Tis' the season for mock trades ahead of the November trade deadline, and one that might've caught the eye of Detroit Lions fans recently would really shake things up for both sides of their roster.
Still Curtain site expert Tommy Jaggi recently proposed a mock trade that would send Jameson Williams and a 2027 7th-round pick over to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for Joey Porter Jr. and a 2027 6th round pick.
This would be a rare one-for-one trade, and it'd remove a pretty big target from Jared Goff's arsenal on offense in exchange for a starter on defense. You could argue that cornerback, at this juncture, is no longer Detroit's biggest need in their secondary: they're now drowning in injuries to their safety room, so procuring someone for that room feels like more of a priority.
Still, we will dive into this mock trade, it's pros and cons, and how the money would work for such a deal.
Expert's Jameson Williams-Joey Porter Jr. swap makes more sense than you think
As Jaggi notes in his mock trade, Williams is suffering from too much talent already existing on the Lions' roster. He's not getting a big chunk of the pie when it comes to distribution amongst wide receivers for the Lions - according to Sumer Sports, his target share is 16.88% so far this season, which places him in the same range as receivers like Jordan Addison, Tre Harris, and Ted Hurst.
He feels a little too talented to be getting this small of a share, but when you have Amon-Ra St. Brown on your roster (35.06% of target shares, fourth in the NFL overall), it's tough to distrubute things without sacrificing your gains.
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Trading Williams would mean, though, that the Lions have to truly involve Isaac TeSlaa in their offense as their WR2. The second-year player has been almost invisible in this offense so far, but the chemistry between himself and Jared Goff might still just need time to develop.
The cap impact of a Williams-Porter Jr. swap
Williams was already paid by the Lions to the tune of a three-year, $80 million dollar extension. That runs through 2029, which would become the Steelers' responsibility. Trading him wouldn't free up all that much cap space for the Lions, though, and that's not great considering Porter Jr. would be expecting an extension to play with Detroit.
Moving off Williams' deal would free up $23 million APY for the Lions, as Porter Jr.'s only being paid just over $4 million this year. Moving Williams' contract would also give Detroit some wiggle room to pay him, as well as Brian Branch or Sam LaPorta, although the math on extending all three gets murky. This would likely sacrifice one of the Lions' homegrown players as it relates to their owed extensions.
Detroit is currently allowing a total EPA of 20.10 through two games, fourth-worst in the NFL, in addition to 0.13 EPA per play - fifth-worst in the league. With their injuries mounting and pressure on them to put out a contending product defensively, this is the kind of trade that they should be trying to make.
Porter seems ready to get back on the field for the Steelers, though, so who knows if he'll even be available at the deadline anymore.
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