San Diego Chargers WR Vincent Jackson Still Not Likely to Be Traded This Week

If you didn’t know, the San Diego Chargers put Vincent Jackson on the Roster Exempt List on purpose. It was not the mistake some would have you believe it is.

I am amazed by how many of the sports gossip columnists are writing absolute junk about how the San Diego Chargers need to expeditiously trade Jackson now that his so called team suspension has been reduced from three games to one game if Jackson is traded to another team by Wednesday.

I don’t want to rule out that a team will offer a deal to Chargers general manager AJ Smith’s liking by Wednesday, but there is no urgency on San Diego’s part to make that deal happen. In other words, it better be good.

Let me try my hands at an analogy. I was recently trying to reduce the amount of stuff in my garage, so I put a lot of the items on Craigslist. I repeatedly received the question, “What’s the least you will take for this item?”

I wasn’t desperate to sell, so the answer was either:

A: What did I list it for moron? (You know me.)

B: Nah buddy, you make me a deal and if it’s to my liking then I’ll accept it. If not, I’ll see you later.

I was not a highly motivated seller and neither are the Chargers.

Jackson and his camp still must ask the Chargers for permission to negotiate with individual teams, the Bolts still won’t tell them what they’ll accept for Jackson, and they are still the Chargers, which means they’ll want to come out as the winners of any trade they didn’t initiate.

When the cards are in Smith’s favor, he’s a hardliner and he’s looking for a few desperate teams to take advantage of.

Several things need to happen in order for teams to become desperate:

• The team must believe that they are close to a Super Bowl and Jackson will put them over the top
• Injuries
• Tcoach or general manager’s job is on the line
• In some cases, pressure from the fans and media

The main ingredients in desperation are time and urgency. The Chargers will need to bide their time for teams to become desperate and urgent.

They need time for a fringe contender to establish themselves at 3-2. They need time for a team’s star receiver to get injured. They need time for a coach’s hot seat to heat up. They need time for fans to become angry.

Once any of those things happen and gossip sports columnists start racing to put their name out there with pot-stirring news, the flame-fanning will become wildfires rather quickly and now we have desperation. To compound matters, they usually all happen at once.

If the Chargers ignore Jackson’s victory and stick to their guns, they could have more suitors willing to give up more compensation in Week 5 when teams are a lot more prone to desperation than they are now.

Otherwise, Mr. V-Jax, his agents, and his new team better make the Chargers one hell of a deal before Wednesday.