Proposing five win-win trades during 2025 NFL training camps

NFL teams still have a chance to make last-minute improvements to their rosters before the 2025 season kicks off on Sept. 4. While the vast majority of offseason decisions are in the rearview mirror, there are always a few trades during training camps.

In that spirit, I’m proposing a few hypothetical trades that would make sense for both — or in one case, all three — teams. Forecasting trades in the NFL is difficult because of the sheer number of possibilities, but the combination of positional needs, surpluses, player evaluation, contracts, cap space and contender status can offer some clues.

Could the Giants find a way to move on from Kayvon Thibodeaux after drafting Abdul Carter at No. 3 overall in April? Could the Chargers add running back depth as Najee Harris recovers from an eye injury? What about the Dolphins, who lack cornerback options?

Let’s dive into five trade proposals that could make sense over the next couple of weeks.

More: Which players are actually worth a first-round pick?

Packers boost pass rush with Thibodeaux

Packers receive: Edge Kayvon Thibodeaux2026 fifth-round pick
Giants receive: 2026 second-round pick

There is nothing inherently wrong with having three talented players at edge rusher, because it’s a premium position and the Giants can rotate snaps. But it makes sense for them to divest from Thibodeaux, because they are still in a rebuild and noncontenders in 2025; they are extremely invested at the position after spending top-five picks on Thibodeaux and Abdul Carter and after trading for and handing a big contract to Brian Burns; they have plenty of holes to fill in 2026, the earliest they could feasibly contend.

The Packers are natural trade partners here. This is a team in contention now, but with a major need at edge. Their current grouping of Rashan gary, Lukas Van Ness, Kingsley Enagbare and fourth-round pick Barryn Sorrell probably isn’t cutting it — the team ranked 26th in pass rush win rate last season. Thibodeaux would certainly help the cause.

Who, exactly, Green Bay would be getting remains a question. Thibodeaux hasn’t quite lived up to his predraft hype. He has 21.0 sacks in three seasons with the Giants, along with a 16% pass rush win rate at edge that’s essentially average for a starter at the position. But given his draft pedigree and young age (24), he absolutely still offers star-level upside. Plus, he’s been on a bad team the past two years — it’s undoubtedly harder for pass rushers to generate big numbers when trailing.

In terms of contract, Green Bay would be getting Thibodeaux at an extreme bargain in 2025 ($1.1 million) and a light bargain in 2026 ($14.8 million).

Cardinals add WR depth with Wicks

Cardinals receive: WR Dontayvion Wicks
Packers receive: 2026 fourth-round pick

In this second trade, the Packers could mitigate the cost of the Thibodeaux move by dealing from their own position of surplus. Even with Christian Watson presumably sidelined for the beginning of the season after tearing his ACL in January, the Packers’ depth chart still boasts Jayden Reedfirst-round pick Matthew Golden, Romeo Doubsrookie third-round pick Savion Williams and Wicks.

Thus, they can afford to part with Wicks, a 2023 fifth-round pick who hasn’t put it all together despite showing potential. Over his first two seasons in Green Bay, he has recorded 996 receiving yards (1.8 yards per route run). That puts him behind Reed (2.3 yards per route run in the same span) and Watson (2.0) but ahead of Doubs (1.6).

Arizona is in the opposite situation. After Marvin Harrison Jr., the Cardinals’ wide receiver room features Zay Jones, Michael Wilson and Greg Dortch — a fairly lackluster group. Trey McBride emerged as another top option last season, but another wide receiver could complement (and hopefully help unlock) Harrison, who had a mediocre first season in the league relative to his predraft hopes.

Wicks’ raw numbers undersell his upside in my opinion, and Arizona would be making a bet to that effect. In ESPN’s receiver scores last year, Wicks recorded an 84 open score but a 0 catch score — the lowest one can have — after an astounding 10 drops on 76 targets.

If I’m betting on one of those two numbers to sustain into the future, it’s the open score over the drops (openness is more stable from year-to-year than catch score). There are no guarantees, however, so Green Bay would opt for a future asset instead of letting Wicks’ development play out on their roster. Meanwhile, Arizona would wager that Wicks can hit a higher gear and boost the offense over the next couple of seasons.

Raiders take swing on CB Newsome

Raiders receive: CB Greg Newsome II2027 seventh-round pick
Browns receive: 2026 seventh-round pick

Newsome is due a fully guaranteed $13.4 million in 2025 on his fifth-year option, and I’d argue it’s an open question whether that makes him a positive or negative asset — hence the near-zero compensation listed here.

Newsome posted career-worst numbers last season in terms of yards per coverage snap (1.4), EPA allowed (plus-10) and target rate (15%, though this was only a minor uptick). But there was a reason Cleveland picked up his option in April 2024, as he recorded better-than-average yards per coverage snap numbers in both 2022 (0.7) and 2023 (0.9).

