NFL 2018: Top 3 matchups from week 8
Trades! Trades! Trades! We are right at the middle of the NFL season and it is Trades time in NFL. With the trade deadline looming in, the trades are coming in frenzy. The teams in contention are trying to fill the needs and teams in rebuild mode are trying to pile in draft picks.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have traded for the running back Carlos Hyde to help their running game with Leonard Fournette still out with hamstring injury, which looks even more serious now because of the trade.
The New York Giants, who constantly insisted that they are not in the rebuilding mode throughout the offseason, finally agreed that they need to rebuild by trading away a former first-round pick in Eli Apple to the cornerback-needy New Orleans Saints. They also traded DT Damon Harrison to Lions for a fifth-round pick. Could Eli Manning be next? Probably not, but could use a young QB who can help the team
The team that made waves in trading circles is none other than the Oakland Raiders. Unlike the Giants, the Raiders started their rebuild process just before the start of the season by trading away the stud defensive end Khalil Mack to the Bears for a couple of first round picks. But, they made another blockbuster trade this past week by dealing away the struggling wide receiver, former first-rounder Amari Cooper to the WR-needy Dallas Cowboys.
In a stunning trade, the Cowboys gave up the first rounder, which seems like a steep price for a struggling wideout. Time will tell if the Cowboys made a third mistake in trading for a wide receiver.
The Raiders now have three first-round picks for the 2019 draft with a possibility of all three being in the Top 15 and they are probably not done yet. They could still be in the trade market to move some of the pieces like Safety Karl Joseph and also maybe WR Jordy Nelson, who probably would not be in the future plans.
There are still a few more days for the trade deadline and there are a lot of players still in the trade block including the veteran players like Demaryius Thomas, LeSean McCoy, DeVante Parker and also some disgruntled players like Patrick Peterson and LeVeon Bell could still be in the mix before the trade deadline but looks highly unlikely.
That being said, let's take a look at the Top 3 matchups for week 8 which has a couple of high flying playoff calibre matches this week.