Deadline pressure

The NFL trade deadline is next week, and generally speaking there are few if any trades. It just never seems to work out. It’s rare when a team has one glaring need that they have to fill. My dynasty team had such a need.

Like many fantasy owners, I was not thrilled at the prospect of having Jake Delhomme for another year. He was horrible in the playoffs and I thought that he was done even as a bye week fill-in to Tony Romo, my starter. I needed a new backup. I bid a ton of auction money for Luke McCown, who was the starter in Tampa Bay at the time. That move turned out to not be so good as the Bucs signed Byron Leftwich and drafted Josh Freeman. I got Freeman in our rookie draft and traded Delhomme for Leftwich. The trade looked not great at the time but when Leftwich won the starting job I felt vindicated. There was one guy left in the mix who I didn’t have. Josh Johnson.

Even though Johnson has a ton of ability, the new Bucs coaching staff seemed to consider him an afterthought. I saw him in the end of the Titans preseason game, and he had a 40-yard TD run. Not many NFL QBs can even run 40 yards. I offered Troy Smith for him. The offered was ignored.

I made a couple of tepid trade offers for quarterbacks but got no love. Dallas’s bye week came up and I was in a tough spot. I e-mailed the Johnson owner. I made offers for Jay Cutler and Matt Cassel. Nothing happened. Finally last night the Johnson owner replied. The initial offer was Troy Smith and a third round rookie pick. He wasn’t interested in Smith. He wanted a linebacker. When it comes to IDP, I think that any time you can trade defense for offense, you usually come out ahead. I offered Barrett Ruud, who was my LB3. He took the deal. I traded a middle linebacker who may have six years left in his career for a QB who will start this weekend but probably will lose his job to Freeman next year, if not later this year. That’s what happens when you trade at the last minute.