The NFL trade deadline has passed and several big moves are shaking up the fantasy football landscape. This is every trade we saw at the deadline and the fantasy football fallout.

▶ Kirk Cousins returns to Minnesota

After watching Carson Wentz melt down on national television, the Vikings had to make a splash at quarterback. They did so by reuniting with Kirk Cousins at the cost of a third-round pick. Cousins is currently the QB12 in EPA per play at .212. Wentz’s pitiful performance dropped him to dead last (QB39) at -.243. Kyler Murray, who is currently dealing with a hamstring issue, is QB29 at -.011. Cousins is coming from a very favorable system in Klint Kubiak’s offense, but it’s hard to imagine his numbers drastically falling now that he’s throwing to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. Cousins was in the midst of an incredible year the last time he played in Minnesota. He was the QB6 in EPA per play in 2023 before a torn Achilles ended his season. Cousins was on pace for 4,953 yards and 38 touchdowns. His return will be season-altering for fantasy drafters rostering Jefferson. It will also do numbers for Addison and T.J. Hockenson.

With Cousins under center, Jefferson has averaged 20.2 PPR points per game during his career. Addison is at a stellar 18.4 and Hockenson is at 12.6. Jefferson is back in the WR1 ranks and might push for a WR1 overall ranking from Week 10 onward. Addison is also a massive winner, while Hockenson is still a TE2, but a much better one.

▶ Fernando Mendoza takes over

Because of the Cousins trade, Fernando Mendoza will take over under center for the rest of the year. Anyone who tells you they know how things will go in Vegas is lying, but I can confidently say that he will be set up to succeed. The Raiders use motion at a high rate and draw defenses into the box only to throw against them at one of the highest rates in the league. Cousins is also 13th in play-action rate despite the team losing more games than they’re winning, meaning Kubiak doesn’t buy into the idea that the ground game has to be established to benefit from play-action. Cousins went from unplayable in Atlanta to the Vikings’ savior after eight weeks of Kubiak ball. With matchups against the Seahawks and Broncos on tap, Mendoza isn’t a great streaming option right now, but he’s worth adding in all Superflex leagues regardless of the schedule.

▶ Chiefs save Josh Downs from Indianapolis

Down bad at wide receiver, the Chiefs ponied up fourth- and fifth-round picks for Josh Downs. I don’t think this solves all of the team’s problems. In particular, they still don’t profile as a team that will beat defenses over the top. Downs has eight receptions 10+ yards downfield this year. For reference, Travis Kelce has nine such grabs. Downs had 13 catches beyond nine yards downfield last year. He does, however, cover another massive hole in Kansas City’s offense.

Downs is top 30th in the league in yards per route run against man coverage this year despite playing on a truly awful offense. Tyquan Thornton, who is out for the year, was second in the NFL in YPRR against man. Downs might not lead the Chiefs in targets going forward, but he gives the team a true No. 2 receiver at worst. Rashee Rice, on the other hand, can no longer rely on simply being spammed low aDOT looks to post WR1 numbers. He could tumble down the WR2 ranks if the Downs trade is a success.

▶ 49ers add receiver depth

The 49ers added some much-needed depth to their wide receiver room via Keenan Allen. With Deebo Samuel and Mike Evans banged up, Ricky Pearsall out for the year, and De’Zhaun Stribling on IR indefinitely, Kyle Shanhanan’s cupboards were as bare as it gets. Allen won’t change the room overnight, but he gives the team some much-needed floor until other pass-catchers get healthy. Evans has missed two games with Achilles tendinitis and is still 12th in EPA among wide receivers. That’s because he’s 20th in first downs. Allen isn’t that far behind at 32nd. He could take over Evans’ high-leverage targets role until the latter gets past the Achilles issue, which might take a while. That would put Allen in the WR3 mix for the time being.

The Downs and Allen trades leave Indy with nothing at wide receiver. Aston Dulin and Laquon Treadwell are their top wideouts now. This means we should get a Trey McBride-level role for Tyler Warren down the stretch, but it will come in the context of potentially the league’s worst offense.

▶ Jacoby Brissett lands in Baltimore

This move technically happened last week, but it was the other big trade that went down ahead of the deadline. Jacoby Brissett wasn’t particularly effective in Arizona before getting benched. He is currently 27th out of 39 quarterbacks in EPA per play and the Cardinals went 3-5 with him as the starter. On the other hand, if you lower the plays threshold to 50, Joey Fagnano gets an island all to himself at the bottom of this chart.

He’s 2026’s worst quarterback by EPA per play and it’s not a remotely close race. For fantasy purposes, we just want Brissett to get the ball to Zay Flowers, and he’s more than capable of doing that. Pro Football Focus has charted 61 percent of his throws as accurate. That’s the 14th-best rate in the league. Flowers will hold on as a WR2, even if the WR1 days might be over.

▶ Jonathan Taylor stays put

The Colts held their ground on Taylor and ultimately kept him despite receiving an offer of a second-round pick plus another selection. That means not much is changing for Taylor outside of the offense getting even worse with the top two receivers now gone. Over his entire career, Taylor has averaged 22.2 points per game in Colts wins compared to 14.7 in losses.

That really says 109 rushing yards per game when the Colts win. This isn’t unique to Taylor. Almost every running back in the league wants to rack up carries in the second half of an easy win over the Titans. But that’s not going to happen for Taylor much, if at all, over the second half of the season. I would bet against him posting RB1 numbers from Week 10 onward.

▶ Jags hang on to Brian Thomas Jr.

The other notable non-trade was the Jags keeping Brian Thomas Jr. The Chiefs were reportedly in the mix, but the Jags are going all-in and turned down every offer. BTJ’s last out to a meaningful fantasy season was a trade. He is currently 84th among qualified receivers in yards per route run and the Jags are only putting him on the field for half of their passing plays. He can be cut loose in most redraft formats.