Vince Young and 13 Other Least Tradeable Players in the NFL

Now that the final 53-man rosters have been identified for the 32 teams, there are now a total of 1,696 NFL players that can say that they are part of the league. Out of that vast group, the majority will have some amount of trade value, whether it is for a draft pick(s) or for other players in return. Then we come to a segment of NFL players that just don't have any trade value whatsoever.

These are the players that no other teams would realistically want to trade for. Maybe they have a bad attitude, they aren't very talented, or they have trouble with authority figures. Maybe they are getting in trouble with the law, again and again. Maybe they just can't stay in shape to save their live.

Before we begin this presentation, we have to take a second to remind our readers that the 2011 free-agency period was an insane time frame. With so many players suddenly being granted free-agency status, players were allowed to sign with whatever team they wanted to.

No doubt there were prior owners that would have preferred the opportunity to trade them away for something of value. Sign-and-trade deals, which is something that happened in the past, was not part of the 2011 NFL landscape.

There are plenty of reasons why a player is deemed untradeable, and we will take a look around the league to highlight 14 players who we feel match this description. If you are aware of others who you feel should be included, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Max Starks

Some players really struggle with weight issues, and as a result can't stay in shape. From an article by NBC Sports, the NFL had roughly 530 players that reported to training camps in the NFL that weighed at least 300 pounds. Once you start pushing your body to that much weight, it is tough to stay under control. Another factor is that your torso is so big, that your legs and joints have trouble supporting all that extra mass.

Max Starks was listed at 345 pounds last year. An offseason surgery left him unable to work out, so instead, he opted to sit on the couch and eat and eat and eat. Fifty pounds later, Starks was so out of shape that the Pittsburgh Steelers released him.

Starks was set to earn a base salary of over $5 million this year, but now, will see none of it. Teams are hurting for good tackles around the league, but nobody has picked up Starks, which shows you how quickly things can get away from you if you are not careful.

Jonathan Baldwin

Jonathan Baldwin is one for the books. The first-round draft pick of the Kansas City Chiefs, Baldwin found a way to alienate his entire team against him in the first two to three weeks of training camp.

First, he did absolutely nothing to dispel the notion that he was a diva wide receiver. The attitude that is becoming more or less a constant with some of the best receivers in the game—Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Chad Ochocinco, etc.—has not been lost on Baldwin. He had it at the University of Pittsburgh, and he brought it with him to Kansas City.

Then, he felt that he was above the veterans on the team and didn't learn to listen to them. His arrogance got so out of hand, that running back Thomas Jones had enough and wound up fighting with him in the locker room. The fight resulted in a thumb injury for Baldwin, which required surgery.

Given all the warning signs, Kansas City ignored all the intelligence on him and made him their top guy. 

No word yet on when Baldwin will be ready to play, but it would be doubtful if other teams would ever be willing to give up anything of value for this diva headache.

Derek Anderson

Derek Anderson makes our list as a multi-purpose threat. He is a terrible performer, was spotted laughing on the sidelines during a loss and then challenged the media with a temper tantrum when they asked him about it after the game and he is one of the worst mentors in the game.

Whether it is a quarterback that throws more interceptions than touchdowns, somebody that is not interested in helping younger players advance, per the comments of John Skleton when they played together in Arizona and just being a genuine jerk with the media, Anderson is one of those guys that most teams would be wise to never surrender anything of value for.

Trent Edwards

Despite returning to the Bay Area, where he played his college ball (Stanford), quarterback Trent Edwards was not able to impress the Oakland Raiders enough to keep him as a No. 3 quarterback. The Raiders released Edwards this weekend in favor of supplemental draft pick Terrelle Pryor.

Even though he had several years of starting experience under his belt with the Buffalo Bills, head coach Chan Gailey didn't hesitate to flat out release Edwards after the second week of the 2010 season.

The performance that Edwards exhibited was so bad in those first two weeks that Gailey reasoned it was better to release him than to try to trade him away. Gailey handed the reigns over to Ryan Fitzpatrick and never looked back.

Bill Walsh had phoned up Marv Levy when the Bills drafted Edwards to tell him that he thought the Bills had just struck gold. It's a shame that Bill is no longer with us, because we would love to know what it was that he saw in Edwards that was so wonderful. We are sure that Captain Checkdown would not have been part of his detailed player description.

