Self-awareness is everything in the NFL and conversations about where a franchise is positioned among its peers are being had across the league. While decision-makers notoriously hold their cards close to the vest in an effort to preserve leverage, I am — probably for good reason — untethered. Here are five teams that should be buying and five teams that should be selling ahead of the Tuesday, Nov. 1 trade deadline:
Buyers
Bills
There are a few ways to contextualize what a 'buyer' should look like in the NFL. The first type is the franchise that not only has a positive record, but is viewed as a Super Bowl contender. The reality is that there are teams with promising records that no one expects to actually see hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. The second type is the desperate franchise with an elite quarterback that knows their window is closing soon.
Buffalo falls into the former category. They were aggressive in the offseason bringing in players to play pivotal roles like cornerback Kaiir Elam and edge rusher Von Miller. The Bills are viewed as one of the top contenders to win the Super Bowl. The Rams showed that it is trendy to push the chips into the middle of the table and increase the odds of winning even more. Perhaps the AFC East franchise is interested in upgrading Josh Allen's protection or adding depth to the secondary.
Buccaneers
After initially announcing his retirement, quarterback Tom Brady made the decision to return to Tampa Bay for his 23rd season. Although it has not gone as expected thus far, they find themselves atop the NFC South. It is not dissimilar to the regular season leading up to their Super Bowl run two years ago. The Buccaneers were 7-5 heading into the bye week in 2020 before rattling off four straight wins just to make it to the postseason. The NFC is wide open and a sluggish start should not deter the franchise from its ultimate goal.
Whether next off-season or the following, Brady will retire from the league and Tampa Bay does not have a viable replacement. Once that window closes, attention turns to creating a healthier long-term salary cap situation so the team needs to capitalize on its present opportunity.
Chiefs
Kansas City has already shown that it belongs in this category by trading for Giants wide receiver Kadarius Toney. Rookie Skyy Moore has not often found himself on the field this season and that places more stress on the platoon of Juju Smith-Schuster, Mecole Hardman and Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Toney is not Tyreek Hill but his skill set is such that head coach Andy Reid can put him in motion, line him up all over the formation and force defenses to respect his speed.
The Chiefs will be there in the end, pushing the Bills. The more that they can do to help themselves now, the better prepared they will be in the moment.