The time is now for the Commanders to go all in with a splashy trade

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Good morning, Winners! Hope you’re having a great week so far. You’ve made it to Wednesday. Congratulations.

The NFL’s trade deadline is still weeks away, yet the league was booming on Tuesday with a handful of trades that shook the league up.

The big one was Davante Adams going to the Jets. It was also probably the move everyone mostly saw coming — it was a matter of “when” and not “if,” considering how badly Aaron Rodgers was begging for it to happen.

MORE ON THE ADAMS DEAL: Rodgers is now officially out of excuses following this deal

There was also the Bills trade for Amari Cooper that kind of took folks by surprise. The Vikings made a move for Cam Akers (again), too.

This sort of trade explosion usually isn’t the status quo for the NFL. Normally, teams around the league are hesitant to make deals because of the financial implications from potential dead cap hits. Nobody wants to pay somebody who isn’t there anymore.

But the times are changing, it seems. And there’s a particular team in mind that needs to ride the wave: The Washington Commanders.

Washington is in the perfect position to make a splashy deal right now to improve its team.

At 4-2, the Commanders are atop the NFC East and one of the best teams in the conference. And, after a tough loss to the Ravens, it’s clear Washington isn’t too far away from competing in the upper echelon of the NFL. If there was ever a time to make a big move and go for it all, it’s now.

The Commanders have nine picks in the 2025 NFL draft to use as trade bait. The team has $26 million in cap space to work with and doesn’t have an expensive contract on its books. Plus, Washington has the most productive quarterback in the league in Jayden Daniels playing out the first year of a rookie deal.

The argument against it is likely that it’s simply too soon. We’re only six weeks into the season and, despite Daniels’ production, it’s valid to ask how much you can trust a rookie quarterback to lead an offense into a deep playoff run. Practicing patience in a situation like this is always a smart thing to do.

But I’d also argue that making a trade here could be a boon for Daniels and an improving Commanders’ offense. Make a deal to improve the defense, and the margin for error will grow offensively. Make a trade to improve the offense and an already strong unit just gets even stronger.

Patience is great. But going all-in makes a lot of sense, too. Especially when you’re not really losing much of anything by doing it.

There are plenty of solid trade candidates that can help plenty of teams. If I’m Washington, I’m on the phone constantly over the next couple of weeks trying to make something shake.

Aaron Judge has finally arrived

The Yankees have looked great this postseason, but the team’s best player has not.

For as good as New York has been in its trot through the American League so far, Aaron Judge’s presence in the run has felt remarkably absent. Heading into Game 2 of the ALCS Judge was batting .133 in 15 at-bats with an OPS of .564. That’s not very good.

Last night, he was very good.

Judge hit his first homer of the postseason with this knock into centerfield to push the Yankees’ lead to 6-2 in the 7th.

The Yankees needed this to happen. They probably would’ve won without Judge’s homer but, if they’re going to win the World Series, New York is going to need Judge playing at his absolute best to do it.

Yankees fans have to be thrilled to see him finally breaking through here.

MORE ON JUDGE’S FIRST HOMER: Aaron Judge’s postseason slump might officially be over.

Everything Tom Brady can’t do

Tom Brady is officially a partial owner of the Las Vegas Raiders. With that said, it’s now incredibly hard for him to do his job in the broadcast booth for Fox.

As a partial owner, Brady is subject to NFL league rules, which restrict his ability to do certain essential things that make for a good broadcast.

Brady is basically showing up at Fox’s booth on Sundays to collect a check. Our Andrew Joseph says his new role makes it impossible for him to be a good broadcaster:

“According to ESPN, Brady won’t be allowed in non-Raiders facilities (besides the stadiums he works to call games from). He can’t watch practices. He can’t attend broadcast production meetings in any capacity, which is a massive restriction on an announcer as those meetings are used to craft talking points and insight to carry a broadcast for three-plus hours.

He also can’t criticize game officials or other teams, which, again, is a wild limit to put on a broadcaster. He’d basically have to watch a potential game-changing missed call and either stay quiet or deflect blame away from the refs. That’s just a terrible disservice to viewers.

We’ll have to see how this all plays out on Sundays. But it can’t be good, particularly for a novice broadcaster like Brady. We may be at the point where we wonder if Brady is bad or just contractually limited to be bad at a job that is paying him $375 million over a decade.”

Either Tom Brady is about to face a lot of fines or our broadcasts are about to be as bland as unseasoned boiled eggs.

Quick hits: Shedeur Sanders to the Browns … RIP Johnny Gaudreau … and more

— Here’s Charles Curtis on ESPN’s latest NFL mock draft sending Shedeur Sanders to the Browns

— Sean Monahan pointing to Johnny Gaudreau’s banner after he scored was so beautiful and painful at the same time.

— What can Iowa be this year without Caitlin Clark in college hoops? Our Mitchell Northam explores that here.

— Could Myles Garrett be on the move? Our Charles Curtis speculates here.

— Cory Woodroof put together five landing spots for Haason Reddick.

— The Clippers’ new arena looks so awesome. Bryan Kalbrosky has more.

That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading. Have a fantastic day. Peace.

-Sykes ✌️