Roy Williams

Even though the Dallas Cowboys had surrendered first, third and sixth-round draft picks to the Detroit Lions in the 2009 NFL draft, the Cowboys didn't even bother to try to see if they could get anything back in trade for him. They were more than happy to just release Williams, take the salary cap hit and let him find a new team to play for.

Williams has a very inconsistent pattern of putting up numbers and then disappearing. He seems to have some sense of entitlement or of being a much better receiver than reality suggests. 

Williams is now a member of the Chicago Bears. Coming in to the Bears at the start of training camp, he was expected to be a starter and perhaps even the leading receiver. Now that we are ready for the regular season to begin, Williams has proven to the Bears staff that he isn't even listed as one of their three top receivers.

When it is time for the Bears to cut ties with Williams, you can rest assured they will not receive anything for him either.

Alex Smith

Alex Smith is one more player who we have trouble seeing any other NFL team surrendering anything of value to trade for him. Like other NFL veteran starting quarterbacks that seem to be floating around like dust in the wind, (Trent Edwards, Derek Anderson, Travaris Jackson, Jake Delhomme, Bruce Gradkowski), Smith has a starting job for now, but he is a mere placeholder until the 2011 season ends. 

Once 2012 rolls around, the 49ers will have identified a new quarterback target or will have trotted out Colin Kaepernick enough to know they have a reasonable chance to win with him. But as far as Smith goes, he just simply doesn't possess the skills and ability to be a consistent winner in the NFL.

Whether you look at career numbers that show he throws more interceptions (53) than touchdowns (51) or completes less than 60 percent of his passes (57.1), Smith just struggles too much as this point of his career.

He is entering his seventh year in the NFL after all, and after that amount of time, you either get it or you don't. Trent Edwards was not allowed that much time, and he was released again this weekend.

If and when it is time for Smith and the 49ers to go their separate ways, you can be assured that the 49ers will not bother wasting their time or spinning their wheels to see what they can try to get for him. It will be a simple transaction one-liner stating that the 49ers have released quarterback Alex Smith.

Tarvaris Jackson

The Seattle Seahawks were able to sign quarterback Tarvaris Jackson while he was in the free-agent market. There is no way of knowing if the Seahawks would have been prepared to trade away draft picks or players to the Vikings, if he was still under Minnesota's control.

But, if you have had the chance to watch any of the preseason games of the Seattle Seahawks, you would be quickly able to surmise that Jackson is struggling in Seattle. There is no way to know for sure how the season will turn out. There are clearly many people who are concerned about the Seahawks offensive line, but the reality is that Jackson is not the first NFL quarterback that has been asked to run an offense behind a less-than-stellar offensive line.

Jackson signed a two-year deal to play for Seattle. When the two years are up, Seattle will allow him to move on with his career, as they will realize that there was a reason that Minnesota did not want him to come back to the team.

Brian Waters

Sometimes teams think that when a player has been around long enough, the perception is that there isn't much of a demand for that player. We wonder if that was the case for 11-year NFL veteran lineman Brian Waters.

When a NFL player has been to the Pro Bowl five times, you would like to think that they have earned enough credibility and respect around the league that when it comes time to trade him away, that you could get a decent haul in exchange.

But that was not the case for the Kansas City Chiefs, when they decided to release Pro Bowl guard Brian Waters. Waters wound up improving his situation, as he will be starting for the New England Patriots and now has a stronger opportunity to advance in the playoffs.

But for Kansas City to allow him to leave the team without getting anything back in compensation seems like they either hung on to him too long or had trouble seeing what was unfolding before their eyes. Either way, it is hard to imagine that the Chiefs couldn't have worked harder to try to find a trade partner. Then again, this hasn't been the smoothest of preseasons for the Kansas City Chiefs, as they have problems on a number of fronts.

Aaron Maybin and Vernon Gholston

Although you can't see him too well in the picture, that is Aaron Maybin trying to sack Vince Young of the Eagles. We put Maybin and Vernon Gholston in the same slide, because their stories are basically identical—or tied at the hip.

First-round draft picks, AFC East rivals and expected to do wonderful things to improve the defense of their respective teams. After years of exhibiting much patience and spending millions of dollars that seemed to go right down the drain, both players basically returned next to nothing for the investment that their teams placed in them.

