Karim Benzema is inevitable.

The red-hot French star silenced Stamford Bridge with two excellent – and very different – headers in a manic three-minute spell during the first half of Real Madrid’s Champions League quarterfinal first leg against Chelsea on Wednesday.

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Real Madrid went on to claim a 3-1 win after Benzema completed his hat-trick in the second half.

The Champions League quarterfinals are halfway done. Below, we dissect the biggest talking points from this week’s first legs in Europe’s premier club competition.

Benzema’s creativity underappreciated

Karim Benzema’s scoring exploits obviously draw the most attention. He lifted his season’s tally across La Liga and Champions League play to 35 goals with his hat-trick in Wednesday’s 3-1 win at Chelsea, and his quickfire headers during the first half – one powered into the top corner and the other expertly steered beyond Edouard Mendy’s reach – were spellbinding.

But he’s much more than a finisher.

Harry Kane might be the only other striker in world football who can rival Benzema’s awareness, inventiveness, and touch. The Real Madrid marksman dropped into deep positions at Stamford Bridge, luring Chelsea defenders out of the backline so Vinicius Junior and Federico Valverde could run behind, and he was regularly on the end of the attacks he instigated.

Benzema’s intelligent backheel initiated a move that culminated in Vinicius hitting the bar in the 10th minute; a one-touch pass with the outside of his boot sliced through Chelsea’s lines before he buried his first header; and a smart flick at a throw-in started an incursion that finished with his uncharacteristic miss near the end of the first period.

With the 34-year-old’s creativity, it’s no surprise he’s already on 11 La Liga assists this season. That sum is just one behind his personal best from the 2011-12 term, which is remarkable given he spent nine years obliging Cristiano Ronaldo in Spain’s top flight.

Benzema is lethal – he’s only the fourth player to notch trebles in back-to-back Champions League matches – but that shouldn’t be the only quality that defines his game. He’s everything for Real Madrid in the final third.

Chelsea not out of it

A two-goal deficit is daunting, especially when the second leg is played at the Santiago Bernabeu against Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Benzema, and Real Madrid’s other Champions League savants.

It’s not impossible, though. Chelsea didn’t cower when Benzema completed his hat-trick and should’ve taken more than a single goal from the opening fixture. There are reasons to be optimistic.

Former Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois stretched every sinew to push Cesar Azpilicueta’s explosive effort over the bar, a remarkable save in stark contrast to Mendy’s inexcusable error at the other end of the park moments prior. And more chances soon followed, proving Thomas Tuchel’s halftime switch to a back-four worked: unmarked substitute Romelu Lukaku wastefully headed wide, Mason Mount struck narrowly over, and Thiago Silva and Reece James had opportunities.

The opening 20 minutes in Chelsea’s trip to the Bernabeu are crucial. Tuchel has changed his team’s formation and committed to a more attack-minded approach at halftime of each of Chelsea’s past two Champions League outings – away at Lille and Wednesday’s visit from Real Madrid – but he’ll need to get his selection correct from the first whistle in the Spanish capital.

“(We) need to find our competitive spirit and our quality, and then we can hope,” Tuchel said in his post-match press conference.

For a turnaround to occur, Tuchel will likely have to rest some players while Chelsea face Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday, with N’Golo Kante, Andreas Christensen, and Antonio Rudiger notably off the pace in the midweek defeat.

But most of all, Tuchel must be brave. It might not be the time to deploy three central defenders or two No. 6s. Chelsea must attack Real Madrid with intensity.

Will Villarreal rue missed chances?

This is no longer a Cinderella run.

Villarreal, after knocking Juventus out of the Champions League in the round of 16, kept rolling right along, beating Bayern Munich 1-0 in the first leg of their quarterfinal tie Wednesday. It was a superlative outing from Unai Emery’s team, which was once again defensively astute but showed more vigor on the counter than at any point in the previous round.

The only regret: It should’ve been more.

Several chances went begging for the home side, with a pair of agonizing near-misses from Gerard Moreno providing a lifeline for Bayern and consternation for the Yellow Submarine. Huge gaps opened up for Villarreal, with Giovani Lo Celso, in particular, putting in a rousing performance. With Bayern pushing for a goal in the second leg, a similar game script could emerge.

Counting out Bayern is obviously folly, but even going back to the fortress of the Allianz Arena for next week’s second leg, Villarreal shouldn’t – and won’t – be overwhelmed. Bayern’s aura of invincibility is gone. A team long renowned for creating countless scoring chances mustered little, failing to score in a Champions League game for the first time since 2019.

