It's like a month-long April Fool's joke. An elite quarterback to a division rival? Santonio Holmes for a fifth-round pick? Tony Scheffler for almost nothing? Come on, I'm not going to fall for that.
Except it's all true. In the latest round of head-scratchers, the Broncos dealt Scheffler and a seventh-round pick as part of a three-way trade that yielded only a fifth-round draft choice. Most fifth-rounders don't even make the team, and Scheffler is a good receiving tight end. There are extenuating circumstances, including injury problems and a poor relationship with head coach Josh McDaniels, but it's always surprising to see talented young players (Scheffler just turned 27) dealt away for a song.
This follows on the heels of the Steelers unloading Super Bowl XLIII MVP Santonio Holmes in return for a fifth-rounder. Holmes is entering the prime of his career and coming off his best season, with 1,248 receiving yards. Just as he establishes himself as an elite receiver, the team gets rid of him. The Steelers are a classy organization at the top, and dropping Holmes was surely intended to send a message to the rest of the team. Furthermore, he was suspended four games for failing a drug test. But he's an undeniable talent with a promising future, and the trade brought almost nothing in return. There's no way Pittsburgh couldn't have picked up better than a five in return for their elite receiver. Even if teams know you want to get rid of the guy, it's worth giving up a fourth-round pick to get exclusive rights to a player like that.
We've already discussed the biggest move of the offseason, the Philadelphia Eagles' unexpected trade of Donovan McNabb to their division rivals in Washington. Moving McNabb wasn't a huge shock, but sending him down the road to a team you play twice a year was. McNabb's price tag was also very reasonable, especially compared to the robbery Denver pulled on the Bears last year with Baby Jay Cutler.
Then there's Brandon Marshall, maybe the most talented wide receiver in the NFL — the one with the most potential, the highest ceiling — sent to Miami for a pair of second-round draft choices. This one actually makes the most sense to me. Marshall is a phenomenal prospect, and he's clearly worth more than two second-rounders. But he clashed with McDaniels and had become a huge distraction. He didn't want to play in Denver any more, and before too long the team might have been forced to lose him for nothing. Marshall also has some issues with his decision-making. He seems immature and has had problems off the field. The Broncos unloaded him before any of that became serious, and got two valuable picks in return. Is Marshall worth more than his trade value? If he keeps his head on straight, absolutely. That's a real "if", though.
Let's not forget the first big trade of the offseason, Arizona's Anquan Boldin, shipped to the Ravens in Feburary for a couple of mid-round draft picks. Boldin is almost 30, and he's been unhappy in Arizona the last couple of years, plus he's had trouble staying healthy, but he's had five 1,000-yard seasons, including two in a row. He's been reliably productive whenever he's on the field, and no one questions his toughness.
Why has there been so much action this offseason? To some extent it's just coincidence, and we can't discount the obvious impact of McDaniels, who has scared off several high-profile Broncos since Mike Shanahan was fired after the 2008 season. The biggest reasons, though, are probably administrative. The 2010 NFL season will not have a salary cap in place, and the cap has discouraged trading players, because teams would immediately become responsible for the remainder of the traded player's signing bonus. Financially, that's not a big deal, but when all of that money counts against the cap in a single season, it was often too much. This year, there's no downside.
The other major factor is probably Roger Goodell. Now entering his fifth season as league commissioner, Goodell has made his mark with a strict, mostly well-received discipline policy that includes suspensions for off-field incidents. That makes players like Holmes and Marshall much riskier than they would have been a decade ago. If Holmes gets caught smoking green again, he'll be out a whole season. Marshall has had legal troubles throughout his adult life and could also face a lengthy suspension if the trend continues. Even teams that don't share the Steelers' moral compass are starting to act strategically, trading players away (and getting what they can in return) before the long suspension hits.
Even if there are good reasons for all the action, though, it's been a long, strange month of trades.
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