"The Trade!"

If we had to do it all over again, do we trade Champ and a 2nd pick for Portis, or do we keep Champ, have Betts as the #1 guy, or pick up a free agent or use the 2nd round pick for a RB. Looking at the stats, there isn't much of a difference, Portis avg is 4.6 and Betts is 4.1. Betts is comparable to Steven Davis and when he was given a shot we all know what he did. I like Portis, dont get me wrong. I sometimes catch myself wondering what kind of team would we be had Champ stayed here. God knows we could have used him the last few weeks in pass coverage!

champ is a bitch. I hate that guy, and he's the absolute most overrated player in the history of the NFL.

champ is a bitch. I hate that guy, and he's the absolute most overrated player in the history of the NFL.

Somebody is SALTY!!

Champ is fine but honestly he's been VERY streaky lately. He's been making Pro Bowls on previous reputation alone.

If we had to do it all over again, do we trade Champ and a 2nd pick for Portis, or do we keep Champ, have Betts as the #1 guy, or pick up a free agent or use the 2nd round pick for a RB. Looking at the stats, there isn't much of a difference, Portis avg is 4.6 and Betts is 4.1. Betts is comparable to Steven Davis and when he was given a shot we all know what he did. I like Portis, dont get me wrong. I sometimes catch myself wondering what kind of team would we be had Champ stayed here. God knows we could have used him the last few weeks in pass coverage!

The piece of this puzzle that often gets forgotten is the salary cap ramifications of keeping Bailey. You'll recall, the guy was going to count like 8-10 million against our cap because he was labeled with the franchise tag. That was a cap hit that would put the team in dire straits that year. So the options were to trade Bailey away or sign him to a long-term deal. Thing is, the long-term deal Bailey wanted amounted to like $8 million a year. Now, that first year the cap hit probably would have only been $5 or $6 million or so. But it would have grown astronomically. I believe the Redskins were offering like $55 million over 8 years, and he ended up getting like $65 million or something from the Broncos.

You can't just analyze the trade in a vacuum because there are other circumstances surrounding it. Because we got rid of Bailey and signed Portis to a much more cap-friendly contract, we were able to sign Shawn Springs for 5 years, 30 million.

If you're just looking at the Bailey and a 2nd rounder for Portis piece in a vacuum, then I do think we would have been better off keeping Champ. But the trade didn't exist in a vacuum, Bailey's contract demands would have had long-term ramifications to the team. We wouldn't have Shawn Springs, and we never would have been able to afford the cap hit by trading L Coles, which as we all know brought us Santana Moss. That one worked out pretty well.

Deals like the Bailey/Portis trade have major ripple effects for years. The moves we were able to make this year and the moves we'll make next year are affected. In the end, the team is much better off in the long-haul having made the trade.

Champ is fine but honestly he's been VERY streaky lately. He's been making Pro Bowls on previous reputation alone.


Thats my point. he's a good corner, but when people talk about him they act like hes the stand alone greatest corner of all time. It irks me that he gets beaten deep constantly, and is not a physical player... and all of the media is all over this guy's jock.

Champ did not want to be here. You can't keep a player who doesn't want to be here.

I got the feeling that he didn't want to be here either. But alot of that is because of the constant roster overhaul and coaching changes. I do believe with the current regime he would have benefited from Greg Williams defensive scheme and made us a better defense. Smoot may have been more inclined to stay as well. I do believe with Champ and Smoot, Taylor and Clark or Bowen we would have had one of the best secondarys in recent memory. Nothing agianst Springs, who since being in Washington, has had probably the best year and half seasons since his 2nd and 3rd years in the league. The NFC east use to be, stop the run, smash people in the mouth and you win most of the games. But recently the NFC east teams have been more about the passing game and points than running the ball and winning with D. Giants, Dallas, and Philly all have good passing attacks now. Philly obviously is hurting right now, but if TO was playing and Donavan healthy they were pretty hard to stop.

If you go back and look at this trade, what would we have at this point?

We'd have (an unhappy) CBailey, LBetts, CRogers, & a 2nd rounder. Instead we have SSprings, LBetts, CRogers, & CPortis. We got Springs via free agency which filled the void left by Bailey, so in the end, we basically traded a 2nd rounder for Portis. Denver may have gotten Bailey & that 2nd round pick, but we used FA to really suplement the deal to our advantage.

If you go back and look at this trade, what would we have at this point?

We'd have (an unhappy) CBailey, LBetts, CRogers, & a 2nd rounder. Instead we have SSprings, LBetts, CRogers, & CPortis. We got Springs via free agency which filled the void left by Bailey, so in the end, we basically traded a 2nd rounder for Portis. Denver may have gotten Bailey & that 2nd round pick, but we used FA to really suplement the deal to our advantage.

You never know- it might have been:

A happy (Gibbs magic) Bailey, Springs (instead of Smoot) CRogers, and a 2nd rounder (DE?) w/ Betts running (half the year due to injuries). I like what we have now.