NFL trades we'd love to see before Oct. 29 deadline

Tunison: The rise and acceptance of tanking has some negative consequences for the league, but it has been a boon to the trade deadline. By this point in the season, teams that had moderate aspirations at playoff contention are starting to realize their plans are for naught and have to adjust to a more long-term strategy.

One such team weighing its future is the Broncos. For the second season in a row, they've brought on a veteran quarterback to patch together an offense that could sufficiently ride their good but aging defense to contention. Case Keenum's stellar 2017 season with the Vikings turned out to be a flash in the pan for Denver in 2018. So the Broncos went with Joe Flacco, who as we all know got hot during the 2012 postseason and has been dining out on it ever since. His passer rating is 90.8, below the league average of 92.6. So the trade for him is not working out,  and it appears it's finally time for the Broncos (1-4) to admit they need to move on and rebuild.

CBS' Jason La Canfora has reported that the impending Denver fire sale could include outside linebacker Von Miller. Not that receiver Emmanuel Sanders couldn't be useful to a weapon-poor offense out there, but Miller has the ability to be a game-changer for some team. The Eagles seem like a prime candidate, as their pass rush (13 sacks) has been wildly inconsistent, and is a little too dependent on D-coordinator Jim Schwartz over-committing to the blitz to be effective. 

Someone like Miller, who can create pressure on his own, could change a team overnight. He only has two sacks this season, definitely an aberration for a 100-sack career player. The Raiders could basically plug him in and get back everything they lost by trading Khalil Mack, but it seems unlikely the Broncos would help out a division rival on the brink of respectability.

Cleveland offers another interesting option. Its pass rush is already pretty good (16 sacks), though Miller would put the Browns over the top and perhaps be the difference-maker in a weak AFC North. This is clearly a season that's important for them to excel. There was a lot of expectation and OBJ -- who has been a non-factor the past two weeks (four catches for 47 yards)  -- becomes a little too volatile once things around him start going off the rails.

Mueller: Whatever pushback that still exists over tanking seems like antiquated thinking. As long as the process is carried out at the roster-building level and not on the field, it’s more sound strategy than anything. Yes, it flies in the face of the NFL’s parity obsession, but rule changes have made it so that the handful of teams with truly elite quarterbacks will almost always rise to the top, which kneecaps the concept anyway. 

Miller to the Raiders would be fascinating, for all intra-divisional intrigue involved, and also because Oakland is, dare I say it, somewhat likable? Beating the Colts in Indianapolis was no small feat, and its win over the Bears in London was even more impressive. I’d love to see it, just because it would add a major jolt to your typical underdog story. 

Google “Cleveland Browns tr--” and the auto-fill function skips “trade” altogether and goes right to “Trent Williams.” That’s understandable, given Williams’ continued standoff with the Redskins and Cleveland’s gaping hole at left tackle, where Greg Robinson was tossed around like a rag doll by San Francisco's Nick Bosa on Monday night.

Washington’s organizational incompetence means that it might get desperate and just offload Williams for a bargain. But Cleveland should be willing to part with a first-rounder for Williams. If that seems steep, it isn’t. Williams would immediately solidify the Browns’ offensive line, which is by far their biggest weakness, and would allow Robinson to either move to right tackle, or be the team’s swing tackle.  Baker Mayfield's blind side must be protected. His numbers Monday -- 8-for-22, 100 yards passing, 13.4 passer rating, four sacks -- were abysmal.  

Cleveland has players it must pay in the near future, and if Mayfield is the real deal, it will need to keep churning a solid roster around him. But the Browns have a chance to seize control of a mediocre AFC North, as you noted. Winning immediately should matter for a franchise that has been mostly pitiful since its return to the league. The Browns should make the move.

Tunison: The prevailing chaos of the first few weeks of the season -- Antonio Brown --  was a handy reminder that the Patriots (5-0) prize help in the passing game, whether they truly need it or not. Even though they're undefeated, they're clearly eager about whatever perceived deficiencies exist because of the retirement of Gronk, enough so that they were willing to take on a guy who had alienated the Steelers and Raiders in a short amount of time.

Now that AB has blown up in their face, they're unlikely to experiment with another head case for at least a while. Luckily there's a level-headed and still extremely talented alternative that suits their needs: A.J. Green.

Green is a consummate professional who never gets into trouble. Though he's missed a troubling amount of time with injury since the start of 2018, he remains roughly as productive as he's always been when healthy. He's averaged a little more than 80 receiving yards a game in eight seasons with the Bengals. He's 31, so the Patriots could easily extract a few more quality seasons of play out of him before decline sets in, making an investment of high draft capital to be worth it, for 2019 and beyond.

Green, still recovering from preseason ankle surgery, hasn't played this season. He has been ruled out for Sunday's game against Baltimore, though Week 7 against Jacksonville is a possibility for his return. Since the trade deadline is Oct. 29, there are a few weeks that Green could play, shake the cobwebs and demonstrate his value. Whether the Bengals really want to deal him is somewhat unclear at this point, but circumstances are shaping up that they could at least get at or near maximum value for him.