The Washington Commanders are having a fire sale. And apparently, last one out turns off the lights.
The Commanders traded away two cornerstone defensive players before Tuesday’s trade deadline, first shipping lineman Montez Sweat to the Chicago Bears, then edge rusher Chase Young to the San Francisco 49ers.
Maybe the most surprising thing was what they got in return for Young: a conditional third-round draft pick (49ers acquire edge rusher Chase Young from the Commanders).
Here’s a round-up of Tuesday’s deals (49ers land Young, Bears get Montez Sweat as Commanders unload top pass rushers), and here’s the short version:
- Quarterback Joshua Dobbs, who helped the Arizona Cardinals upset the Dallas Cowboys earlier this season, filling in for then-injured Kyler Murray, was traded to Minnesota to take the place of starter Kirk Cousins, who was diagnosed with a torn Achilles after being injured last Sunday in a win at Green Bay. The Vikings are .500 (4-4) after wins over the 49ers and Packers. It’s his seventh NFL team.
- Speaking of the Packers, they sent Rasul Douglas, a cornerback, and a fifth-round pick to Buffalo for a fourth-round pick. Douglas will replace Tre’Davious White at Buffalo, another Achilles tendon-tear-victim, in the first game of this month, their home win over Miami.
- Sweat isn’t going to a contender – at least, the Bears don’t appear to be a contender, at 2-6. But he only had the current year on his contract, and he’ll be a free agent. The Commanders would get nothing for him in return if they hadn’t traded him now, similar to a lot of deals made on the trade deadline each year. Sweat is a former first-round pick.
- The Bears weren’t the only team in the NFC North to make a move. Detroit, leading the division with a 6-2 record, traded a sixth-round pick to Cleveland for wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones. Peoples-Jones has just eight catches this year for 97 yards.
- Jacksonville upgraded their offensive line by trading for Ezra Cleveland, a left guard who was previously a long-term starter for the Vikings.
