I've been an avid NFL fan for 30 plus years. I have never even thought of the concept of trading a player to another team so that your trade partner could & would absorb a bad contract and salary cap hit. Frankly it's kind of brilliant. Houston sent Brock and his ridiculous 16 million dollar 2017 cap number to Cleveland. They also included a 2nd round pick. Essentially they paid the Browns the bounty of a day two draft pick so that they could use a portion of their 100 million in cap space to bail Houston out of a HUGE mistake. The league approved this, and thats fine… however, I think this will be addressed by the league office in the future.
If teams can start throwing money at free agents only to buy a 'get out of jail free' card for a draft pick down the road it could get out of control. I think a rule that curbs this kind of trade would include a stipulation that the team taking the player can only absorb 75% of the contract. Dead money is the only thing that keeps some NFL GM's from spending like drunken sailors. Some rougue executive could go crazy and start paying free agents double their market value to attract them to a bad team with the long term plan of trading away the bad contracts if the players don't perform. This has a lot of ramifications, not the least of which is that the market value of each position could get dangerously inflated. If the values aren't kept in check it would mess up the franchise tag as well as other major issues. Nonetheless, the GM who came up with this… either in Cleveland or Houston should be identified… because they made history.
One of the things that has made the start of free agency so dull is that one of the key pieces to the puzzle is stuck in Dallas…. still. Romo hasn't been released. I guess Jones thinks some team is going to give up compensation in a trade. I just don't see how thats ever going to happen. The openings have closed up. The Browns not only have their 3rd round pick from last year, but they now have Brock and I am sure they are still targeting Garopolo. The Jets just signed McCown, The Broncos seem happy with their two young QB's…. The only realistic landing spot for Romo is Houston. If they are playing hard ball and refuse to give anything for Tony (probably because of his contract) then Dallas should let him go. The Texans and Tony can then start fresh with a contract that makes sense for both sides. If there isn't at least 2 teams who have a gaping hole and are desperate for your player… why play this game?
The best move so far IMHO is the Patriots trading for Brandon Cooks. They have a very young WR who has proven he is a first round talent. There is not a more sure move they could have made with their #32 overall pick. But, it looks like the Pats are going to trade Malcolm Butler back to New Orleans for their mid first round pick. Even though these will go down as 2 separate trades, it boils down to Cooks and the #17 overall for Butler and the #32 overall. Thats a complete rip off in favor of the Pats. Plain and simple.
My favorite move so far was the Bills figuring out a way to restructure Tyrod and keeping him as their QB for 2017. It was a great move for both sides. They have a solid O-line and running game… combined with Watkins and the possibility of drafting rookie WR Mike Williams…. Taylor will have an excellent chance to prove if he has the goods or not… once and for all.
The worst move IMHO is the Bills not finding a way to keep Gilmore. They developed Hogan and let him walk for nothing to Belichick. Now they draft and develop one of the top 5 CB's in the league and let him walk.. in his prime… to Belichick. It's a loser mentality any way you look at it. You can't crush the evil empire by basically serving as their farm team.
A little over 40 weeks until opening weekend…. and the Pats are looking like the 2017 season is just going to be a formality leading up to another championship.
-Jay Wagner
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