If there’s one thing that’s guaranteed to happen in the NFL Draft this year, it’s the fact that there will be plenty of trades. Although things have been pretty quiet so far — not a single first-round pick has been traded this year — let’s just go ahead and assume that’s just the calm before the storm.
Players get traded every year during the draft. In 2022, we saw a huge draft-day trade when the Tennessee Titans decided to send A.J. Brown to Philadelphia for a first-round pick, so it’s definitely possible that we could see a star player get dealt at some point over the next three days.
With that in mind, we’ve got five trade predictions for this year’s draft:
The Browns have the second overall pick in the draft this year, but it’s looking more and more like they’re not going to use that pick on a quarterback. That means the Browns will have to wait until late in the first round or early in the second round to take a quarterback, which could be a risk, because if they’re targeting a certain QB, he might not be there. Instead of taking a gamble, the Browns could just ship off a third-round pick to the Falcons, which is what we have them doing here.
Let’s take a look at our proposed trade:
- Browns get: Kirk Cousins
- Falcons get: 2025 third-round pick (94th overall)
The Falcons have been insistent that they’re going to hold on to Cousins for now, but if the Browns throw a third-round pick at them, that would likely be enough to get the deal done. The Browns actually have two third-round picks and the one they’d be trading to Atlanta is a pick they originally got from Buffalo in the Amari Cooper trade.
Cousins does have a no-trade clause, but you have to think that he’d be willing to waive that to reunite with Kevin Stefanski. The Browns’ head coach was Cousins’ offensive coordinator in Minnesota, so Cousins wouldn’t have to learn a completely new offense.
If you follow Jameson Williams on social media, you may have noticed that he’s been sending out some cryptic messages over the past few days.
Now, this may have nothing to do with football, but if history has taught us one thing, it’s that if a receiver starts sharing cryptic messages on social media, it usually has to do with football. The Lions have to make a decision about whether they want to pick up the fifth-year option on Williams’ rookie contract and they only have until May 1 to decide. The fact that they haven’t picked it up yet could be something that’s bothering Williams.
Although Williams had a productive season in 2024 — he caught 58 passes for 1,001 yards — he was also hit with the second suspension of his career when he got banned two games for using PEDs. Two suspensions you say? That sounds like a player the Las Vegas Raiders would love.
- Raiders get: Jameson Williams
- Lions get: 2025 third-round pick (68th overall)
The Raiders do have Brock Bowers, but when it comes to actual wide receivers, they don’t have much behind Jakobi Meyers. Adding Williams would give Geno Smith a speedy receiver to work with during his first year in Vegas.
The Eagles have been noncommittal about Goedert’s future with the team, so it won’t be surprising at all if they decide to trade him away during the draft. One team that could make a call is the Jets. After letting Tyler Conklin leave in free agency, the Jets now have Jeremy Ruckert at the top of the depth chart at tight end, a player who only has 35 career receptions. Due to that lack of experience, it would make sense for the Jets to pull the trigger here and acquire Goedert.
- Jets get: Dallas Goedert
- Eagles get: 2025 fourth-round pick (110th overall)
Adding Goedert would be huge for Justin Fields, who loves to utilize his tight ends. During Fields’ six starts with the Steelers last season, Pat Freiermuth had at least four receptions in four of those games. To put that in perspective, Freiermuth only had at least four receptions in four of 11 games with Russell Wilson.
During a pre-draft press conference last week, Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta was asked if Andrews might get traded during the draft and he definitely didn’t shoot down the speculation.
“Oh man. I never know what’s gonna happen … I would never want to say this or that,” he said.
That’s definitely not a ‘No.’
With the Ravens open to a deal, the Rams call up and make an offer:
- Rams get: Mark Andrews
- Ravens get: 2025 fourth-round pick (127th overall), 2025 sixth-round pick (202nd overall)
The Rams could look to use their first-round pick (26th overall) on one of the draft’s top tight ends in Colston Loveland or Tyler Warren, but if those two both get taken before the Rams are on the clock, then making a trade for Andrews might be their best bet. Not only would Andrews bring a lot of experience to L.A., but he’d be a solid red zone target for Matthew Stafford. Although Andrews struggled some with drops in 2024, he did catch 11 touchdown passes, which led all tight ends and was tied for the fourth-most in the NFL last year.
At this point, it seems like a given that Ramsey is going to be traded this week. Dolphins general manager Chris Grier recently admitted that the team is looking to trade him even though the star corner didn’t technically even request a trade.
“Jalen did not ask for a trade,” Grier said last week. “So, we went through the process and just felt that after numerous conversations and then talking last week with Jalen and his agent, that it was best to move forward. And [it’s the] best interest of the Miami Dolphins and for Jalen Ramsey.”
The team that acquires Ramsey will owe him $21.1 million in guaranteed money in 2025, so his new team will have to have some salary cap space, which is one reason why the 49ers would be a solid option (They have $38.6 million in cap space, according to Over the Cap).
Here’s the proposed deal:
- 49ers get: Jalen Ramsey
- Dolphins get: 2025 third-round pick (100th overall), 2025 seventh-round pick (227th overall)
The 49ers are going into the draft with 11 picks, which is tied for the most in the NFL, so they definitely have some draft capital that they could used in a potential trade.
One reason San Francisco might be interested is because the 49ers coaching staff is familiar with Ramsey: The cornerback was drafted by the Jaguars in 2016 and Jacksonville’s head coach at the time was Gus Bradley, who’s now the assistant head coach in San Francisco. Also, 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh was Jacksonville’s linebackers coach in 2016, so he also has some familiarity with Ramsey.
The 49ers have seemingly been trying to cut costs this offseason, but if they want to prove that they’re serious about making a Super Bowl run, they could do that by adding Ramsey.
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Author: John Breech
April 23, 2025 | 6:00 pm
