How a pair of massive NFL trades will shape NFL Week 7

A flurry of big-name trades have stolen the headlines, but will a pair of newly-acquired wide receivers help their new teams in Week 7?

It was a week of presents, good and bad, around the NFL in Week 6. Firstly, talk about a bad 82nd birthday. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has seen a LOT in his time, but watching his US$81.25M QB Dak Prescott ‘lead’ his team to another blowout loss at home… making it four straight losses at home while allowing 167 points, which is the third-most in league history.

Ouch.

Not the start to the season the Cowboys were looking for pic.twitter.com/sVkw3QvUx0

— NFL on FOX Podcast (@NFLonFOXPod) October 16, 2024

Elsewhere, trade season might have finished in the AFL, but the NFL is just heating up.

We saw two big-name wide receivers find new homes with Davante Adams joining his old Green Bay running mate Aaron Rodgers in New York, with the Jets acquiring the disgruntled Raiders wideout and the Buffalo Bills trading 3rd-and-7th round draft picks for Cleveland Browns WR Amari Cooper to help out QB Josh Allen.

Running back Cam Akers was also traded from Houston to the Vikings for a 2026 conditional sixth-round pick and a 2026 conditional seventh-round pick, and considering how good Dameon Pierce looked backing up Joe Mixon for the Texans last week, that’s a move that makes plenty of sense.

First look at Davante Adams in a #Jets jersey 👀

(🎥 via @nyjets)
pic.twitter.com/JWN5LRz7RS

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 16, 2024

The two moves will hearten Jets and Bills fans, with Adams bolstering an offence that hasn’t exactly shone under Rodgers - with the Jets scoring 113 points through six weeks... the exact same as they’d scored through six weeks last season while helmed by Zac Wilson.

Buffalo also needed help in the wide receiver stakes, after relying on rookie Keon Coleman to this point, and Cooper will give Josh Allen an excellent veteran release valve as the Bills look to challenge for the AFC title.

As for the teams on the other side of those trades, it’s clear the Raiders (2-4) and Browns (1-5) are moving on from unnecessary pieces with their seasons looking all but cooked.

But even with those moves in the bag, NFL fans would’ve been rejoicing for the return of scoring, with nine of the 14 games in Week 6 featuring a team scoring at least 30 points, a far cry from the stuck-in-the-mud offences of the first month of the season.

It means that offence – as well as fantasy points and the favourites – are once more ascendant, with favourites edging up to 55% winners for the season to date, while total point overs are now above 52% for the year.

Week 6 Leaders put up BIG numbers! 🚀 pic.twitter.com/fW0twcXAWK

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 15, 2024

Outside of the offensive explosion of the past two weeks, the WR trades and the Cowboys struggles, following the Jets firing of coach Robert Saleh, the biggest stories this week have revolved around the remaining NFL coaches on the hot seat in Dallas and Jacksonville, with former Super Bow-winning coaches Mike McCarthy and Doug Pederson feeling the heat with wildly underwhelming squads.

On top of that, we saw some new QB faces under centre this week as the New England Patriots moved to rookie QB Drake Maye, Las Vegas rolled with Aidan O’Connell and the Saints were forced to turn to Spencer Rattler. All of them may have lost, but the Pats will be heartened by Maye’s performance - throwing for three TDs in his debut, more than previous QB Jacoby Brisset had thrown all season (2).

As is usual around Week 6, injuries are causing plenty of havoc, with names like Aidan Hutchinson, Travis Etienne Jr, Justin Simmons all hitting the injury list, as well as Darius Slay, Aussie Jordan Mailata, and Dallas Goedert all also popping up on the Eagles injury report, while Marvin Harrison Jr, Chris Olave and Patrick Surtain all went into the concussion protocol.

It means Week 7 delivers up an amazing slate of games as fans welcome back to the two remaining unbeaten 5-0 teams from byes in Kansas City and Minnesota, while another London game could see Doug Pederson out of a gig, and a couple of extremely tasty match-ups between would-be Super Bowl contenders.

Even the Friday game while looking pretty tough to stomach, features Broncos head coach Sean Payton’s returning to face his former team in New Orleans for the first time.

But on top of that, we get a rematch of last year’s Super Bowl, as the San Francisco 49ers host the Kansas City Chiefs.

So Jaymz Clements from NFL Straya previews Week 7 of the 2024 NFL season above, breaking down all the games for the weekend ahead, pointing out that this week has plenty for NFL fans to sink their teeth into.

As for the Aussie NFL players, Philly’s Jordan Mailiata will miss with his hamstring injury, Baltimore’s Daniel Faalele will look to help the Ravens keep on rolling and the punters – Mitch Wishnowsky, Michael Dickson, Matthew Hayball and Tory Taylor all getting another solid run this week after Wishnowsky and Dickson had a punt-off battle last week on TNF.

Either way, Aussie NFL fans have a terrific Week 7 slate to dig into, so watch the NFL Straya breakdown above to see who should win and why.

Will the divisional match-ups – Cincy @ Cleveland, Lions @ Vikings, and Raiders @ Chargers deliver the goods?

Does the Super Bowl rematch live up to the hype?

Will the Jets and Bills debut their new WRs?

Will the Jags win a game in London to save Dougie-P’s job?

Find out with NFL Straya’s NFL Week 7 preview and in the breakdown above.

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Calen Bullock (#21) of the Houston Texans celebrates after a fumble recovery against the New England Patriots during Week 6. Picture: Maddie Malhotra/Getty Images

NFL WEEK 7 SCHEDULE

FRIDAY 11.15am AEDT

Denver @ New Orleans

MONDAY 12.30am AEDT

New England vs Jacksonville (London)

MONDAY 4am AEDT

Seattle @ Atlanta

Tennessee @ Buffalo

Cincinnati @ Cleveland

Houston @ Green Bay

Miami @ Indy

Detroit @ Minnesota

Philly @ NY Giants

MONDAY 7.05am AEDT

Las Vegas @ LA Rams

Carolina @ Washington

MONDAY 7.25am AEDT

Kansas City @ San Francisco

MONDAY 11.20am AEDT

NY Jets @ Pittsburgh

TUESDAY 11.15am AEDT

Baltimore @ Tampa Bay

TUESDAY 12.00pm AEDT

LA Chargers @ Arizona

Byes: Chicago, Dallas

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Originally published as How a pair of massive NFL trades will shape NFL Week 7