Lions trade deadline analysis: Most of last 10 Super Bowl winners didn’t add needle-mover
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Well, it’s Groundhog Day. Again.
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The Detroit Lions were unwilling to part with meaningful draft capital to significantly improve their team at the 2026 NFL trade deadline.
This is despite being third in their division with a 6-2 record.
Despite the first-place Chicago Bears adding All-Pro defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons to fix their biggest deficiency, and the second-place Minnesota Vikings coughing up a third-round pick to fix theirs by acquiring quarterback Kirk Cousins.
Despite losing an All-Pro veteran linebacker indefinitely and a promising rookie linebacker for the season.
Despite relying on a rotation at cornerback opposite D.J. Reed, who turns 30 on Wednesday, missed six games last season with a hamstring injury, couldn’t play in the last game because of a hip injury, and might not play against the New England Patriots this week, either.
Despite once again having an offense among the league’s best, with a run game that can carry a team through a deep playoff run.
General manager Brad Holmes has only made one notable deadline move during his tenure, moving a fifth- and sixth-rounder for pass rusher Za’Darius Smith in 2024. This year, his one move was adding safety Andre Cisco, who can help provide insurance for the impending return of safety Kerby Joseph, for a 2029 sixth-round pick. Whoopie.
We don’t even need to hear from Holmes to presume what went down. They like their guys; other teams like their own guys and drove a hard bargain; it has to be the right fit. And I imagine a lot of you were boiling over with anger, watching the clock creep toward 4 p.m., with those lines bouncing around in your heads.
Because unlike in years past, nobody was asking for Maxx Crosby. In fact, most fans were pretty reasonable about simply wanting to add depth to their weakest positions.
That turnaround from the cornerbacks? Well, it needs the added context of playing some of the league’s worst passing offenses, save Green Bay, which was an objectively impressive performance by Detroit’s secondary.
Following injuries to Jack Campbell and Jimmy Rolder, the Lions had a pretty big need at linebacker going into the deadline, too.
The unit was one of the team’s worst performers during their early-season struggles, especially in coverage.
A perfect fit for what the team needs did emerge in former Los Angeles Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley, a former safety in the final season of his rookie deal who was moved within his division to the Denver Broncos for a 2027 fourth-round pick and a 2028 fifth-round pick.
The cornerback market never materialized — Joey Porter Jr. is the only cornerback to be traded since the start of the season — but if you want to be mad about missing out on Henley or another depth linebacker piece, I can’t blame you.
The Lions are currently one injury away from being forced to play Amen Ogbongbemiga (three career starts in six seasons) or Joe Bachie (seven starts in seven seasons) 30-plus snaps a game.
It’s reasonable to expect a certain level of aggression from a regime that hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2023 season and is in an extremely competitive — but winnable — NFC North race. I wholeheartedly believe it’s a mistake not to have landed a linebacker with starting experience.
But here’s the part where I either break the dial on your anger meter or turn it down a few notches by diving into all the deadline moves made by the last 10 Super Bowl winners.
Moves made by last 10 Super Bowl winners
▶ 2025 Seahawks: Acquired WR Rashid Shaheed for a 2026 4th-round pick and a 2026 5th-round pick
Shaheed was a great pickup for the Seahawks last season, but strictly in a kick and punt return capacity. In nine regular season games, he had one kick-return touchdown and one punt-return touchdown before taking the opening kickoff of Seattle’s divisional round win against the San Francisco 49ers to the house for a touchdown.
▶ 2024 Eagles: No deadline acquisitions made
The Eagles didn’t make any acquisitions at the 2024 deadline and rolled to a Super Bowl title, defeating their four playoff opponents by a combined score of 145-77.
▶ 2023 Chiefs: Acquired WR Mecole Hardman and a 2025 6th-round pick for a 2025 7th-round pick
Over six regular-season games for Kansas City, Hardman caught just 14 passes for 118 yards. In the playoffs, he caught five passes for 62 yards and a touchdown but fumbled twice.
▶ 2022 Chiefs: Acquired WR Kadarius Toney for a 2023 3rd-round pick and a 2023 6th-round pick
Toney had 171 receiving yards in seven regular-season games (24.4 yards per game) and recorded 50 receiving yards with a touchdown in three playoff games.
▶ 2021 Rams: Acquired OLB Von Miller for a 2022 2nd-round pick and a 2022 3rd-round pick
Miller is the biggest success story of this group. He had five sacks in eight regular-season games for the Rams, plus four more in the playoffs, including two in the Super Bowl.
▶ 2020 Buccaneers: Acquired DT Steve McLendon and a 2023 7th-round pick for a 2022 6th-round pick
Another depth add for a late-round pick swap, McLendon made 17 tackles, including two for-loss, in the regular season, plus five tackles in the playoffs. A valuable player, but not one that really moves the needle.
▶ 2019 Chiefs: No deadline acquisitions made
The 2019 Chiefs also did not make any deadline moves en route to being the No. 1 seed and destroying teams in the playoffs by a combined score of 117-75, including an 11-point victory in the Super Bowl.
▶ 2018 Patriots: No deadline acquisitions made
The 2018 Patriots were another one-seed that won the Super Bowl by double digits after not making a deadline move.
Now, they did get an insanely fortunate bounce in the AFC Championship when Dee Ford lined up offsides to give New England life, but even if it would have been the Chiefs who won it all, the story remains: Kansas City didn’t make any deadline moves that year, either.
▶ 2017 Eagles: Acquired RB Jay Ajayi for a 2018 4th-round pick
Ajayi was a worthwhile pickup for the Eagles, rushing for 408 yards and a touchdown over seven regular-season games, and another 184 yards in the playoffs.
▶ 2016 Patriots: Acquired OLB Kyle Van Noy and a 2017 7th-round pick for a 2017 6th-round pick
Another depth add for a late-round pick swap, Van Noy started just two regular-season games for New England in 2016, recording one sack. But he did give the Patriots 103 playoff snaps and had a half-sack in the Super Bowl against Atlanta before earning a starting job the following season and becoming a really good player.
Disappointing, but not a death sentence
I’ll reiterate that it’s disappointing the Lions couldn’t find an additional defensive piece to add to this group, even if Cisco can ultimately help cover up some of the Lions’ deficiencies at corner. I just don’t feel great about the Lions’ linebacker depth with most of the divisional slate remaining.
But also, of the 10 Super Bowl winners we just went through, only one team (Rams) acquired a true needle-mover (Miller).
Three other acquisitions (Van Noy, Ajayi, McLendon) were rotational players. Three teams didn’t make a move at all. Two of the last three champions acquired a player who essentially busted upon arrival (Hardman, Toney). Shaheed was a nice addition but primarily featured on special teams.
And none of them acquired more than one player or gave up a first-round pick.
If you want to argue that Cisco was the wrong add, I’ll buy that, too.
But while the totality of the moves made by Detroit and the teams around them will certainly make the path to the division title and Super Bowl a bit more difficult, history suggests it wasn’t a death sentence.
@nolanbianchi
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Lions trade deadline analysis: Most of last 10 Super Bowl winners didn’t add needle-mover