five NFL – As player empowerment spreads beyond the NBA, Jimmy Haslem has already reshaped the NFL trade market—moving Myles Garrett and trading for disgruntled stars elsewhere, echoing what happened when Giannis Antetokounmpo was sent to the Miami Heat. MISRYOUM looks a
When Jimmy Haslem leaves the negotiating table, the leagues notice.
The Cleveland Browns owner and Milwaukee Bucks co-owner has been trading away two of the biggest—yet disgruntled—stars in the two most popular professional sports in the United States. On June 1, Haslem traded two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year edge rusher Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams. Late on Monday night. he made another high-profile move. trading two-time NBA MVP and 2021 NBA Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat.
The NFL side of that power shift didn’t stop there. Garrett wasn’t the only unsettled star to get what he wanted this month: the Philadelphia Eagles dealt three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver A.J. Brown to the New England Patriots—also on June 1, also to a team he wanted.
So the question fans are asking now isn’t whether the next domino can fall. It’s who it will be.
Justin Jefferson, Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota’s biggest problem might be the quarterback chair, not the receiver room. Four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Justin Jefferson helped write the early record books. totaling 7. 432 receiving yards from 2020 to 2024 — the most in a player’s first five seasons in league history. That production turned into 96.5 receiving yards per game, also the most in NFL history.
Then J.J. McCarthy happened.
The Vikings let Pro Bowl quarterback Sam Darnold walk in free agency last offseason because they drafted McCarthy 10th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft. McCarthy didn’t take to the speed of the NFL game. In 2025, he ranked dead last in completion percentage (57.6%), touchdown-to-interception ratio (11-12), and passer rating (72.6). Jefferson felt it immediately: he posted career lows in receiving yards (1. 048) and receiving touchdowns (2) in 2025. dropping his receiving yards per game average to 90.2 — the second-most in NFL history behind Puka Nua is 95.3 average.
The Vikings’ quarterback plan moving forward is a competition between McCarthy and two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Kyler Murray. Murray’s last Pro Bowl selection came in the 2021 NFL season. the same year Antetokounmpo won an NBA championship with the Bucks. From 2022 to 2025, Murray missed 30 of his possible 68 games. In the five games Murray played for the Cardinals in 2025, he averaged a career low 227.0 total yards per game. This year’s quarterback situation in Minnesota could also go poorly.
Prediction on whether or not Jefferson will eventually ask for a trade: Yes, by the 2028 NFL offseason.
The McCarthy-Murray competition will fail to bear long-term fruit at football’s most important position. leaving Jefferson dissatisfied entering the final season of his four-year. $140 million deal in 2028. Out of guaranteed money. Jefferson will be looking for a new. multiyear deal at age 29. but he’ll aim to get his next batch of guaranteed cash elsewhere.
Compensation to get the deal done: First-round pick and third-round pick.
Likely landing spot: Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders make sense for multiple reasons, even if the NFL landscape years from now is hard to picture. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza. the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. will need a true WR1 to complement All-Pro tight end Brock Bowers. Las Vegas has also shown a willingness to trade for a superstar wide receiver in his late 20s: in 2022. the Raiders traded a first-round draft choice and a second-round draft choice to the Green Bay Packers in exchange for a 29-year-old Davante Adams. The plan would be similar on their offensive core of Mendoza. Bowers and the 2025 sixth overall pick running back Ashton Jeanty.
Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis Colts
If Jefferson’s trade conversation is fueled by instability at quarterback, Jonathan Taylor’s is fueled by what happens when elite production doesn’t turn into postseason football.
Taylor has already built a résumé that places him in the rare air of 2020s rushing. His 7. 598 career rushing yards and 69 career rushing touchdowns over six NFL seasons are the second-most in the league behind Derrick Henry’s totals of 9. 185 yards rushing and 84 rushing touchdowns. The gap, though, is workload: Henry has 347 more carries than Taylor (1,858 to 1,551).
Taylor’s 90.5 career rushing yards per game average is the fifth best in NFL history behind only Jim Brown (104.3). Barry Sanders (99.8). Terrell Davis (97.5) and Eric Dickerson (90.8). But the concern is team results. In six seasons, the Colts have made just one playoff appearance and have zero playoff wins. The only postseason trip came in Taylor’s rookie year in 2020 when the Colts narrowly lost at the Buffalo Bills in the wild card round.
A running back’s prime is finite. And Taylor remains at the top of his game after producing the third-most rushing yards (1. 585) and the most rushing touchdowns (18) in the NFL in 2025. If the Colts quarterback situation and receiving help don’t stabilize—especially if quarterback Daniel Jones (Achilles) and wide receiver Alec Pierce (ankle) can’t get healthy in a hurry—the 27-year-old three-time Pro Bowl back may start looking around for a new home.
Prediction on whether or not Taylor will eventually ask for a trade: Yes, by the 2026 NFL trade deadline.
Taylor enters the final year of his three-year, $42 million contract in 2026. If the Colts start off slow thanks to unreliable starts by Jones and Pierce, parting ways would be in both the franchise’s and Taylor’s best interest at the trade deadline.
Compensation to get the deal done: Third-round pick.
The reasoning is grounded in how teams have valued similar stars. The Carolina Panthers were able to get a 2023 second-round pick. a 2024 third-round pick. a 2023 fourth-round pick and a 2024 fifth-round pick for Christian McCaffrey in 2022. but McCaffrey was a year younger than Taylor is today—and McCaffrey had multiple years left on his contract. while Taylor is set to become a free agent in 2027.
Likely landing spot: Pittsburgh Steelers.