Emery has taken players, oftentimes derided at other clubs, and turned them into key members of a well-drilled unit. It’s a fitting outcome for a manager who faced plenty of criticism himself in his previous posts.

“It’s a deserved defeat, we were not good,” Bayern boss Julian Nagelsmann said after the match.

He’s right. But he also left out a key component. Villarreal were excellent.

“We saw that Villarreal are not an opponent you can walk all over, despite what certain media were saying,” Thomas Muller added.

Right again.

Here are the main talking points from Tuesday’s matches …

Big move on tap for Nunez

Darwin Nunez’s 28th goal of the season nearly inspired an upset Tuesday against Liverpool. His close-range effort in the 49th minute appeared to give Benfica the lift they needed in a tie no one believed they could win. Even if Liverpool proved too much to overcome, leaving Benfica with a 3-1 deficit after the first leg, Nunez showed once again he has enough quality and spirit to lead any attack in Europe.

Nunez is the reason Benfica are even in the Champions League quarterfinals in the first place. He eliminated Ajax in the round of 16 with an opportunistic header that came off a questionable free-kick, denying the clearly superior Dutch a chance to make another deep run in the competition. Before that, the 22-year-old scored a brace against Barcelona in a 3-0 win that ultimately gave Benfica the ammunition they required to advance from the group stage.

But he’s more than a goalscorer. The Uruguayan plays with the grinta that fuels so many of his countrymen, including Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez, the players he’s set to replace in the national team. Nunez chases after every loose ball and races back to defend in his own end. No run is wasted: He gives his all whether he receives the ball or not, whether his teammates find him in the channels or not, and whether he’s in the attacking third or not.

After pulling one back in the second half Tuesday, Nunez showed no sign of resting on his laurels, galloping along the sideline to defend and eventually win a goal kick near his own corner flag. He motioned to the crowd, pumping it up to keep the tide turning.

It’s that commitment that makes Nunez one of the game’s most exciting prospects outside of Erling Haaland. Expect Europe’s top sides – perhaps even Liverpool – to clamor for his signature this summer.

Diaz making case for more starts

Having played for Porto for two-and-a-half seasons, Luis Diaz knew Benfica’s weaknesses better than most. So, perhaps it’s no surprise he had so much success running behind Benfica’s defenders Tuesday. By the end, Diaz walked away from the Estadio da Luz with a goal and an assist, showing up the fans who booed his every touch. He must’ve taken note of it as well, or else he wouldn’t have celebrated with as much emotion as he did when he made it 3-1.

“He got a nice reception, didn’t he?” Liverpool defender Andrew Robertson said afterward. “It was a good finish for him and a really important goal for us. It gives us a two-goal cushion, which makes a difference.”

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp gave Diaz the start ahead of Diogo Jota, and if he so pleased, the German could start the Colombian international the rest of the season without much flak from anyone. Diaz has already made eight starts in three competitions since joining the club in January, emphasizing how quickly he’s adapted to Liverpool’s rigorous style of play.

Diaz has been particularly effective in the Champions League. Liverpool reaped the benefits in the round of 16 when Klopp tossed on the 25-year-old midway through the first leg against Inter. With the Nerazzurri beginning to wane, Diaz overwhelmed the Italian opponents, using his energy to stretch the lines and create space for his team to score two late goals. It proved to be the difference in the tie.

Diaz had a similar performance against Benfica. He busied himself up and down the left flank and forced the Portuguese side into mistakes. Knowing Diaz would remain a menace, Klopp took off Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah in the 61st minute, allowing his weary internationals some rest while Liverpool’s midseason signing continued to hustle on the pitch.

How can you leave Foden out?

Ilkay Gundogan wasn’t his usual self. His passes weren’t as precise, he struggled to reset the focus of Manchester City’s attacks, and there was no room for him to run through Atletico Madrid’s deep block.

Instead, Tuesday’s match required serpentine movement to draw and evade tackles. It was a tight affair tailor-made for Phil Foden.

Pep Guardiola would be brave to leave the Englishman out of his starting XI for the reverse fixture at the Wanda Metropolitano. The 21-year-old instantly tipped the tie in City’s favor. Seventy-five seconds after he first stepped onto the pitch, Foden took the ball under his spell, attracting three Atletico Madrid players before rolling a pass through the legs of another.

