Yesterday on October 15th we saw two huge wide receiver trades in the NFL. The Buffalo Bills traded for Amari Cooper and the New York Jets traded for Davante Adams. Both these teams played Monday with the Bills winning in a close game. Both these teams are battling out for the AFC east.
After Monday’s loss the Jets are now 2-4 and know they need additional assistance if they want to make a playoff push. In one of my previous articles I talked about how Adams would be a great fit for New York after he requested a trade from the Raiders. Adams was teammates of Rodgers and they had many successful years on the Packers together. It seemed that Rodgers was having a difficult time building a connection with his receiver core as Monday night’s game losing interception Rodgers threw was blamed on Mike Williams. Adams will more than likely take over the wide receiver one position and have Garrett Wilson as the two and Allen Lazard as the three. So Adams was sent to the Jets and in return the Raiders received a conditional third round pick. The way this pick works is that Adams either becomes a first or second all pro this season or has an appearance in the AFC championship game. If this happens the third round pick will turn into a second round pick. For the Raiders I don’t think this means much. They already knew that Adam’s time in Las Vegas was nearing the end and I don’t think a third round pick is all too bad. When a player requests a trade it always makes the return value slightly go down. This is just because if a team knows a player wants to leave they gain more leverage cause they know the player will leave regardless. The Raiders weren't going to compete anyways so I would give them a B grade on this trade. You would think a player of Adams’ stature would be able to get a combination of picks but since he was already asking for a trade there wasn't much they could do. I respect them moving Adams and not wasting the end of his prime to not compete. The Jets get an A+. They reunite Rodgers and Adams and I think this gives the Jets their best chance to compete. If the Jets continue to be bad and not make the playoffs I’m not really sure what excuses you give Rodgers at this point. I think the defense is fine and good enough to make a playoff push and I think Adams could be the missing link that could transform this offense to the next level. On top of that you only gave up a third round pick for one the best receivers in the NFL, great value.
Right after this trade we got another with the Bills acquiring Amari Cooper. For the Browns I would give them a C on this trade. The Browns weren't supposed to be bad, but they are. Deshaun Watson is the problem here and it seems the Browns have no plans on benching him. He has a terrible contract of 230 million and all of it’s guaranteed so the ownership wants him to play. Unfortunately Joe Flacco completely out played Watson last season making this move even worse. It seems the Browns know they won’t be competing this year and will start to sell off some pieces, Cooper being the first. With the situation in Cleveland and what they were supposed to be I can only give this a C. The Browns also received a third with a sixth round pick swap. Again not much draft capital for a top receiver in the game. For the Bills I also give this an A. Josh Allen is having one of best years with throwing 0 interactions so far. The one thing missing in this offense was a true number one, and now they got one. This should be one of the best teams in all of football, and this was a great Stephon Diggs replacement.
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