NFL Trade Deadline Final: Kirk Cousins Is a Viking Again, Josh Downs Goes to Kansas City — and Jonathan Taylor Stays
The window closed at 3 p.m. Central with a rush the morning never promised: Cousins back to Minnesota for a third-round pick, Downs to the Chiefs, Henley to Denver and Hooker to Buffalo — while the Colts kept Jonathan Taylor and the Titans kept Tony Pollard.
The NFL trade deadline passed at 4 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday with the late rush this desk's midday file could not yet report. The biggest late move sent quarterback Kirk Cousins back to Minnesota: the Las Vegas Raiders traded the 38-year-old to the Vikings — the franchise he led from 2018 to 2023 — for a 2027 third-round pick, according to USA TODAY's deadline coverage. The move hands the Raiders' starting job to No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza, who is set to start in Week 10 against Seattle.
The Indianapolis Colts, the deadline's busiest sellers, made one more deal and then stopped. Indianapolis sent wide receiver Josh Downs — who had requested a trade and led the Colts with 354 receiving yards in nine games — to Kansas City for fourth- and fifth-round picks, with a seventh-round pick also going to the Chiefs. But the teardown stopped at the backfield: the Colts would not trade star running back Jonathan Taylor, despite the morning trackers calling a Taylor deal likely, and Tennessee likewise kept running back Tony Pollard, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported in the window's final minutes.
Two defensive starters moved inside the final hour. The Los Angeles Chargers sent linebacker Daiyan Henley — their leading tackler with 51 — to the division-rival Denver Broncos for a 2027 fourth-round pick and a 2028 fifth-rounder, and the Titans traded safety Amani Hooker, tied for the league lead with five interceptions, to Buffalo for second- and fifth-round picks. Those deals join the day's earlier business this station has already filed: Keenan Allen to San Francisco, the cancelled Arnold Ebiketie trade in Cincinnati, and Monday's Jacksonville block — Jordan Davis, Jessie Bates III and Davon Godchaux — that opened deadline week.
And some fronts stayed quiet to the end. The Cleveland Browns 'did not get involved' by the 4 p.m. Eastern close, the Akron Beacon Journal's tracker reported at the deadline itself, and Dallas — which had signaled for weeks it would sit this one out — did exactly that. With the window shut, the league's rosters are what they will be for the stretch run; the next file on this beat is what the new arrivals do on the field this weekend.
