New Orleans Saints wide receiver Rashid Shaheed (22) reacts after a gain during the first quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Oct. 26, 2025.
New Orleans Saints wide receiver Rashid Shaheed (22) reacts after a gain during the first quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Oct. 26, 2025.
The 2025 NFL Trade Deadline has come and gone with a flurry of moves, including a buzzer-beater by the Los Angeles Chargers as the franchise desperately needed an infusion of talent at the offensive tackle position to cover losing both starters. While the acquisition of Trevor Penning should help out, he’s more of a natural guard and hasn’t been a stud thus far in his up-and-down career with the New Orleans Saints.
Let’s examine the rest of the NFL’s trades from a fantasy football lens to see which situations help and hurt fake football rosters.
Las Vegas Raiders WR Jakobi Meyers Traded to Jacksonville Jaguars
As discussed in greater detail, Meyers’ fantasy value doesn’t really change a whole lot … he has arguably a higher floor now, and one has to wonder how much of his regression in 2025 was based on not wanting to be in Vegas, but the overall outlook is as a spot-starter from your bench.
New York Jets Trade CB Sauce Gardner and DT Quinnen Williams
Gardner was traded to the Indianapolis Colts and Williams to the Dallas Cowboys in moves that really don’t matter much on the fantasy front for IDP leagues, but the impact will be enormous for the Jets’ fantasy defense as a collective unit. A top-10 D/ST entering the week is now waiver fodder.
On Dallas’ side, a group that acquired Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson earlier in the day, the need for defensive improvement has been glaring all year. Nevertheless, this remains a borderline matchup-play defense in best-case scenario.
As for Indy, which already was a top-10 fantasy group, the importance of acquiring a corner who has allowed no more than two catches in any game this year is tough to understate.
Shaheed has been respectably decent in 2025, despite quarterback issues and having to learn a new system. His worst performance on the year was 6.8 in PPR scoring, and the has at least 11.8 points in three of the last five contests. While Shaheed enjoys a significant quarterback upgrade in Seattle, the vertical threat has more capable competition for targets and is projected to serve as a return man as well as specialty receiver. In news that ought to surprise absolutely no one, Cooper Kupp missed Week 9 via injury. Rookie Tory Horton continues to make the most of limited chances, so between Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Horton, a pair of reasonably decent RBs catching balls from the backfield, and an underrated tight ends room, fantasy owners cannot expect nearly as much consistency from Shaheed in Seattle.
Indianapolis Colts Cut Bait on WR Adonai Mitchell
Included in the Gardner trade, Mitchell heads to the Jets after never gaining traction with the Colts since being a second-round selection in 2024. The Texas product stands 6-foot-4 but is a lanky 196 yards and can struggle vs. press man. There’s upside as a deep threat, and his career is far from deserving the bust label, but the quarterback situation in New York surely won’t help him over the rest of 2025. Dynasty leaguers shouldn’t give up hope for ’26 and beyond, though there are far more questions than answers with both Mitchell and the Jets’ offense to assign him any semblance of a fair valuation.