Kevin De Bruyne slotted the ball past Jan Oblak to give City a crucial 1-0 lead going into the second leg.

Foden dared Atletico Madrid’s players to challenge him and was determined to only progress the ball. He danced past Geoffrey Kondogbia and Reinildo before De Bruyne’s blocked shot in the 80th minute, and then Foden teed up the Belgian again when he bent the ball behind the Spanish side’s backline with an audacious strike with the outside of his boot.

The temptation from many in the media is to dub Foden – and, indeed, any player from a working-class background – a street footballer, but his cameo delivered an ethereal sparkle that seemed several galaxies away from the puddles and red rows of homes in his native Stockport.

Simeone’s subs disrupt Atletico

It was going exactly how Diego Simeone had planned.

Atletico Madrid were fine with letting Manchester City control everything ahead of their backline in the first half, and their reluctance to attack was demonstrated by their non-existent press. When City’s defenders had the ball, the visiting players scattered like a dodgeball team anticipating an onslaught.

Simeone saved his numbers for the defense, where his quintet stood firm. The full-backs were unadventurous – including Renan Lodi, whose attacking caused Manchester United problems in the previous round – and having three central defenders freed up a body to track the false nine.

But then, just as Atleti threatened to pinch a goal from the Etihad Stadium early in the second half, Simeone looked to his bench and sought disruption over quality.

The three players that Simeone brought on in the 60th minute were intent on causing chaos – Rodrigo De Paul and Angel Correa were booked for altercations with Jack Grealish, and Matheus Cunha was fortunate to escape punishment for his egregious playacting in the final seconds. Their introductions necessitated the withdrawals of Antoine Griezmann and Marcos Llorente, both of whom could’ve put Atleti ahead on breakaways.

But above all else, Simeone wanted a brawl.

“It’s the way they play. It’s their style and there’s no point us trying to fight them because that’s not our way,” De Bruyne said post-match on Atleti’s combativeness. “We handled it pretty well.”

Simeone’s negative changes were at odds with Guardiola’s positive triple-swap, which included the appearance of the excellent Foden. The contrasting tactical styles between the two teams were obvious during the first leg, but Simeone’s conservatism turned out to be his side’s undoing.

The Champions League quarterfinals got underway this week. Below, we dissect the biggest talking points from Tuesday’s games in Europe’s premier club competition.

Big move on tap for Nunez

Darwin Nunez’s 28th goal of the season nearly inspired an upset Tuesday against Liverpool. His close-range effort in the 49th minute appeared to give Benfica the lift they needed in a tie no one believed they could win. Even if Liverpool proved too much to overcome, leaving Benfica with a 3-1 deficit after the first leg, Nunez showed once again he has enough quality and spirit to lead any attack in Europe.

Nunez is the reason Benfica are even in the Champions League quarterfinals in the first place. He eliminated Ajax in the round of 16 with an opportunistic header that came off a questionable free-kick, denying the clearly superior Dutch a chance to make another deep run in the competition. Before that, the 22-year-old scored a brace against Barcelona in a 3-0 win that ultimately gave Benfica the ammunition they required to advance from the group stage.

But he’s more than a goalscorer. The Uruguayan plays with the grinta that fuels so many of his countrymen, including Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez, the players he’s set to replace in the national team. Nunez chases after every loose ball and races back to defend in his own end. No run is wasted: He gives his all whether he receives the ball or not, whether his teammates find him in the channels or not, and whether he’s in the attacking third or not.

After pulling one back in the second half Tuesday, Nunez showed no sign of resting on his laurels, galloping along the sideline to defend and eventually win a goal kick near his own corner flag. He motioned to the crowd, pumping it up to keep the tide turning.

It’s that commitment that makes Nunez one of the game’s most exciting prospects outside of Erling Haaland. Expect Europe’s top sides – perhaps even Liverpool – to clamor for his signature this summer.

Diaz making case for more starts

Having played for Porto for two-and-a-half seasons, Luis Diaz knew Benfica’s weaknesses better than most. So, perhaps it’s no surprise he had so much success running behind Benfica’s defenders Tuesday. By the end, Diaz walked away from the Estadio da Luz with a goal and an assist, showing up the fans who booed his every touch. He must’ve taken note of it as well, or else he wouldn’t have celebrated with as much emotion as he did when he made it 3-1.

