The NFL trade deadline came and went on Tuesday and the Detroit Lions weren't super active outside of trading for Donovan Peoples-Jones. A move I actually thought was a pretty solid one for their offense. But it didn't move the needle. A lot of Lions fans walked out of the deadline upset their team didn't load up for a possible Super Bowl run. 

What makes it worse is that some of the leagues best teams did. The 49ers traded for Chase Young, the Seahawks traded for Leonard Williams and the Eagles traded for Kevin Byard. All moves that look like the tipping point for teams that are ready to compete. 

This seems to be a pretty popular thing to do at the trade deadline for teams that want to win it all. Load up with Pro Bowl caliber talent and mortgage the future. Does it actually work though? Let's go back in time and take a look. 

First off, there's going to be some rules here. The team has to be good. They have to be a team that at least has a realistic shot to make the playoffs and do more when they get there at the time for the trade. It also has to be a move that moves the needle as well. They have to be trading for a player that is very good right then and there. Did they trade for a Pro Bowler or close to it and did they give something meaningful away? It can't be trading a 6th round pick for the guy that was a Pro Bowl six years ago. 

This is a relatively new thing. Less than 10 years ago the NFL trade deadline was a joke. I went back 10 years and couldn't find anything beyond the 2013 Colts trading a first-round pick to the Browns for Trent Richardson. That's a deal that actually happened in the NFL. But that deal also happened in mid September. So it does not fit the criteria. That one very memorably didn't work out. So we'll fast forward to 2017 when moves that fit started happening.

2017

• The 5-2 Bills traded a third-round pick and a 7th-round pick to the Carolina Panthers for star receiver Kelvin Benjamin. The end result was that the Bills finished the season 9-7 and missed the playoffs. The Bills released Benjamin midway through the 2018 season.
• 5-2 Seahawks trade a second and a third to the Texans for left tackle Duane Brown. They finished the season 9-7 and missed the playoffs. They did make the playoffs in 2018 and 2019. This is one of the rare occasions where the team got a player at the deadline that is still there.
• The infamous Sacksonville Jaguars team traded a fifth to the Bills for Pro bowler Marcel Dareus. They went on to lose the AFC championship game and miss the playoffs the next two years. That team infamously fell apart.  

2018

• Eagles trade a third-round pick to the Lions for Golden Tate. They would finish 9-7 and lose in the divisional round. They did not bring Tate back after the season. 
• 8-0 Rams trade a fourth to the Jaguars for Dante Fowler. The team lost in the Super Bowl and went 9-7 the following season before not bringing him back in 2020. 
• Cowboys trade a first-round pick to the Raiders for Amari Cooper. They finish 10-6 and got eliminated in the divisional round. The Cowboys go 8-8 in 2019 and 6-10 in 2020. Cooper now plays for the Browns.

2019

• The 49ers trade a third and fourth to the Broncos for Emmanuel Sanders. They would lose in the Super Bowl. The 49ers did not bring Sanders back the following season. 
• The Rams trade two firsts an a fourth to the Jaguars for Jalen Ramsey. The Rams would miss the playoffs this season. 
• The Rams traded a fifth for Austin Corbet. The Rams would miss the playoffs this season. 

2020

• The Ravens trade a third and a fifth to the Vikings for Yannick Ngakoue. They lose in the divisional round and then don’t bring Ngakoue back in 2021. 

2021

• This is the one right here. This is the one trade deadline trade in the last 10 years that has resulted in a Super Bowl victory. The Rams traded a second and a third to the Broncos for Von Miller. They won the Super Bowl that season. Miller did not return to the Rams. He now plays for the Bills. 

2022

• The 49ers send a second, third, fourth and fifth to the Panthers for Christian McCaffrey. The 49ers would lose in the NFC championship game. 
• The Vikings trade a third and a fourth to the Lions for T.J. Hockenson. They would lose in the wild card round. 
• The Ravens trade a second and fifth to the Bears for Roquan Smith. They would lose in the wild card round 

So there you go. The grass looks a lot greener on the other side of things, but the grass also dies a lot of there too. We'll see where the deadline transactions go this year. The Eagles may very well win it all with Byard. To be fair, they were already 6-1 though. 

This should, at the very least, make Lions fans feel a little better. Making a big deadline deal isn't all it's cracked up to be and a lot of times you're left holding the bag or you don't at all get what you paid for. 

The Lions were right to not make a splash at the deadline

One thing I'm always going to do is be honest with my readers. I had visions of how this post deadline article was going to go since last night after the Detroit Lions win over the Raiders. I wrote up an article at midnight that said it was time for the Lions to trade for […]