3,563 passing yards, 27 touchdowns, and only seven interceptions. But his Colts kept imploding in close-game situations, and they lost a must-win Week 18 game against a Jacksonville Jaguars team that finished with football’s worst record.
Owner Jim Irsay was so mad with the Week 18 collapse and the absence of the postseason that he forced them to trade Wentz, who was subsequently sent to the Washington Commanders.
To make it worse, the Wentz flop made Indy desperate for a new starting QB. So they traded a third-round pick to the Atlanta Falcons for Matt Ryan, who fared even worse than Wentz before losing his starting job.
To think Indy could have avoided two disasters here if they never acquired Wentz in the first place.
Titans Replace AJ Brown With Treylon Burks
AJ Brown led the Tennessee Titans to three straight playoff appearances from 2019 to 2021. This included a trip to the AFC Championship Game in his rookie year, plus back-to-back AFC South division crowns.
But for some reason, the Titans weren’t willing to pay their superstar wide receiver. So, at the 2022 NFL Draft, they traded Brown to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for the No. 18 and 101 picks.
Believing they could replace Brown, the Titans used the No. 18 pick on Arkansas wideout Treylon Burks. While Brown has become a top-five receiver in Philly, the Titans have unraveled and fallen to complete irrelevance.
Burks was limited to 22 games over his first two seasons, compiling only 49 receptions for 665 yards and one touchdown. To go from a consistent playoff team to a bottom-feeder. What a mess of a move by the Titans.
