Trading Players...Why?

[GusFrerotte]

Moss and Portis should have been shopped around after '07 and definitely after '08. Although I like both guys, '08 was the last year we could have gotten anything decent in return in terms of a trade. Now we have to ride them out til their contracts expire or just release them if the cap stays dead for 2011-2012.

[skinster]

Why trade our players? For the same reason why any trade is made, to improve our teams position for whatever goal we are trying to meet. Right now we are trying to do two things. Get more youth on our team and get players that fit the new coaching staff's system. Cooley is considered to be tradeable because it is not a dire need for teams to have two quality pass catching tight ends. They both can't produce great numbers, it hasn't happened before and I dont anticipate it to happen in the future. The depth is nice, but getting a second rounder that can be immediate depth and a future starter is better than just having insurance on our tight end. Carter is tradeable because he just doesnt fit the 3-4. We might play some 4-3, but not enough to have carter be too effective. He is also getting up there in years (10 seasons I think?) and cannot play forever. It would be beneficial to get a future contributor for years to come rather than keep a part time contributor for another year or two. The last thing I would say is the money we owe Cooley/Carter would be nice to dump...especially Carter considering he will probably not come close to playing up to his contract in the 3-4.