Should the Steelers get off to a hot start in Aaron Rodgers’ swan song with his pal Mike McCarthy back as head coach. Pittsburgh could go all in on Rodgers’ final season. Jaylen Warren is a change-of-pace back. and Rico Dowdle is someone McCarthy said in Dallas could stand to work on his vision as a runner. Taylor would give McCarthy the bell-cow back he’s missed since Ezekiel Elliott’s decline and Tony Pollard’s fibula injury in the 2022 postseason while coaching the Cowboys.
Trey McBride, Arizona Cardinals
Trey McBride keeps winning individual battles, even as Arizona runs into a division that feels built to crush hope.
The Arizona Cardinals tight end grabbed the league’s first-team All-Pro tight end crown off Brock Bowers’ head in 2025. McBride ranked second in the entire NFL in catches last season with 126, just three behind Puka Nua is league-leading 129. His 11 receiving touchdowns tied for the second-most in the NFL. and his 1. 239 receiving yards were the sixth-most in football—while the Cardinals finished a brutal 3-14.
On talent alone, McBride should have leverage. But the calendar and the competition keep shifting the pressure back on Arizona.
McBride plays in what’s described here as the toughest division in football, perhaps ever. The 2025 NFC West became the first division in league history with three 12-win teams: the Seattle Seahawks. Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers. Arizona didn’t get a break inside that reality. The Cardinals became the first team to finish nine games worse than every other team in its respective division.
Not much hope changes without another reset at quarterback. The piece points to 2026 as the year Arizona would likely need to be bad again in order to land one of the top quarterback prospects in the 2027 NFL Draft.
Prediction on whether or not McBride will eventually ask for a trade: Not if the Cardinals can draft a top QB in 2027.
McBride has two more seasons of guaranteed money on his four-year, $76 million contract. That gives Arizona through the 2027 season to get the quarterback position right. Playing the Rams. Seahawks and 49ers a combined six times a year keeps Arizona’s path difficult—but still positions the Cardinals to secure a top 10 pick in the 2027 NFL Draft. One more year of bottoming out to secure the future of their offense out in the desert.
Garrett Wilson, New York Jets
Garrett Wilson’s numbers have still carried the offense, even while the Jets have tried to rebuild everything around him.
Wilson was shut down with a lingering knee injury in Week 10 in 2025. yet still ended up leading the New York Jets in receiving yards with 395. He played just seven games while producing the fewest receiving yards by an NFL team leader since 1976. excluding the 1982 strike season. per CBS Sports Research.
The environment around him is bleak, especially after the Jets fired first-year head coach Aaron Glenn’s staff after a 3-14 campaign in his first season in charge in 2025. The Jets moved quickly, firing the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and many other assistants.
They spent heavily too. The Jets poured a lot of money and draft picks into fixing their defense. which became the first in NFL history to not record an interception in a season. Still. the offense could remain bleak despite the arrivals of first-round pick tight end Kenyon Sadiq and first-round pick wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr.
The quarterback depth chart offers little comfort right now: their top two quarterbacks are a washed-up Geno Smith and 2026 fourth-round pick rookie Cade Klubnik.
Prediction on whether or not Wilson will eventually ask for a trade: Not if the Jets can draft a top QB in 2027.
Wilson has two more seasons of guaranteed money on his four-year, $130 million contract, including $24.5 million guaranteed in the 2027 season. That gives New York two more offseasons to get the quarterback position right. For Wilson. the path hinges on a simple reality: Smith could be the tank commander quarterback necessary to position the Jets into a prime opportunity to select one of the best quarterback prospects in a loaded 2027 NFL Draft.
Denzel Ward, Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns don’t just have a star cornerback aging through his prime. They have one who’s likely becoming more tradable by the year—because the contract shape makes it easier.
Five-time Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward has earned Pro Bowl selections in four of the past five seasons, yet he has played in just one playoff game in this stretch since 2021: a 45-14 blowout loss at the Houston Texans.
Ward is set to enter the penultimate season of a five-year, $100.5 million contract extension. The piece stresses he doesn’t have any guaranteed money remaining on the pact, which makes him extremely tradeable. It also frames the fit: Ward would probably rather learn a new defensive playbook on a team with a shot at the postseason in 2026 than stay with the team carrying the worst quarterback room in the NFL.
Compensation to get the deal done: Fourth-round pick.
Teams are expected to be stingy with their 2027 draft picks in advance of a draft class everyone is expecting to be full of stars and value selections. There’s also the age factor: at 29, Ward plays a position that typically isn’t known for players aging well into their 30s.
Likely landing spot: San Francisco 49ers.
San Francisco is in win-now mode with an aging roster headed by soon-to-be 38-year-old All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams. soon-to-be 33-year-old wide receiver Mike Evans. soon-to-be 33-year-old tight end George Kittle and 30-year-old running back Christian McCaffrey. The 49ers can afford the swing for Ward in 2026 because they currently possess the most cap space in football with $71.7 million. per OverTheCap.com.
Then they can move off him in 2027 while saving $11.271 million by releasing him. With no guaranteed money on his deal. the 49ers can also rework Ward’s contract to keep him around should they want to. It’s an arms race in the NFC West. and the 49ers need to keep up with the Super Bowl champion Seahawks and the NFC runner-up Rams.
One league is teaching the other what it looks like when stars decide they’re done waiting. The NFL is watching the contract math, the quarterback churn, the playoff droughts—and the moment a player decides his next season shouldn’t be spent waiting for answers that never arrive.
NFL trade rumors Justin Jefferson Jonathan Taylor Trey McBride Garrett Wilson Denzel Ward Jimmy Haslem Giannis Antetokounmpo trade Myles Garrett trade A.J. Brown trade player empowerment