Field Gulls
The NFL season has effectively reached the midway point, with Week 9 action wrapping up Monday evening when the Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys face off on Monday Night Football.
Once the Cardinals and Cowboys wrap up their game, there won’t be a shortage of content in the NFL news cycle, though, as even in the absence of on field action until Thursday, the 4 pm New York time trade deadline is certain to drive rumors, reports and perhaps even some actual news of real trades.
With that in mind, the Philadelphia Eagles made yet another acquisition ahead of the trade deadline, agreeing Monday morning to acquire Jaelen Phillips from the Miami Dolphins, according to a report from NFL insider Ian Rapoport.
As Rapoport notes, the Dolphins agreed to take on part of Phillips’ compensation in exchange for greater trade compensation from the Eagles. This is nothing new or groundbreaking, and, in fact, has become more common in recent years as teams effectively trade draft capital for cap space.
However, it does bring up an important note that is worth keeping in mind with the trade deadline looming Tuesday. Specifically, trades such as this one which include the trading team keeping salary of the player being traded must be agreed to Monday, as once the clock hits 4 pm New York time Monday afternoon, the ability for a trading team to take on salary before sending a player away disappears.
The reason for this is because the league only allows one transaction per player per day, and the restructuring of a contract is considered a transaction. Thus, in order for a team to take on salary before trading a player today, the restructured contract must be submitted to the league office ahead of the transaction deadline at 4 pm New York time Monday, allowing the trade itself to be submitted and processed on Tuesday.
This is exactly what has happened in recent seasons, with deals such as the Phillips trade today, the trade of Von Miller from the Denver Broncos to the Los Angeles Rams in 2021 and the acquisition of Leonard Williams by the Seahawks in 2023.
In short, if a trade isn’t reported until later Monday evening or on Tuesday, there’s no need to even inquire as to whether the trading team is keeping salary because the availability to structure things in such a way as to make that happen expires at 4 pm New York time Monday, a full 24 hours ahead of the NFL trade deadline of 4 pm New York time Tuesday.
