The NFL trade deadline is November 4, just two weeks away! Teams are running out of time to determine whether they are in or out of the playoff picture, and how to act accordingly. We’ve already begun to see trades trickle through – Joe Flacco to the Bengals being the most notable – but the trade deadline, more and more, has become a time for teams to take swings.

Last year, we saw Davante Adams, Amari Cooper, Diontae Johnson, Jonathan Mingo, Ernest Jones IV and Marshon Lattimore, among others, sent out in the weeks leading up the deadline. The idea of that sort of volume of trades being made was unthinkable a decade ago, but the NFL’s decision to move the deadline back several weeks has created a new environment, where it’s possible for teams to be bad enough to see the writing on the wall and still get some value out of their aging veterans and expiring contracts, while stars stuck in zero-win purgatory get a chance to salvage some of their season.

That doesn’t mean teams are just having a fire sale for everyone on their roster, mind you. On Tuesday, reports first came out that the Dallas Cowboys were interested in trading for Maxx Crosby, only for them to be shut down very quickly by Las Vegas, saying they had no interest in making a deal. It would really take a crazy team to trade a way a young, superstar defender in their prime, wouldn’t it?

No, when we’re looking for potential trade targets over the next couple weeks, we’re looking for a few factors. We want a team pretty much out of the playoff race who has a player playing well enough to be enticing to other teams – you want to get something of value back to help build for next season. At the same time, we can’t have that player be someone with a long-term financial commitment, or who would be part of a long-term rebuild as a cornerstone player – you’re looking to trade the Jakobi Meyerses of the world, not the Maxx Crosbys.

There are currently five teams with less than a 2.5% chance of making the playoffs, per our odds, and three more hanging out below 5%. Let’s run through them and find the best candidates for a deadline trade over the next couple weeks.

Tennessee Titans (0.0% playoff odds)

Top Option: The Titans have an interesting conundrum to solve. Right guard Kevin Zeitler is 35 years old and on a one-year contract; it’s unlikely he’ll be around when the Titans are next competitive. They also have a young player behind him in fifth-round pick Jackson Slater out of Sacramento State; moving on from Zeitler would open up a spot for Slater to develop as well. Zeitler has been very solid this season, and there are certainly teams that would love to have a more reliable interior line presence – a reunion with the Baltimore Ravens would make tons of sense.

The issue? Cam Ward. The Titans brought Zeitler in this offseason to provide a steady front or Ward to learn and develop behind. It’s not entirely a coincidence that when Zeitler missed Week 3, Tennessee’s pressure rate rose from 32.7% to 42.2%. Zeitler might not help in 2026, but Ward’s development is still happening in 2025 – would dealing Zeitler ding Ward too much now to make it worth a mid-round draft pick? The answer partially lies in how ready Slater is; he hasn’t played an offensive snap yet this season. Is he ready? I don’t know. You don’t know. Considering the coaching change, the Titans probably don’t know right now. But if they wanted to maximize their haul this trade deadline, Zeitler gets them the most.

Read on for suggestions for the New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, and more…