Sports fans love trades of any kind — throughout every major professional sport, we obsess over the rumors and then pore over and grade the official trades, excitedly debating who “won” each move. Unfortunately, the NFL is not like the other sports when it comes to making a bunch of trades near the deadline. The trade deadline for 2018 is October 30 at 4 p.m., but most NFL teams are reluctant to give away assets in October for fear that the player they receive might not play a significant role for the remainder of the season. Football is a scheme-based sport, and even though teams run similar offenses and defenses, the amount of time it takes to get a player ready to play at his highest level on a new team is too long, thus often dulling the short-term impact of a mid-season trade.

Another reason many teams avoid trades during the season is they feel the player they are trading is more valuable in helping them win right now than any future compensation could be. Even if...