Let's see. The Vikings traded Randy Moss for a player no one remembers and draft picks that may or may not pan out. How did that work out? Madden called it "addition by subtraction."
A better idea is to keep your stars, build the talent base and find role players to fill your holes. It takes 2 to 4 seasons for this to pan out, but you keep your core group together longer and get further ahead. The team should have put more effort in keeping Antonio Pierce to complement Lavar.
On the other hand, I lived in Minnesota in '89 when the Vikings dropped their drawers (7 draft picks and three players) to get Herschel Walker from the Cowboys. The Boys parlayed the draft picks with other teams to get Emmit Smith, Russell Maryland, Darren Woodson, Clayton Holmes and Kevin Smith -- and of course three Super Bowl rings. The Vikings were a finesse team that never made proper use of Walker. The Cowboys replaced Walker with a Hall of Famer to-be. Any player is expendable for a ridiculous offer.
The Moral?
- This trade only works if the team gets a LB talent equal to Arrington. Building the line at the expense of linebacker is not an improvement.
- Fantasy football trades are not how to build up a franchise.