When is the NFL Trade Deadline?

It's common in sports for teams to be able to trade players and/or draft picks to other teams in exchange for players, picks, or maybe even money. Trades happen all the time in sports and in the NFL, they can often be the biggest news depending on who's involved in the trade.

As is the case with other sports, there is a deadline for when NFL teams can make a trade. Some might argue that it's too early in the season and teams might not know if they should try to make a run for a playoff spot or if they should play it safe because it's in the first half of the season.

That forces teams to make a decision early on about where they see themselves. Are they a playoff contender and just need a few extra pieces to get there? Did they suffer a major injury to a position and need some relief in that department? If a team is struggling and know they're not going to contend, do they ship off their good players and get any sort of compensation in return? These are just a few of the questions teams have to ask themselves before the trade deadline.

NFL trade deadline in 2023

This year's deadline comes on Tuesday, October 31 at 4:00 PM EST, according to NFL Football Operations. The trade deadline hits after Week 8 of the regular season, meaning there are still 10 weeks to go before the playoffs begin. A lot can happen in 10 weeks and that's why it'd make sense for the league to bump back the deadline maybe two or three weeks to give teams more time to see if they need to make moves or not.

That doesn't appear to be happening anytime soon, however. Just know that for this year, Halloween will be both a day filled with trick or treating and last-minute trades.