The Raiders And Trade-Backs And Quarterbacks, Oh My! Or, As The Draft Turns
In a recent article on SFGate.com, home of the San Francisco Chronicle, David White reported that Raiders have been offered the opportunity to trade out of the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft.
Citing an unnamed source, White claims that an unnamed team offered the Raiders their 2010 second round pick and their 2011 first round pick for the 8th pick in this years draft. Remember, the Raiders foolishly traded away their 2011 first round pick to the New England Patriots for Richard Seymour. Taking this deal would move the team out of the first round this year but would give them two 2nd round selections. The extra 2nd rounder should be attractive to the Raiders as it is being reported that they may offer their current 2nd round pick to the Eagles for QB Donnovan McNabb. Essentially, if the Raiders were to take the deal and trade for McNabb, they would have acquired Richard Seymour and Donnovan McNabb for a 2010 first round pick. Not too shabby, eh?
What intrigues me about the possibility of this rumor being true, is how it would effect the Chiefs chances of trading back. Right now there are a slue of QB needy teams picking right behind KC. Seattle (#6),
Cleveland (#7), Oakland
(#8), Buffalo (#9) and Jacksonville (#10), could all theoretically be interested in taking a QB. With it looking more and more like Sam Bradford is going to go to St. Louis, that leaves only Jimmy Clausen and the wild card, Tim Tebow, as the only QB’s that could possibly go in the first round. Colt McCoy is not projected to go in round 1 but even if he does, it won’t likely be until the very end of the round. If I were a GM and I really wanted Jimmy Clause, I probably wouldn’t want to trade up to #3 to get him just out of fear that the Redskins would take him but I would certainly consider swapping with the Chiefs at the 5 spot to get ahead of the Seahawks, Browns, Raiders, Bills and Jaguars.
Why would a team want to jump ahead of only the Bills and Jaguars, but not in front of Seattle and Cleveland? If the team involved in this potential Raider trade was most interested in Clausen they would have to be absolutely sure that Cleveland, Seattle and even Washington at #4, aren’t going to take him. The only reason I can think of for a team only wanting to jump the Bills and Jaguars is because the team doing the jumping is after Tim Tebow.
It makes sense. If anyone in the first round is going to reach for Tebow, it is widely believed it will either be the Bills or Jaguars. Jacksonville because they could finally fill up their stadium by taking the wildly popular Florida Gator and the Bills because of Chan Gailey’s recent success with Tyler Thigpen and the Arrowspread offense. Another reason Tebow makes sense for Gailey is because I believe he would bring with him a sense of job security. If Gailey sticks with Tent Edwards and the Bills continue to flounder, Gailey could be a one and done head coach, especially if the Bills brass wants to make a run at a sexier coaching name, like John Gruden. Picking up Tebow and running an exciting spread offense could be good for business in Buffalo and might buy Gailey some more time to institute is plan for the franchise.
If the move were to happen, it
likely won’t go down until draft day. If it does, one of two things could happen. The team trading up might really be after Clausen and could have valuable knowledge that the Browns and Seahawks definitely won’t be taking him. If this mystery team is the only team willing to trade up to get Cluasen, then KC’s phone may not ring for a trade back and they will be forced to make a selection at #5.
The other thing that may happen is that the mystery team moving up could actually help the Chiefs by causing a little chaos. If the rumor that someone is going to swap with the Raiders persist, it might just cause one of those teams behind the Raiders, the Bills, Jaguars or someone else, to jump if their guy is still available after Washington picks at #4. The Chiefs would then be able to bounce back a few slots if they want, regardless of who the mystery team is trading up to acquire.
In fact, as of this writing, ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that QB Jimmy Clausen is scheduled to visit the Bills, Browns and Rams after his Pro Day on April 9th.
Here is one more thinking point for you. The Patriots supposedly wined and dined Tim Tebow for 2 days last week. We no the Patriots don’t
need a QB but might “The Hoddie” have a diabolical plan for using Tebow in the Pats offense? Might he want to execute it so bad that he will uncharacteristically trade up to be sure he gets his man? After all, it was the Patriots who got the 2011 first round pick from the Raiders so they would essentially be giving it right back to Al Davis, meaning Davis will have gotten Seymour for free! Might that have been Patriots plan all along?
The great chess match continues.
What do you think, Addicts? Who is the mystery team offering the Raiders a trade back? Does it even exist? Who are they trading up to get, Tebow or Clausen? Will Al Davis even be able to cope with trading out of the first round and missing out on the chance to get a player who likes to “go fast?”
Sound off?