Short-term concerns
Broncos, Skins, Falcons make 3-way deal to win now
Posted: Wednesday August 23, 2006 1:13PM
T.J. Duckett gained 380 yards rushing and led Atlanta with eight touchdowns last season.
Bob Rosato/SI
The Broncos, Redskins and Falcons have legitimate playoff aspirations this season, and all three came away from Tuesday night's three-team trade involving running back
T.J. Duckett and holdout receiver
Ashley Lelie convinced the deal will pay immediate dividends.
• For Atlanta, which picked up Lelie in the trade, the implications are obvious. The Falcons think they replaced valuable third receiver
Brian Finneran, who was lost for the season with a knee injury early in training camp. Lelie, whose hands were iffy in Denver, is no Finneran when it comes to consistency. He is a big-play threat, however, and gives the Falcons more of a comfort zone behind starters
Michael Jenkins and
Roddy White, who still have plenty to prove themselves.
In trading away Duckett, Atlanta signaled just how much confidence it already has in rookie running back
Jerious Norwood, the team's third-round pick out of Mississippi State. Norwood, who ran the fastest 40-yard dash of any running back at this year's NFL Scouting Combine, has had an impressive preseason and is now the backup to
Warrick Dunn, the Falcons' undersized but always productive starter.
The deal also made sense for Atlanta in another key way: Duckett was scheduled for free agency after this season, and the Falcons had no intention of offering him a second contract. Trading him now maximized his value.
• The Redskins believe they're in store for big things in 2006, and this deal reflects the urgency to win now in Washington. In obtaining Duckett in exchange for a 2007 third-round pick, the Redskins have bought themselves an insurance policy for starting running back
Clinton Portis, who separated his left shoulder in the team's first preseason game.
Clearly the Redskins feel that either Portis won't be healthy in September, or he stands a chance of not being his usual productive self in the season's opening month. Either way, the running game is where everything starts in
Al Saunders' newly installed offense, and Washington couldn't take the chance that it would be stagnant until Portis returns to peak form.
A third-round pick for a one-year player is a fairly steep price in today's NFL -- Duckett resisted efforts by Washington to add a year to his deal as part of the trade -- but the Redskins have historically overpaid for what they felt was necessary to win today, and draft picks have long been a currency they don't mind parting with.
• While Denver didn't get a player for its 2006 playoff push in the deal, the Broncos might be the trade's biggest winner thanks to the old addition-by-subtraction theory. In ridding themselves of Lelie, a player who had obviously burned his bridges in
Mike Shanahan's fiefdom, the Broncos lanced a boil that threatened to fester all year long until it was dealt with.
Make no mistake: Denver didn't lose a great player in Lelie, who at times has struggled with his maturity level. His Broncos tenure had some highlights -- namely his 1,000-yard receiving season of 2004 -- but he had unreliable hands and wasn't ready to challenge veteran
Rod Smith for the role of the team's No. 1 receiver any time soon.
Lelie needed a fresh start, and wasn't going to be able to put the genie back into the bottle in Denver. The Broncos obtained
Javon Walker from Green Bay this offseason, and he and Smith were going to form the team's 1-2 receiving punch. That reality set Lelie on his course toward a holdout. While Shanahan coveted a second-round pick or a veteran player in exchange for Lelie, the team's 2002 first-rounder, getting a third represents good value by current league trade standards.
