V. Jackson "Prepared to Sit out season"

[GTripp0012]

I have little sympathy for Jackson, who could have signed his tender to be payed at the first and third round level. What Smith did to screw him over was the ballzy move, but was perfectly allowable per the CBA. The Chargers aren't in violation of anything.

I happen to think a lot of teams would have been much better off had they met the Chargers' price tag. But I also think the Chargers were hardly accounting for the discount rate of VJ's suspension. Sure, in a vacuum, if Brandon Marshall returned two seconds, then Jackson is worth more than that.

But he's also only going to play 12 games this season (now 10), and the Chargers can't necessarily claim compensation for the option to extend Jackson's contract. If other teams think that he's going to hit the market this time next year, than the Chargers can only get compensated for the value of those 12 games in terms of draft picks.

Now, considering he's making league minimum, that's A LOT of surplus value for those 12 games. But a second and a conditional sixth seems about the max amount the Chargers could reasonably receive in a trade for 12 games of a top receiver.