Trade winds are starting to blow hard in the NFL.
Former executive Mike Lombardi said that the Eagles are going to spending the next few days “trying to pry Jalen Ramsey from the Jaguars” and there is growing buzz that some of the league’s dregs (the 0-3 Jets, the 0-4 Bengals, the 0-4 Broncos and 0-4 Redskins) could start to sell off some parts.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer touched on this NBA-style trading in his MMQB column this week.
“The Jets’ next three games: Philly, Dallas, New England. You have to wonder, if they wind up 0-6, whether GM Joe Douglas starts to look at the possibility of selling off pieces (Leonard Williams maybe?) for draft capital, especially given that the team traded picks this summer for an offensive lineman (Alex Lewis) and corner (Nate Hairston),” Breer wrote Monday.
Douglas could also look to dump Le’Veon Bell, who is recouping his stock across the league. Bell has been a model citizen for Adam Gase on a team headed nowhere in 2019.
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If the Eagles, who play the Jets this week, are unable to land Ramsey – they will start to look for impact players elsewhere. Howie Roseman has perfectly manipulated the salary cap this year in order for the Birds to be buyers at the deadline for an elite talent, and Bell certainly fits the bill.
The Patriots are also looking to add on offense as we saw this past week that Tom Brady actually could really use Antonio Brown right now. Adding Bell, who Bill Belichick has fawned over in the past, would give the Patriots an entirely unique offensive look. It’s easy to imagine Belichick splitting Bell, arguably the best catching back in the league, out wide and in the slot.
Not for nothing but Bell and Patriots safety Patrick Chung were playing social media footsies with one another last week.
Respect your game too bro @PatrickChung23 keep ballin pic.twitter.com/CWj4hRfTyn
— Le’Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) September 28, 2019
Also looking to add at the trade deadline will be the Ravens, who are now 2-2 after their fast start. Baltimore needs more firepower on offense, and Bell would complement Mark Ingram much like Alvin Kamara did in New Orleans.
As far as the salary cap goes, the Eagles are the team best equipped to pull of a blockbuster for Bell. The Ravens have a little bit of wiggle room, but the Patriots will need to resolve their contract squabbles with Brown before making another move. Here is Breer’s take on the Brown cap situation:
“Having seen the guarantee language in Antonio Brown’s deals with the Patriots and Raiders, I’d say it’s highly unlikely that he recovers the base-salary money he’s pursuing in either case, and there’s no chance he gets the $20 million option he had attached to his New England contract,” Breer wrote Monday. “But my guess is he should have a very, very real shot at forcing the Patriots to pay out the $9 million signing bonus they’d pledged him. Though the Patriots haven’t paid him yet, that’s considered by the union to be “money earned.” And the avenues that teams have to recover signing bonus money are much narrower than those taken to void guarantees. I’d think the Patriots’ only shot here would be to claim non-disclosure—that Brown didn’t tell them about the lawsuit against him that was announced the day after he officially signed, and that would have changed their decision-making on him. The problem? Five days after the lawsuit was filed, the Patriots played him in a regular-season game. For that reason, and whether you believe or not that the Brown camp told Bill Belichick about the lawsuit, I’d think Brown would get to collect that money.”
