Sunday marked the beginning of the NFL's in-season trading window. We saw the first moderately significant swap of October when the Falcons quietly shipped linebacker Deion Jones to the Browns for a swap of late-round picks. The move essentially was a salary dump for a player the Falcons have been trying to move all summer and had already paid an $8.5 million bonus in September. With Cleveland linebacker Anthony Walker done for the year (left knee), the team needed another off-ball linebacker to play alongside Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.
We only have to go back to last year to see how trades help mold the postseason.