Tim Hightower and 6 Players Teams Will Regret Trading

With nearly 100 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown in Week 1, Tim Hightower of the Washington Redskins showed that he is better than the Arizona Cardinals thought.

Who else will make their former teams regret getting rid of them?

Trades in the NFL are not as common as other sports. Successful players usually fit into a good system, and it is hard to judge how a player would succeed in a different location.

Yet in this lockout-shortened offseason, there was a flurry of trades of big-name players. General managers tried to improve their teams in a hurry at the expense of other players and future draft picks.

So which front offices made a bad decision that might haunt their teams in the future?

Reggie Bush

In just the first few plays of the Monday Night Football game against the New England Patriots, Reggie Bush showed a level of explosiveness we have not seen from him in years.

The New Orleans Saints drafted Mark Ingram in the first round of this year’s draft, and Bush became an afterthought. They never believed he could be a full-time back and were more than ready to start fresh with Ingram.

As for Bush, he was very happy to get a new chance to show that he really could be an every-down running back. If this first game is any indication, he can be a feature back.

Saints head coach Sean Payton knows what he is doing on offense and always tried to use Reggie Bush in a creative way. However, Bush can have a good enough year that it will make New Orleans trading him this year a mistake.

Taylor Mays

Just a few weeks before the season started, the San Francisco 49ers traded Taylor Mays to the Cincinnati Bengals for a late draft pick. The most surprising aspect of this is that Mays was a second-round draft pick just one season ago.

The former USC Trojan has great size, speed and athleticism, but does not yet have the instinct needed to succeed in the NFL. Still, he played in all 16 games last season and started in six of them.

The team must have seen some talent in him.

The 49ers have good depth this year at safety, so Mays was expendable. However, the team should have given him more of an opportunity to prove that he can be a valuable asset.

With good coaching and enough time to develop his game, Mays has the ability to be a very good safety. If that happens, San Francisco better hope they still have some good safeties on their team.

Albert Haynesworth

Albert Haynesworth’s career with the Washington Redskins was nothing but a disappointment. When signed, he was the highest paid defensive player in football, yet all he did was complain and fail to produce.

However, Haynesworth still has loads of talent, and he will show it this season on the New England Patriots.

The biggest problem that Haynesworth had was the fact that they wanted him to play in a 3-4 system when he prefers to play in a 4-3. In New England, he will play on a four-man front alongside Vince Wilfork to create one of the best defensive lines in football.

The Redskins are probably happy to be rid of Haynesworth now, but once they see his talent on display for the Patriots, they will be sorry they did not accommodate his needs. 

Kevin Kolb

Sure, the Philadelphia Eagles have Michael Vick, but he is still full of plenty of question marks. Was last year a fluke? Will he get injured again? How much longer can the 31-year-old play like does?

Kevin Kolb has all the makings of a franchise quarterback, and he could possibly do it for a long time. With his first chance to be a starter (with no pressure from the sidelines), Kolb threw for over 300 yards and had a 130.0 Quarterback Rating.

The Eagles appear to be one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl this season. Vick will be an MVP-candidate, and even if he gets hurt, Vince Young is a more than capable replacement.

They will not miss Kolb this season.

However, a few years down the road, Kevin Kolb might be a Pro Bowl quarterback that the Eagles will wish they still had him.

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie

If the Philadelphia Eagles will regret trading Kevin Kolb, how can the Arizona Cardinals regret losing the player they traded for him?

Simple, removing Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie from the Cardinals created one of the biggest holes in the NFL.

While fifth-overall draft pick Patrick Peterson has tons of potential, the rest of the defensive secondary is atrocious.

Against the Cardinals on Sunday, rookie Cam Newton broke Peyton Manning’s record of the most passing yards in a Week 1 debut for a rookie. Not to take anything away from Newton, but no rookie should be able to pass for 422 yards, regardless of his potential.

The Cardinals needed to make a play for a quarterback, so getting Kevin Kolb was a good decision. However, they might have been better off giving away more draft picks than a Pro Bowl corner in Rodgers-Cromartie. 

Tim Hightower

After never getting the opportunity to be the full-time running back with the Arizona Cardinals, it seems that Tim Hightower found a great situation with the Washington Redskins.

His overall numbers were not stunning, but he showed that he can be a workhorse for a team that should heavily rely on the run this year. He received a career-high 25 carries against the New York Giants in Week 1, with Roy Helu getting the only other carry for the Redskins.

In his three-year career with the Cardinals, he had over 20 carries just once.

While Beanie Wells had a solid game against the Carolina Panthers, Arizona will miss Hightower’s strength and pass-catching ability as the season progresses.

The Redskins seem more than happy to have him as they hope to build off of their opening week victory.