Garrett to the Rams leads a 2026 market where stars moved for firsts and Cincinnati rebuilt its whole front
Asked:
“List out the top 10 player moves in the NFL this year”
An editorial top 10 of completed 2026 NFL trades and free-agent signings as of September 22, 2026, ranked by player stature, transaction cost, roster impact and prominence in offseason coverage. Extensions without a team change, draft picks, retirements and unsigned players are excluded. “Top” is subjective: this is a synthesis of ESPN-affiliate executive polling, comparative rankings and wire transaction reports, not an official NFL ranking.
tradefree-agent signingcoloured dot: new team’s accent colour · hover a row for why it matters
Five of the ten — Garrett, Lawrence, Brown, Waddle and Odighizuwa — were the moves NFL executives singled out as the offseason’s best in comparative coverage.
abc7news.comCincinnati appears three times: the Lawrence trade plus signings of Boye Mafe (3 yrs, $60M) and Jonathan Allen (2 yrs, $25M) — a full defensive-front overhaul.
reuters.comThe Garrett trade was called “the most seismic move of the entire offseason, and maybe even the last decade”, with the Rams paying just $8.84M against the 2026 cap.
rg.orgEarly returns cut both ways: Garrett went to IR after knee surgery, Brown suffered a high-ankle sprain and Kyler Murray exited his Vikings debut with a concussion.
allcountygazette.com
The ten moves in detail
| # | Player | Pos | From → to | Type | Headline compensation | Why it matters | Early-season status | Source |
|---|
Status note. One week of regular-season football has already added risk to several of these moves — Garrett is on injured reserve after knee surgery, A.J. Brown is sidelined roughly six weeks with a high-ankle sprain, and Kyler Murray left his debut with a concussion after an interception on his first pass. Those outcomes colour the moves but do not override their offseason importance; the June rankings and the September “disastrous moves” assessment come from separate articles and are not one unified list.
Editorial synthesis, not an official NFL ranking. Built from 3 result sets: 10 rows of ESPN-affiliate executive polling on the offseason’s best moves (duplicate affiliate rows shown once per player), 9 rows combining a June comparative ranking with a September early-outcomes assessment, and 180 rows of Reuters, AP, NFL.com, ESPN and CBS transaction reporting filtered to the named top 10. Dollar figures are reported total contract values; compensation lines summarise reported trade packages. As of September 22, 2026. Extensions without a team change, draft picks, retirements and unsigned players were cut.