“He got a nice reception, didn’t he?” Liverpool defender Andrew Robertson said afterward. “It was a good finish for him and a really important goal for us. It gives us a two-goal cushion, which makes a difference.”

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp gave Diaz the start ahead of Diogo Jota, and if he so pleased, the German could start the Colombian international the rest of the season without much flak from anyone. Diaz has already made eight starts in three competitions since joining the club in January, emphasizing how quickly he’s adapted to Liverpool’s rigorous style of play.

Diaz has been particularly effective in the Champions League. Liverpool reaped the benefits in the round of 16 when Klopp tossed on the 25-year-old midway through the first leg against Inter. With the Nerazzurri beginning to wane, Diaz overwhelmed the Italian opponents, using his energy to stretch the lines and create space for his team to score two late goals. It proved to be the difference in the tie.

Diaz had a similar performance against Benfica. He busied himself up and down the left flank and forced the Portuguese side into mistakes. Knowing Diaz would remain a menace, Klopp took off Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah in the 61st minute, allowing his weary internationals some rest while Liverpool’s midseason signing continued to hustle on the pitch.

How can you leave Foden out?

Ilkay Gundogan wasn’t his usual self. His passes weren’t as precise, he struggled to reset the focus of Manchester City’s attacks, and there was no room for him to run through Atletico Madrid’s deep block.

Instead, Tuesday’s match required serpentine movement to draw and evade tackles. It was a tight affair tailor-made for Phil Foden.

Pep Guardiola would be brave to leave the Englishman out of his starting XI for the reverse fixture at the Wanda Metropolitano. The 21-year-old instantly tipped the tie in City’s favor. Seventy-five seconds after he first stepped onto the pitch, Foden took the ball under his spell, attracting three Atletico Madrid players before rolling a pass through the legs of another.

Kevin De Bruyne slotted the ball past Jan Oblak to give City a crucial 1-0 lead going into the second leg.

Foden dared Atletico Madrid’s players to challenge him and was determined to only progress the ball. He danced past Geoffrey Kondogbia and Reinildo before De Bruyne’s blocked shot in the 80th minute, and then Foden teed up the Belgian again when he bent the ball behind the Spanish side’s backline with an audacious strike with the outside of his boot.

The temptation from many in the media is to dub Foden – and, indeed, any player from a working-class background – a street footballer, but his cameo delivered an ethereal sparkle that seemed several galaxies away from the puddles and red rows of homes in his native Stockport.

Simeone’s subs disrupt Atletico

It was going exactly how Diego Simeone had planned.

Atletico Madrid were fine with letting Manchester City control everything ahead of their backline in the first half, and their reluctance to attack was demonstrated by their non-existent press. When City’s defenders had the ball, the visiting players scattered like a dodgeball team anticipating an onslaught.

Simeone saved his numbers for the defense, where his quintet stood firm. The full-backs were unadventurous – including Renan Lodi, whose attacking caused Manchester United problems in the previous round – and having three central defenders freed up a body to track the false nine.

But then, just as Atleti threatened to pinch a goal from the Etihad Stadium early in the second half, Simeone looked to his bench and sought disruption over quality.

The three players that Simeone brought on in the 60th minute were intent on causing chaos – Rodrigo De Paul and Angel Correa were booked for altercations with Jack Grealish, and Matheus Cunha was fortunate to escape punishment for his egregious playacting in the final seconds. Their introductions necessitated the withdrawals of Antoine Griezmann and Marcos Llorente, both of whom could’ve put Atleti ahead on breakaways.

But above all else, Simeone wanted a brawl.

“It’s the way they play. It’s their style and there’s no point us trying to fight them because that’s not our way,” De Bruyne said post-match on Atleti’s combativeness. “We handled it pretty well.”

Simeone’s negative changes were at odds with Guardiola’s positive triple-swap, which included the appearance of the excellent Foden. The contrasting tactical styles between the two teams were obvious during the first leg, but Simeone’s conservatism turned out to be his side’s undoing.

We can all see how moments on the field can impact the NFL for years to come. In 2018, the Rams went to a Super Bowl and failed to score a touchdown against the Patriots, which started an overhaul of their running game and eventually led to the decision to trade quarterback Jared Goff for Matthew Stafford. Three seasons later, Stafford’s now-famous no-look pass to Cooper Kupp helped set up the game-winning touchdown against the Bengals in Los Angeles’ title game return.

