The 2026 trade deadline was an eventful one around the NFL. The New York Jets were only involved in one deal, occurring the day before the actual deadline, but they were mentioned in various reports as having been contacted for potential trades.
Did the Jets handle the deadline correctly?
Trading S Andre Cisco to Detroit for 2029 sixth-round pick
The Jets’ only trade was to send safety Andre Cisco to the Detroit Lions for a sixth-round pick, which was initially reported as a 2028 selection, but has since been updated to a 2029 choice.
Cisco was among the Jets’ expendable players. He is a veteran backup on an expiring contract, and there are young safeties behind him on the depth chart, including rookie VJ Payne, who is on the verge of making his debut after dealing with an injury over the first nine games. If the team could land anything for Cisco, taking it made sense at 2-7.
Grade: B+
Not trading Will McDonald
It seems clear that the New York Jets attracted interest for edge rusher Will McDonald. Multiple reports indicated as much, while numerous defensive linemen were traded around the league.
The uncertainty lies in what the Jets were actually offered for McDonald. A report from the New York Post indicated that the Jets were offered a second-round pick for the 27-year-old.
If the Jets truly declined a second-rounder for McDonald, the decision deserves a big fat F. McDonald is a backup whose role and production have both dwindled since last season. The team already seems uncommitted to him in the future; he is under contract for 2028 on his fifth-year option, but the team has not discussed an extension. With a war chest of assets, plus second-overall pick David Bailey already on the team and $36 million starter Joseph Ossai ideally healthy, McDonald will be even more hard-pressed to find snaps in 2027.
If the Jets were actually offered much less than a second-rounder, we can cut them slightly more slack, but it still arguably made sense to take whatever they could get for McDonald.
The fourth-year edge rusher is a one-dimensional player who hasn’t done much in that one dimension this season. If they think he is going to improve his stock over the next eight games before trading him in the offseason, how do they think that will happen if his snap count remains low? Why didn’t they play him more snaps in Week 9 to boost his stock before the deadline? Especially with Joseph Ossai still out?
Not to mention, the Jets are risking that McDonald could get injured and lower his stock further, even if it was already lower than a second-rounder.
This non-trade makes little to no sense. At 2-7, the Jets had an opportunity to trade a highly expendable player for future assets, with some reports indicating that a premium asset was there to be had, and they held onto him despite hardly using him on gamedays.
Grade: F+
Not trading Geno Smith
As expected, the Minnesota Vikings reportedly called the Jets about Geno Smith. New York was among multiple teams that Minnesota called regarding the quarterback position.
The Vikings eventually settled for a reunion with Kirk Cousins, acquiring him from the Las Vegas Raiders for a 2027 third-round pick. This sets the market for what New York probably could have netted for Smith, especially since Smith himself was acquired by Las Vegas for the same package last year.
The Jets are wise for standing pat. Smith is an above-average veteran starting quarterback, and that’s worth more to them than a third-round pick, even as they sit at 2-7.
Smith carries immense value to the organization’s future, both in the short term and looking toward 2027. In the present, Smith allows the Jets’ plethora of young weapons to be properly evaluated and developed. Moving forward, Smith makes perfect sense as a bridge quarterback to mentor a first-round signal-caller and hold the fort down until he is ready.
While Smith is a free agent, the Jets can get a head start on re-signing him if they keep him around. They can promise a starting spot, a generous contract, and, most likely, a new head coach and offensive scheme. If the Jets traded Smith, the bridge would be burned, and they would be hard-pressed to find a veteran starter who could be nearly as effective as Smith has been this year.
Trading Smith would put the development of the Jets’ young players on hold until 2027. Key young weapons like Omar Cooper Jr., Adonai Mitchell, and Kenyon Sadiq would have to suffer through eight games with a hopeless fourth-round rookie in Cade Klubnik at quarterback.
The Jets don’t need to “see what they have” in Klubnik. They saw in the preseason, when Klubnik posted a 65.4 passer rating across a three-game, 40-dropback sample size against preseason competition, and they see him in practice every day. He’s a fourth-round pick; he isn’t ready to lead a team. If he was, the Jets might have been eager to trade Smith.
Sticking with Smith is smart business.
Grade: A
Not trading anyone else
It’s hard to knock the Jets for any other non-trades, given the lack of reporting beyond the McDonald and Smith interest, but overall, it’s mildly surprising that the Jets were unable to fetch returns for anyone besides Cisco.
The Jets have a litany of expendable veterans, including Harrison Phillips, Nahshon Wright, and Tim Patrick. It’s safe to say that none of those players will be receiving MVP votes this year, but in a world where the Jets have been able to trade players like Irvin Charles and Jordan Willis, they likely could have received a conditional late-round pick for at least one of those players.
Of course, though, this is speculative. It is conceivable that nobody around the NFL was interested in any of those players; they’re expendable to a 2-7 team for a reason.
Still, at 2-7, the Jets should have been aggressive sellers at the deadline, yet it seems as if they clutched a little too tightly to their players. It smells like the head coach might be prioritizing winning games now to try to save his job, although, again, it’s all speculation without knowing what went on behind closed doors.
