Recent Moves Shake Up the NFC East

Ladies and gentlemen, the toughest division in football just got tougher. As I’m sure you know by now, there have been two key trades involving all-pro players and the NFC East in the last few days.

The first one occurred on Sunday when the Washington Redskins acquired defensive end Jason Taylor from the Dolphins in exchange for a 2009 second round pick and a 2010 sixth round pick. A day later, the New York Giants decided to trade tight end Jeremy Shockey to the New Orleans Saints in exchange for 2009 second and fifth round picks.

The interesting thing about these two trades happening so close to each other is that the Giants, Dolphins, and Saints were in three-way discussions in which Jeremy Shockey would have gone to New Orleans, Jason Taylor would have gone to the New York Giants, and draft picks would have gone to the Dolphins.

The trade talks were ongoing, but as soon as the Redskins lost two DEs to injury on the first day of training camp, they finalized a deal with the Miami Dolphins.

At first, on paper, the Shockey deal has to be upsetting to most Giants fans. A lot of us found ourselves wondering why we should trade him now when we could have done it before the draft for probably the same deal. Well, the Giants did not know how much of a problem the Jeremy Shockey situation was going to be at that time.

In the recent weeks it started to become clearer that Shockey was really upset and wanted out. The Giants decided trading him was the best way to go and I agree, having a clubhouse cancer would have been an awful idea, especially the year after a Super Bowl win.

Now, while this deal doesn’t necessarily help us on the field at this point in time, (we’ll see who the draft picks end up being down the road and I’m sure they’ll be compared to Shockey for years to come), it makes us a more united team which is one of the main reasons we won the Super Bowl last year.

So how does this all affect the NFC East next season? Well the Giants have pretty much the same offensive unit they had through the playoffs last year, which sounds like a very good thing, doesn’t it?

The Redskins' move does not scare me that much to be honest. Jason Taylor will see a lot of double teams as the Redskins still have a weak defensive line as a unit. I still believe they will be at the bottom of the NFC East this year.

So yes, the Giants got worse on paper and the Redskins got better while the NFC East got tougher. That just means great football all season long, and you have to love that.

Interesting Note on Shockey Trade

As Ralph Vacchiano originally reported on The Blue Screen, the Giants have a shot at getting a 2010 first round pick from the Saints instead of the 2009 second rounder.

If Jonathan Vilma plays 85 percent of the team's defensive plays and signs a contract extension during the season, (he’s going into the last year of his rookie contract), they would owe their 2009 second rounder to the New York Jets and then would have to give their 2010 first rounder to the Giants.

The situation is highly unlikely but it's something to keep an eye on.