What’s tougher to see, perhaps, is how moments and situations off the field can eventually lead to dramatic changes across the entire league. One team’s decision or behavior might directly or indirectly lead to another team making a dramatic, unexpected change. The NFL landscape can be altered years after the fact by a single decision made thousands of miles away.

A pair of recent moves from the 2022 offseason led me to trace a path all the way back to October 2017. You can make a case that the owner of one team eventually caused two players on two other teams to be traded away. I’m going to lay out the timeline on how the Texans might very well have been responsible for the trades of Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill.

June 2017: Duane Brown doesn’t report to mandatory minicamp

The two huge wide receiver trades we saw in March somehow all date back to a left tackle holding out. After the 2016 season ended, reports suggested that Brown, a nine-year veteran who had made three consecutive Pro Bowls for Houston between 2012 and 2014, wanted to renegotiate his deal. With two years and $19.4 million remaining on his contract, the 31-year-old was likely hoping to lock in one more significant extension as he exited the typical peak years for offensive tackles.

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The Texans didn’t budge, citing a policy of not giving out extensions with two years to go on a player’s deal. Most teams have a similar sort of policy, although they can be flexible when desired. (Then-Texans general manager Rick Smith, as an example, gave

Did Brown’s position as the spokesperson for the players responding to McNair’s comments cause the Texans to trade their only option at left tackle? We may never know for sure. McNair, who

• Ranks:

With no other serious competitors reported in those negotiations, the Dolphins probably wouldn’t get the same sort of package we saw for Tunsil from another team over the next year. Maybe they could have kept Tunsil and not

This deal turned out to be a disaster for the Falcons. Two years into the contract, their new regime decided to send the “Falcon for Life” to the Titans

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It would be one thing if Tunsil just exploited his leverage for a huge deal, but other Texans deals from this period were also surprisingly high. Watson’s four-year, $160 million deal came in well ahead of expectations when compared to the deals for Goff and Carson Wentz after their third seasons. Zach Cunningham inked a four-year, $58 million deal with a middling track record. Nick Martin and Whitney Mercilus were paid like stars at their respective positions, while O’Brien paid over the odds in free agency for replacement-level players like Eric Murray and Randall Cobb.

Of these players, the only ones left on the Texans roster are Murray (who took a pay cut last month) and Tunsil, who moved from one rebuild and joined another.

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January 2020: The Texans blow a 24-0 lead against the Chiefs

For a moment, it looked like O’Brien’s all-in move to get Tunsil was going to pay off. After a comeback victory over the Bills at home in the wild-card round, the Texans were set to try to advance past the divisional round for the first time in team history. At the end of the first quarter in Kansas City, the underdog Texans were up 21-0. No team had ever blown a first-quarter lead of at least 21 points in a playoff game, and Houston added three more early in the second quarter.

You know what happened next. The Chiefs scored 41 unanswered points across their next six drives. The Texans failed on a fake punt and allowed four sacks during their unprecedented collapse, eventually losing by 20 points. The loss wasn’t Tunsil’s fault, but it was a sign that O’Brien’s move to go all-in hadn’t left the team with the sort of roster they needed to compete with the best team in the AFC.

If the Texans hold onto that lead, who knows what happens? They would have been at home in the AFC Championship Game against the Titans, who O’Brien & Co. had beaten in Week 15 (before sitting their starters and losing a meaningless Week 17 rematch to the same team). The Texans likely would have been favored with a chance to go to the Super Bowl. It’s impossible to say whether they would have beaten the 49ers, but going to a championship game would have affirmed everything they had done over the prior two seasons. It also might have discouraged O’Brien from drastically changing his roster, including trading away arguably his best player.

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March 2020: The Texans trade DeAndre Hopkins to the Cardinals

It’s still stunning. After reports that there was some friction in the relationship between Hopkins and the only professional organization he had ever known, a trade came suddenly, and the terms didn’t make any sense. The Texans had swapped fourth-round picks with the Cardinals and acquired Hopkins for a second-round pick and running back David Johnson, whose contract was drastically underwater. I wondered whether Hopkins had lost a limb.

The trade doesn’t look any better with hindsight for the Texans, who paid Johnson more than $15 million for two years of replacement-level running back work. They used their second-round pick on Ross Blacklock, who has started three games across his first two seasons despite limited competition. The fourth-round pick was used to help trade for Marcus Cannon, who was cut after playing four games for Houston.

