NFL GMs are busy this week as the number of days until the 2022 regular season enters single digits.
While teams downshift from 80 to 53 players this week, the cuts are only part of the never-ending process that is NFL roster construction. Players exit, new players enter.
Some of these new faces are acquired via trade – not free agency, despite the influx of hundreds of players finding their way on the unemployment line this week.
Let’s take a look at players who will be wearing new helmets this year thanks to a preseason trade as well as others who might be on the move before the Bills and Rams kick off the 2022 NFL season at SoFi Stadium on Sept. 8:
Eagles send Jalen Reagor to Minnesota
Former first-round pick Jalen Reagor was traded by the Philadelphia Eagles for the Minnesota Vikings' 2023 seventh-round pick and a 2024 conditional fourth-round pick, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.
The 23-year-old wideout has 64 catches for 695 yards and three touchdowns over his first two seasons.
Selected No. 21 overall in the 2020 draft, Reagor will team with two-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Justin Jefferson, who was drafted by Minnesota with the pick after Reagor.
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Eagles acquire Chauncey Gardner-Johnson
Safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, better known as C.J. Gardner-Johnson, is moving from the Big Easy to the City of Brotherly Love after the Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints completed the first major trade of the 2022 NFL season.
Gardner-Johnson enters his fourth season in 2022 and is looking for a contract extension – one that the Saints were unwilling to give him.
The Eagles received a new starting safety in the deal as well as the Saints’ 2025 seventh-round draft pick in exchange for a 2023 fifth-round pick and a 2024 sixth-round pick.
Patriots roster cut tracker: Latest releases, news on cutdown day
Steelers nab pass rusher Malik Reed from Broncos
Outside linebacker Malik Reed will have a new home in 2022 after the Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh agreed to a trade that is reportedly in exchange for a late-round draft pick.
Reed, who enters his fourth NFL season this fall, has 15 career sacks and is expected to add depth to Pittsburgh’s pass rush.
Colts trade LB Grant Stuard
The Indianapolis Colts pulled off a deal on Tuesday morning with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Colts are sending a sixth-round pick in 2023 to Tampa Bay in exchange for LB Grant Stuard and a 2023 seventh-round pick.
Stuard, the 2021 NFL Draft Mr. Irrelevant, is expected to give the Colts depth at linebacker as Shaquille Leonard recuperates from an injury. He recorded 16 tackles in his first and only NFL season.
Panthers deal for WR Laviska Shenault
Baker Mayfield will be under center for Carolina in 2022 after an offseason trade, but thanks to a late preseason deal, he won’t be the only newcomer in the Panthers offense.
Carolina acquired WR Laviska Shenault Jr. from the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday. The third-year receiver joins an offense that features RB Christian McCaffery and WRs DJ Moore, Robbie Anderson and Rashard Higgins. Shenault, the No. 42 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, had 63 catches for 619 yards last season for a Jaguars team that wound up with the league’s worst record.
RB Alexander Mattison, WR Darius Slayton among NFL trade targets
Two notable players who could still be on the move are Vikings running back Alexander Mattison and Giants WR Darius Slayton.
Mattison, who is entering the final year of his contract in Minnesota, is a highly sought-after player. As many as 12 teams have reportedly called to express interest in trading for the fourth-year running back, according to Chris Tomasson of The Pioneer Press.
It’s unclear if the Giants will move on from Slayton if a trade market doesn’t materialize for the former West Virginia product.
A few other players who could be looking at new teams eventually in 2022 are New England Patriots WR Kendrick Bourne, New York Jets WR Denzel Mims, and Chicago Bears offensive tackle Teven Jenkins.