For the Browns, the most important part of this deal would be shedding Newsome’s salary. The Browns currently have $17.5 million in 2025 cap space, but they’re already $35.4 million in the red in 2026, per OverTheCap.com. In other words, they need the savings. Considering the team is a noncontender in 2025 and Newsome has just one fully guaranteed year left on his contract, it makes sense for Cleveland to want to move on.

The Raiders spent the offseason stabilizing the organization, bringing in Geno Smith at quarterback and Pete Carroll at head coach. The defense has potential with a stout defensive line, but cornerback is the team’s biggest weakness. Las Vegas, with over $90 million in 2026 cap space (second most of any team), can afford to bet on Newsome. If Carroll can get the most out of the 25-year-old cornerback, he’ll elevate their 2025 outlook and could stick around for future seasons.

Bears, Chargers and Bucs make deals for RBs

Bears receive: RB Rachaad White2027 seventh-round pick (from Chargers)
Chargers receive: RB D’Andre Swift2026 sixth-round pick (from Bears)
Buccaneers receive: 2026 fifth-round pick (from Bears)

Just because we almost never see three-team trades in the NFL doesn’t mean they can’t happen. Plus, they’re just fun to project.

The major impetus for the deal here is the assumption that Bears head coach Ben Johnson will place a similar emphasis on the running game as he did in Detroit, and that Swift simply isn’t good enough to carry that load.

Swift posted a remarkably poor negative-174 rush yards over expectation, per NFL Next Gen Stats, which was the worst total of any player last season. It marked the third season out of the past four in which Swift recorded negative rush yards over expectation; he posted negative first downs over expectation in all four of those seasons.

White, in contrast, added 48 rush yards over expectation on 144 carries last season in Tampa Bay. And he’s elite in the pass game, with the second-best overall receiver score over the past three seasons combined — behind only Christian McCaffrey and one spot ahead of Austin greeting. That sounds like the kind of player Johnson could employ to great effect — like he did with Jahmyr Gibbs in Detroit.

White is a useful player for Tampa Bay, but Bucky Irving took the starting job from him and is a strong receiver in his own right. With Sean Tucker also on the Bucs and White in the final year of his deal, the latter becomes a logical trade candidate.

The tricky part about making this deal is that Swift is owed $7.9 million in cash ($7.4 million of which is fully guaranteed) this season, more than he’s worth based on his production history. Thus, the Bears would find themselves on the wrong end of a sixth- and seventh-round pick swap to deal him to the Chargers.

For Los Angeles, Swift would provide veteran depth behind first-round rookie Omarion Hampton and another option in general while Najee Harris recovers from an eye injury. Plus, it would allow the Chargers to pick up a little draft capital in exchange for a bit of their cap space war chest. No team has more combined cap space between this year and next than the Chargers, per OverTheCap.com.

I almost scratched this deal when the Chargers signed Nyheim Hinesbut his last NFL appearance was in 2022. Swift would be a more logical veteran backup in the event Harris missed some time.

Dolphins get CB depth with Williams

Dolphins receive: CB Joshua Williams
Chiefs receive: 2027 sixth-round pick

Miami’s cornerback room is bleak. It’s why the team signed Jack Jones and Mike Hilton in recent days, but the cornerback group still leaves something to be desired. If Frame kohouwho is day-to-day with a leg injury, plays to his strength in the slot, that leaves the Dolphins with Cam Smith, Storm Duckrookie fifth-round pick Jason Marshall Jr. and Ethan Bonner competing for the outside corner jobs (Hilton is a slot corner).

Jones started 16 games for the Raiders last season, but the defining trait of the rest of the group is inexperience. Smith was a 2023 second-round pick who has played just 112 coverage snaps in his first two seasons, allowing a high 1.7 yards per coverage snap in that time. Duck is a former undrafted free agent who started three games for the Dolphins (and played 42% of defensive snaps in his 14 games played) last season. Bonner, too, is a former UDFA who has appeared in seven games for Miami over the past two years.

Williams is a depth corner for the Chiefs, who already have Trent McDuffie, Jaylen Watson, Kristian Fulton (signed in March) and Nohl Williams (2025 third-round pick). Joshua Williams, who is scheduled to make $3.2 million this year, was even left off ESPN’s 53-man roster projection at the start of training camp.

Williams does have some encouraging numbers over his first three seasons. Across 769 coverage snaps, he has allowed 0.9 yards per snap — better than average — and 0.6 over the past two years, albeit in a small sample.

Miami looks more like a team in flux than a franchise looking to add talent before the season. But given the state of the Dolphins’ cornerback group, a low-risk maneuver like this would make sense.