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NFL trade deadline pushed back to after Week 9

The Steelers' proposal to move the deadline back one week was approved

Sean Leahy
Contributing writer
·2 min read
49

The NFL trade deadline will be moving to the Tuesday after Week 9 beginning with the 2024 season.

The rule change was approved Tuesday during the NFL's annual meetings. Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry submitted a proposal, supported by the Detroit Lions, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders, to move the trade deadline back two weeks after Week 10.

But it was the Pittsburgh Steelers' proposal — pushing it back only one week — that garnered the three-fourths approval needed to pass.

Part of the reasoning behind Berry's idea was that it would give teams the most flexibility heading toward the second half of the regular season. It would also maintain the competitive integrity of the season and allow teams more time before they throw in the towel and begin selling off their roster.

Berry also noted that the trade deadline was never adjusted when the NFL changed the regular season to 18 weeks.

"Our proposal [Berry's original Week 10 trade deadline idea] would move it to about 55% of the games played," Berry said. "And, oh by the way, over the last 10 years the earliest that a team has been eliminated from postseason consideration has been Week 11, and that happened in 2014 and 2016. If you look over the last three [seasons], 27 or more teams are actually within two games of a wild-card spot.

"We felt that was the sweet spot where we can add additional flexibility, be proactive in terms of how we're thinking about it, but could also be at a time where teams are still competitive as they thought about the current season."

Since 2012, the NFL trade deadline has been scheduled for the Tuesday after Week 8. This coming season, teams will have until 4 p.m. ET on Nov. 5 to consummate any deals ahead of the beginning of the second half of the regular season.