9 Detroit Lions trade targets after missing out on Joey Porter Jr.

With that said, in-season trades are difficult to pull off for a myriad of reasons. To start, you have to find a team that is willing to part with a player that, in most cases, can help them in the present—meaning the selling team is not concerned about its roster taking a temporary stepback after trading away a productive player. This requires a front office to have some pretty warm and fuzzy feelings in regards to their overall job security. Rarely is a coach or general manager going to be happy about making their roster worse when they are trying to save their jobs.

Adding draft picks for your replacement to use when you are looking for another job? Not as much fun!

Secondly, the financial aspect of the deal has to make sense for both sides. For instance, let's say there is a young, established player that just signed a lucrative extension in the offseason. In this example, if the team starts off performing below expectations, they may elect to focus on future assets rather than their current roster. While they may now be looking beyond 2026, trading this example player likely would harm the organization from a salary cap standpoint. Especially so if they have a lot of guarantees tied to the contract, resulting in potentially a chunk of dead salary cap that the team has to eat in the following league year.