If Favre comes back, he better stick it out for a full season whether he starts, is a back-up, or gets benched several games into the season.
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The recent Jason Taylor and Jeremy Shockey trades have my mind in a tizzy. I love that the NFL is starting to resemble other sports, where trading for players is one of the primary ways to improve your team and not some rare occurrence. Putting on my GM hat (replacing my black Dream Theater cap), I’ve cooked up 5 other trades that would make this offseason even more interesting.
1. Falcons trade WR Joe Horn to Cleveland for a 6th round pick. Way to start in a minor key, eh? Horn might not have much value anymore and could be in danger of not making the Falcons, which should be interpreted as a sign that it’s time to hang up the cleats. But with Joe Jurevicius’ health a major question mark and the Browns apparently unwilling to risk superb return man Josh Cribbs as the #4 wideout, Horn would make a useful part on a likely playoff team. It’s not like Horn doesn’t have more to offer than Travis Wilson or Kevin Kasper. The trade nets the Falcons something for essentially nothing, as Horn is clearly not in their plans. The Browns have a long, inglorious history of picking duds in the final 2 rounds. Low risk, low reward for both teams, but these are the kind of deals that have kept the Minnesota Twins competitive for years.
2. Green Bay trades Brett Favre to the...drum roll please...San Francisco 49ers for the rights to Larry Allen and a conditional 2009 draft pick. Bet you haven’t heard the “other” Bay area as a possible destination for the attention-starved Favre. But if the Packer insider I talked with is correct, that Favre wants more stats to solidify his 1st ballot Hall of Fame cred and also make Peyton Manning work harder to eventually break his TD record, then San Francisco is a great option for Favre. New OC Mike Martz throws to set up the throw, the Niners have an emerging cast of receivers similar to what Favre had in the Land of Beer and Cheese, and it’s not like Favre isn’t light years better than either Alex Smith or Shaun Hill. The NFC West is winnable if the Niners offense improves, and taking a heretofore moribund group to the playoffs would make a nice feather in Favre’s plume-filled headdress. Why would the Pack do the deal? Two reasons: it’s not a division rival or real threat in the playoffs, and Larry Allen is another legend apparently waffling on retirement who can probably still help them. The conditional pick ranges anywhere from a 2nd (if Favre leads them to the playoffs) to 6th (if he becomes Shaun Hill’s backup). I know it’s far-fetched, but so is the Elton Brand/Baron Davis shenanigans across the Bay Bridge.
3. Kansas City trades QB Damon Huard to Dallas for T James Marten. Looking at the Cowboys, the biggest hole on their roster is backup QB. For a team built to win the next Super Bowl, heading into the season with just weak-armed antique Brad Johnson as Tony Romo’s insurance policy is playing with matches in a fireworks factory. Huard is a veteran who somehow led last year’s Chiefs to 4-3 at one point, proving he can provide effective relief should Romo catch a virulent disease or break his thumb. The Chiefs are in full-scale rebuild mode and have two young QBs (Brodie Croyle and Tyler Thigpen) they need to evaluate, and they still need more OL help. Marten didn’t play in Dallas as a rookie last year and could be in real danger of the dreaded IR stash this season. He is a project, but he has good size and collegiate pedigree (he covered Matt Ryan’s blindside at BC). Every OL spot on the Chiefs is (should be?) up for grabs, and having another young widebody with enough potential to be a 3rd round draft pick in 2007 is nothing but a positive return for the no-longer-needed Croyle.
4. Buffalo trades QB JP Losman to Chicago for QB Rex Grossman. It’s too late in the offseason for this deal to happen, but 6 months ago this would have been a great deal for both teams. Both guys are marginal starters entering contract years as likely backups. Both guys have shown flashes of being real good, in between long bouts of mistake-prone ineptitude. Grossman would certainly benefit from a change of scenery, particularly to a pace with a good pass-blocking OL with a legit #1 WR like Buffalo. Losman has the mobility to survive behind the Bears’ shaky OL and the rocket downfield arm to thrive in what Lovie Smith calls the Bears offense, which appears to be running a slowish rookie up the gut behind weak guards and heaving fly patterns to Devin Hester and Mark Bradley, before the latter gets hurt during warm-ups in Week 3. Both careers have stalled right now, but both still have enough potential to make it. Like I said, it’s too late in the offseason to engineer this type of QB trade, but I bet both fan bases would have loved this deal back in February. And also come October...
5. Oakland trades RB Michael Bush to Houston for T Jordan Black and a conditional 5th round pick. Another case of trading superfluous-but-potentially-useful depth players at one position to a team that desperately needs help at that spot. By all accounts, Bush looks ready to unleash his 235+ pound fury after missing two full years with a broken leg. The Texans RB situation is: aging Ahman Green trying to come back from knee surgery; retread Chris Brown, whom the rival Titans happily gave away; and diminutive (5’9”, 170) rookie Steve Slaton, who has never taken a carry with less than 3 WRs on the field. If he’s truly healthy, Bush could win the starting job and turn a huge question into a real threat for the Texans, a team straddling the line between mediocrity and Wild Card contender. The Raiders OL issues are a topic beaten to death, much like the QBs they’ve been assigned to protect. Black isn’t great, but he’s serviceable and a much better pass protector than apparent starter Kwame Harris. He is losing his role in Houston to rookie 1st rounder Duane Brown. Black is a good fit for OL Coach Tom Cable, who can put the veteran’s sound footwork and occasional nasty streak to good use. The Raiders backfield is sorely overcrowded with Darren McFadden, Justin Fargas, and Lamont Jordan currently ahead of Bush on the 2-deep.
Do I think any of these deals will happen? Not a chance. This is purely for fun and a shameless tie-in to the NBA trade checker here on RealGM.com, for those of you who love to wear your own GM hat and send all your overpriced garbage to the Knicks.
