NFL Trades: Fair Or Unfair?

The new week has brought two marquee NFL trades with the Washington Redskins getting Jason Taylor, the dancing Pro Bowler who is just a year removed from winning the Defensive Player of the Year award, and Jeremy Shockey moving to the Saints from the Giants. These two big names are getting the publicity at the moment, but I want to focus on the reverse side of these trades. 

If you were going to trade a perennial Pro Bowler, leader and all-out stud like Taylor, what would you deem fair value? Maybe another Pro Bowler or building block? A younger player with loads of potential? Or even a player or two who are a notch below Taylor's level, but still serviceable and able to fill a role on a team in rebuilding mode. So why do you accept a second and a sixth round pick? I just don't get it. If the Redskins end up having a fairly successful season, which there is no reason to think they can't surpass their playoff season from last year, they are looking at getting a low pick in the second round, most likely in the 50's, while the sixth-rounder will be in the 200's. That's fair value? The same thing goes for Shockey. The Giants received a second and a fifth. 

I just don't get it. How is that fair value in the NFL of today where the salary cap is escalating and you have the money to pay your stars? If you can't figure out a way to keep them around, you have to settle for this? Draft picks are this valuable? 

Now I understand that NFL picks in the first three rounds have a much greater chance of impacting their team in the near future than the baseball, basketball, or hockey. A first-rounder will most likely start or at least play a reserve role, and the same can go for the second and even the third round. There are usually enough good players in the draft pool for them to make an impact right out of the gate, sans QB. That being said, you would rather take a risk with the second and the sixth over a sure bet like Taylor, Shockey, or any other star?

This seems to be the trend with NFL trades, players for picks. Another glaring example of this seemingly unfair trade market happened with Jonathan Vilma. The Jets starting MLB became expendable after coach Eric Mangini came and installed a 3-4 scheme, which Vilma didn't fit into. So the organization knew they needed to start new at that positon and move Vilma. That's fine. So what did they receive in return for the young up-and-coming linebacker? A FOURTH rounder. That's all. My God, some 4's don't even make their team. The Saints must be ecstatic. They received Jeremy Shockey and Jonathan Vilma thisoffseason, shoring up two glaring needs on their team and catapulting them back onto the Super Bowl short list, and all it cost them was a second, fourth and fifth round pick. They didn't even lose their #1. Mindblowing. 

Now their talking that if Brett Favre comes back and the Packers decide to trade him, a second round pick will suffice as fair value. A second rounder for the greatest statistical QB ever who has some gas left in the tank? Unbelievable.

Maybe this doesn't astonish anyone else like it does me, but it seems that players who have been established should be more valuable than the potential of a draft pick. If the draft has proven anything, it's that it can function as a glorified lottery. For every Peyton Manning, I'll show you a Ryan Leaf. For every Carson Palmer, I'll show you an Akili Smith. For every Adrian Peterson, I'll show you a Curtis Enis. (I was going to insert an anatomy joke here, but decided I was better than that.) This phenomenon of glorifying potential over results blows me away. 

It can't make the players feel too good either, when they are first rounders or second rounders themselves and their trade value is lower than their draft position. I would be crushed if I was an established NFLer and I was traded from an organization I bled and sweat for for years and all they got back was a draft pick. I would want to bury them in the sand If we ever came face to face on the gridiron. 

The solution seems to be easy, but I have no idea how to reach it. Owners and GM's must value their players over draft picks. Or maybe the league can forbid trading draft picks in the next CBA. That would solve the problems, but enrage guys like Bill Parcells who likes to stockpile draft picks, and as they say, pick up more lottery tickets.  

Maybe these guys will realize how big of a crapshoot the draft can be and try to develop their own guys and pick up guys who are already in the league. A man can dream.