We also have more evidence that the package for Hopkins was well below what we saw for other, similarly talented wide receivers. The trades for Odell Beckham Jr., Stefon Diggs, Davante Adams, and Tyreek Hill each saw the team trading away their star wideout getting a first-round pick and additional draft selections in return. The Texans were able to get only a second-round pick and a player whose contract canceled out most of the value from that pick.

Initial reports after the trade suggested that Hopkins wanted to redo his deal with three years remaining, and after refusing to give Brown an extension with two years left, it should have been no surprise that the Texans blanched on giving Hopkins more money. As I mentioned, they could have followed the Jones path and given Hopkins a bonus up front on his original deal while promising to do an extension with two years left, but even that seemed like a bridge too far.

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In the end, they dealt Adams to the Raiders for a first- and second-round pick in April’s draft. Adams signed a five-year, $140 million deal that exceeded Hopkins’ average salary on paper but doesn’t play out as lucratively in practice. Adams will likely take home $67.7 million over the first three years of this deal in practical guarantees, which is ahead of Jones and Hopkins, but by only $3.7 million.

Signing Adams to that deal would have been reasonable for the Packers; as I wrote at the time, it’s tougher for the Raiders, who have to forgo the surplus value of two high picks to get Adams on their roster. If the Hopkins extension isn’t so far out of line with the top of the wideout market, Adams likely comes in with a paper value of $23 million or so per year, and I wonder if Green Bay gets that deal done without having to trade away its star receiver.

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March 2022: The Chiefs trade Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins

A few days later, the Chiefs followed in kind by deciding against an extension for their downfield dynamo. Hill was shipped off to Miami for a package of five selections, most notably the Nos. 29 and 50 picks in this draft. The trade leaves free-agent signing JuJu Smith-Schuster as Kansas City’s top receiver.

Hill’s deal is a step beyond what the Raiders paid Adams (and the Bills paid Stefon Diggs) by every measure. In terms of average annual salary on paper, he actually makes the leap to $30 million per season on a four-year, $120-million extension. He had one year remaining on his existing deal when Adams was a franchised free agent, but by the structure of his deal, Hill will take home $72.8 million over the next three years. That’s the fourth-highest mark in the league for non-quarterbacks, as he will trail only a series of edge rushers in T.J. Watt, Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack.

As a position, wide receiver has now clearly surpassed left tackle and cornerback and become the third-most expensive spot on the positional spectrum. Positions don’t usually give back these sorts of massive jumps in terms of contract value, which is why organizations with young wide receivers are going to ask themselves serious questions about their deals. Do the Steelers really want to commit $30 million per year to Diontae Johnson? Will the Seahawks do that for DK Metcalf, or the Titans with A.J. Brown? We’re going to see teams that are willing to pay that price for star receivers and others that prefer to spend their money elsewhere.

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Robert Griffin III breaks down what the Tyreek Hill trade means going forward for the Dolphins and the Chiefs.

The Dolphins, meanwhile, find themselves having come full circle from the Tunsil trade. After trading away young stars to amass a haul of draft picks, they are now the team trading picks for an immediate impact. From an offensive perspective, there’s a lot to be excited about, with Tua Tagovailoa throwing to Hill and Jaylen Waddle. After adding left tackle Terron Armstead in free agency, Miami can expect to get the best out of its young quarterback in a critical third season for Tagovailoa.

At the same time, it runs into the same problem the Raiders have with Adams: It’s so tough for any non-quarterback to deliver on this sort of contract with the added cost of the draft picks used to acquire that star. The Rams made it work with Jalen Ramsey, but he was still on a rookie deal when the Rams made their deal. You can argue that the Dolphins had extra draft capital from all their deals, but those picks could still have been used to acquire younger talent on team-friendly contracts. Hill is a dynamic receiver, but if he’s not the same away from Patrick Mahomes, his contract will immediately look bad.

On the other hand, do you think the Texans look back on deciding against paying Hopkins with any level of fondness? O’Brien was fired four games after the Hopkins deal, the Texans went 4-12, and they’ve been irrelevant since. I don’t think they collapsed in 2020 as a product of trading him — and what has unfolded with Watson has nothing to do with that deal — but it’s not as simple as going for the cheaper option at a position, either. We’ll see what happens with the Adams and Hill trades in a few years, but if the Texans simply re-sign Duane Brown all those years ago, the entire league might look drastically different.