Wow. When you miss, you miss.
Just yesterday I was debating with someone on Twitter that with Santonio Holmes going so cheap, there was no way the Denver Broncos get a second round pick for him this year. The market wouldn’t bear it, so I thought.
And truthfully, he wasn’t traded for a second rounder.
He was traded for two. Reportedly this trade involved a second round pick this year and a pick in 2011, reportedly another second rounder.
WOW. That’s probably proper value for Marshall in another market but in this one? A little surprising.
The Denver Broncos should send the Jets a fruit basket or something. I have to wonder if they got a good price on Marshall since the Jets have been gorging themselves at the trade/free agent buffet table all off-season.
Miami had to be feeling some pressure to improve. On paper, the Jets started running away with the AFC East. You still have to play the games (and the Jets schedule is reportedly a rough one) but they are loading up.
I think this is a good trade for both teams. I hope Marshall keeps his head straight. Miami isn’t NYC or Los Angeles in terms of distractions, but the nightlife is seductive.
I’m pretty excited to be covering the Broncos at the Draft next week. Should be even more interesting now.
Here are my thoughts on how the trade affects both teams:
Dolphins: Chad Henne is doing backflips. I’m not spying on him through a high powered telescope (that’s set up at Angelina Jolie’s house this week) but come on.
He HAD Tedd Ginn jr, Brian Hartline, Davone Bess, Greg Camirillo and Patrick Turner.
He has that (well soon minus Ginn) and now Brandon Marshall. I don’t need the telescope to know he’s literally dancing with joy.
Marshall has tremendous talent and this is a fantastic move for the Dolphins and will help Henne quite a bit. They need to do something with the run game and have several other holes to fill.
But for the Dolphins, I think this was quite simply a no brainer. It has some risk to it (less so than the Jets and Holmes). If it works out though, it will keep them in the hunt.
By the way if Ginn wasn’t gone before, you can punch his ticket now. About time to end that disaster of a first round pick for Miami.
Broncos: I don’t know if this locks a wide receiver in for them early in the NFL Draft next week, but it feels that way.
Look at Dez Bryant, a guy Frank Schwab of the Colorado Springs-Gazette has been saying the team should be looking at for a while now.
If you don’t like the fact that you’d be trading one head-case for another potential one in Bryant, how about Georgia Tech’s Demaryious Thomas? Or maybe USC wideout Damian Williams? Mardy Gilyard? Arrelious Benn? Or wait and grab a guy like Citadel’s Andre Roberts.
It’s a good draft for them to grab a wide receiver. And now, they have the ammunition to do even more, with the 43rd now in addition to the 45th.
In this Draft, it’s pretty significant.
Sure, this downgrades Orton/Quinn a bunch. Eddie Royal struggled so much last year we don’t know which is the real Royal: the rookie stud or the sophomore dud.
There are solid wide receivers there but no sure-fire stud. Any rookie they draft will take a little while to get up to speed (Mike Crabtree disagrees with me).
Still, the Broncos will probably be fine and the picks more than compensate for any short term loss.
This trade, like the Holmes trade Monday, has the possibility of being a win-win for both teams.
The Broncos get rid of a headache for outstanding value and the Dolphins get a very, very good wide receiver. If Marshall can keep his head on straight, he’ll do fine in Miami. Henne gets a new weapon, better than any he has had thus far.
Looks good from all angles right now to me.
