If Micah Parsons played for any other team than the Dallas Cowboys, his trade would’ve been huge news… But he did play for the Cowboys, and that made it monumental news because that’s how the NFL world works.
When you go back and think about the 2025 offseason, that trade is going to be what everyone remembers, but it’s far from the only important trade. There were some pretty worthwhile trades in August… It’s just that not all of them will change the season simply because the teams involved aren’t relevant.
It was a busy August for important teams
Take the Raiders getting Kenny Pickett from the Browns: The Raiders have Geno Smith, but his backup, Aidan O’Connell, broke his wrist about a week ago. Backup quarterbacks can be mega important, and Pickett is a totally average (maybe a little below) backup. If he has to play, all hope isn’t completely lost for them. Unfortunately, that doesn’t matter because the Raiders aren’t going to be a major player in the grand scheme of the 2025 NFL season.
These are the best trades to the teams that will be contenders in the 2025 season.
4. Vikings trade for WR Adam Thielen
Besides the whole thing where no team in the NFC North won a postseason game, that division had an awesome 2024 season. All those teams have gone through some changes this offseason, for better or for worse. As a whole, they’re probably not going to be as dominant as they were last season.
Instead, I imagine every game will be a Phone Booth Boxing type thing, and the division will kind of cannibalize itself. That means until further notice, every team in the NFC North is a contender.
The Vikings' wide receivers are going through it a little bit right now. Justin Jefferson has been listed as questionable with a hamstring thing since mid-August, Jalen Nailor is dealing with a hand injury, and Jordan Addison is suspended for the first three games.
On Aug. 27, the Vikings traded a couple of picks to the Panthers for Adam Thielen. Is he 35 years old? Yes, but he’s healthier now than he’s going to be the entire season.
The Vikings can’t afford to drop games this season, much less drop games in September, because of a banged-up/suspended wide receiver room. I’m assuming the plan is to have him be reliable hands for quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who is essentially a rookie.
If Thielen can step in and be productive right off the bat, it’ll help McCarthy build confidence, which will in turn make his life a lot easier when he gets to throw to his younger/better wide receivers, which will in turn help the team be a contender from October through January.
If Thielen adds anything else after that? Well, that’s just bonus value.
3. Eagles trade for CB Jakorian Bennett
The Eagles had the best defense in the NFL last season, and they lost a bunch of key players from that unit in free agency. That includes Darius Slay, who had been with the team since 2020, and Isaiah Rodgers, who had been Slay’s replacement throughout the 2024 season.
The defense is incredibly young and mostly loaded with great players. If there is a weakness, it’s at the cornerback spot opposite Quinyon Mitchell.
Mitchell is a lockdown cornerback in a suffocating defensive backfield. There are some things that defensive coordinator Vic Fangio can do to help the CB2 out, but whoever it is will get peppered with targets. That player is going to need to be able to hold their own.
In the fourth round of the 2023 draft, the Eagles picked Kelee Ringo, the then-20-year-old cornerback from Georgia. He definitely wasn’t ready to play as a rookie, so the plan was to develop him into a starting-caliber guy for when Darius Slay left.
In free agency, Howie Roseman signed the 30-year-old Adoree’ Jackson to compete for the spot. He’s got a higher floor than Ringo, but also a lower ceiling. It was all set up for Ringo to win that starting spot… and then he didn’t show enough signs of growth.
So on August 5th, the Eagles sent defensive tackle Thomas Booker IV to the Raiders for cornerback Jakorian Bennett.
Bennett’s been a decent enough player. He’s a smaller guy who’s had some trouble with tackling and injuries, but he’s good in coverage, and he’s got speed. He came in with less than two weeks' worth of practice and showed some promise in a preseason game against the Browns.
It seems like Adoree’ Jackson is going to get the start in Week 1, but that second cornerback job is eventually going to Bennett. It might not have been the sexiest trade in the world, but if he can get Vic Fangio’s trust, it’ll be one of the more important trades this year.
2. 49ers trade for RB Brian Robinson Jr.
The 49ers aren’t going to be a great team this season, but they have one of, if not the easiest, schedules of any team in the NFL. It feels like they’re destined for the postseason, whether that's from winning the NFC West or being a wild-card team.
On August 24th, they traded a sixth-round pick to the Commanders for running back Brian Robinson Jr., who was the Commanders' RB1 for the past three seasons. In each of those seasons, he had at least 170 carries for between 730 and 800 yards. He’s a solid starting running back, and now that he’s in San Francisco, he’s the undeniable RB2 behind Christian McCaffrey. There are a few things that make that interesting.
First is obviously that CMC is coming off of some pretty wild injuries. He went into the 2024 season with a calf thing and double Achilles tendonitis, which sounds like hell. His first game of the season was in Week 10, but it was short-lived because in Week 13, he jacked up his knee and missed the rest of the season.
On one side, it’s easy to say he’s borderline injury-prone and that he’ll get hurt again this season. On the other hand, he’s only touched the ball 65 times in the past year and a half, so he should be fresh and feeling good.
The other part of this is that the 49ers don’t have a whole lot going on with their offense. The only healthy pass catchers they have are Ricky Pearsall and George Kittle. CMC is going to get a bunch of work… Unfortunately, that means that his risk of injury is going to go up big time.
Say the bad thing does happen, and he misses some time this season… Robinson should fill in much better than the RB2s they’ve had in the past. By no means is he a one-for-one replacement, but he’s shown that he can be much more productive and reliable than Isaac Guerendo or Jordan Mason.
On top of this, adding Robinson is great for vibes. Both Brian Robinson and Ricky Pearsall got shot a few weeks before the start of their respective rookie seasons. For Robinson, it was in the leg, and for Pearsall, it was in the chest. If both those guys are on the field at the same time and either of them scores, they’ll have an awesome opportunity for one of the best, bizarre, and tacky touchdown celebrations of all time.
They should change the rule and only allow guys to make gun celebrations if they themselves have been shot.
1. Packers trade for OL Darian Kinnard
The Micah Parsons trade helps the Packers out a whole lot, but it’s not the most important trade that they made in the past month. On Aug. 24, they traded a 2027 sixth-round pick to the Eagles for depth offensive lineman Darian Kinnard.
There are only a handful of active players in the NFL who have three Super Bowl rings. StatMuse will tell you that it’s Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones, Joe Thuney, Harrison Butker, Nick Allegretti, and James Winchester. The glaring omission is Darian Kinnard.
The difference between Kinnard and the other guys is that he’s only been in the NFL for three seasons, which means he’s won the Super Bowl every single season that he’s been in the league.
If you have Darian Kinnard on your team, for some reason or another, you win. Those are the facts.