Both players were unceremoniously released without any compensation and were picked up or signed for a minimal investment. The Chicago Bears brought Gholston in, had a look and released him as well. The New York Jets brought Maybin in for a trial, released him too and went on their way.

It doesn't matter what your pedigree is, if you can't play, no team is going to surrender anything of value for you.

Andre Gurode

Very much like the case was with Brian Waters, we come to Andre Gurode, another offensive lineman that had five ProBowls to their name but was released by their team without any level of compensation.

To be sure, Gurode is not a spring chicken. He is 32 years old, and his body is not what it used to be in his early-to-mid 20's. But the fact is he is a very experienced player, that has been involved in many NFL wars and is capable of providing strong leadership to young linemen.

But, there it was for all to see. The Dallas Cowboys released Gurode and let him walk away. Although he kicked the tires of several teams, or perhaps they kicked his tires to be more precise, the Baltimore Ravens were able to sign him for a minimal investment and fortified their offensive line in the process.

There has still not been any kind of an explanation as to why Dallas couldn't find a trade partner that was willing to surrender anything of value for the Pro Bowler.

Brandon Meriweather

Brandon Meriweather is in the prime of his career—at only 27 years old.

Meriweather has been named to the Pro Bowl team each of the past two years. He has been involved in a number of playoff games, and that alone would prove to be invaluable to teams that haven't made a playoff appearence in years. If ever there was a player, who had strong trade value, it would have been Meriweather, right?

Well, timing is everything. The Patriots soured on Meriweather during the preseason, and according to Pro Football Talk on NBC Sports.com, the Patriots only made a half-hearted attempt to trade him. When that didn't bear any fruit, the Patriots just let him walk away for nothing.

Meriweather was quickly scooped up by the Chicago Bears, who signed him to a one-year deal for $3.5 million. No word yet if the Bears will look to sign him to a longer term deal, but they will probably want to see him perform and then go from there.

Adam "Pacman" Jones

There he was in July, in attendance at a bar early in the morning in Cincinnati. The funny thing is that Adam "Pacman" Jones had just gone through surgery on his neck only a month before.

Jones was arrested wearing his neck brace and was probably as much of a surprise to Jones' doctors, who would not have wanted to see him hanging out in nightclubs or getting drunk as part of his therapy.

Jones just doesn't get it, and he may never get it. Despite all of his prior arrests, fines, suspensions, he just has a way of attracting trouble. Trouble follows him around, and he can't seem to shake it.

The Bengals are the only team right now that seems to be the perfect place for him to play, but when it's time for the Bengals and Jones to part ways, you can be sure that no other team will be willing to give up anything in trade for him.

For what it's worth, the Bengals placed Jones on the PUP list, meaning that he can't play in 2011 until Week 7, assuming that he is healthy by then.

Aqib Talib

Another player that we believe would bring nothing back in trade offers would be Tampa Bay Buccaneers corner Aqib Talib. Talib is another one of these players that seems to find trouble pretty easily, or trouble finds him, whichever you prefer.

From charges that involved felony weapons to an assault charge, Talib is the type of player that most general managers will run away from, wanting nothing to do with him or his character issues. There is a reason that there is a personal conduct policy in the NFL, and it is to protect teams against players like Talib.

The Bucs and Bengals were the two teams that had the most arrests or incidents during the lockout period, so maybe it is possible that a deal could be swung of trading Talib for Pacman Jones straight up, accompanied by their personal lawyers as being part of the deal.

Vince Young

Vince Young is our final slide. We close with Young because he has a bad attitude, that can become volatile if things don't go his way. He is not the most stable person from a mental health view.

When it came time for Tennessee to decide what to do with him, they reasoned that it was better to let him walk away. They could have traded him in 2010 but decided that they weren't going to get anything back of value, so they just let him leave as a free agent.

Young decided to join the Eagles and play alongside Michael Vick to try to restore his image and reputation. Young strained his hamstring in the final preseason game, which means that the Eagles will probably list Mike Kafka as the No. 2 quarterback for the season opener, until Young is deemed healthy enough to back up Michael Vick.

As recently as the end of August, Young was in a battle with Kafka to become the Eagles backup QB. But, Young exhibited enough in his preseason game opportunities that he won the backup job.

If there is any team that has found the way to turn backup quarterbacks into tradeable commodities, it is the Philadelphia Eagles. It will be interesting to see how long Young remains with the team and if the Eagles are able to extract any value for him on the open market.