Question:

Why are there never any in season trades in football? With all the injuries the patriots have you'd think they would try and get some healthy replacements from teams not in the playoff hunt - similar to baseball. In all other sports if you lost a main cog of your lineup and you were a potential championship team you could be sure those teams would try and trade to replace the lost piece. It's not just the patriots - no one else makes trades either. Is there a rule in football preventing trades during the season?

DZ

Trades happen....just not as frequently as in other sports.

Indy traded with Cleveland earlier this season for Trent Richardson earlier this season.

and in all honesty....what are the patriots going to trade away? They are slim at all positions pretty much.

dobson can go... i call him dropson

It's difficult to trade players during the season because football teams have such different game plans and each player has to work together on each play. The players spend the entire offseason learning their teams offensive or defensive plays and they all need to know what the other players on their team are going to do on each snap. If a guy gets traded from the Chargers to the Jets, he'll have to learn a whole new set of plays which the other guys on the team have been using for months. It's much more of an adjustment than in other sports.

The trade deadline is pretty early in football
i believe it is in October sometime

only solution is free agency or cast offs

Bye the time a team gets to see if their players are good to keep or not or what teams may want them and who's hurt, the trade deadline has passed. Also , if a guy is available for trade there is a reason one team is willing to let him go. Buyer beware! I think the deadline was end of October this year.

Football seems to have some strange rules - sound like the owners have most of the leverage over the player unions. You'd think that teams that have no chance to make the playoffs would start waiving high priced players that they don't want to re-sign similar to baseball/basketball. Thanks for all the responses.

DZ

I don't get this.... Colts just signed Deion Branch. Granted he hasn't played for anyone all year, but I'm surprised that a team can add to a roster during the play offs.

He may not even see the field this Saturday. He was probably signed as insurance for the receiver who got hurt against the Chiefs. He won't even be able to give them much intel, as he didn't play in this current Patriots season with this offense.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I think Branch was not attached in any way to any team. he wasn't traded or traded for etc. Simply a guy like anyone off the street so they can sign him for an open spot in their roster..