Thanks goodness the end is nearly here, the end of mock drafts and the end of ridiculous trade proposals, which will only get more ridiculous as the week rolls on right up until the NFL Draft opens on Thursday with the first round.
T.J. Watt gave a peace out sign in a recent social media post, and all of a sudden is, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ sack machine and probable Hall of Famer wants out.
Now, there might be some credence to that since, Watt is in the final year of a contract that will pay him a base salary of $21 million. He came in the 2017 NFL draft as the 30th overall pick while Myles Garrett was the first pick that year and he just broke the bank with a $40M extension and he has 102.5 career sacks compared to Watt’s 108.
So, a contract extension makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is the clamor over a possible trade to the Eagles. The possibility of it was asked to me on a radio program the other day, and I was incredulous.
It only takes a little common sense to know that the Eagles aren’t breaking their bank for a player who, even about to turn 31 and is highly productive, especially when they are trying to find money to sign some of the young talent they have brought into the organization over the past four drafts.
The Eagles aren’t overturning their financial applecart for a shiny Golden Delicious variety of apple.
As preposterous as that is, there was one report suggesting the Eagles should trade DeVonta Smith to the Dolphins for cornerback Jalen Ramsey, with the team’s swapping draft positions in the first round (Eagles would go from 32 to 13) and Philly getting a second-round pick next year with Miami getting some late-round choices in there.
If the Eagles wanted a 31-year-old veteran cornerback, they just would have kept Darius Slay and given him more money. Ramsey is due a boatload of cash over the next several year with salary-cap charges well above $20M for the next three years.
Did the author of the report, who shall remain nameless to save him the embarrassment of such a suggestion, forget that Ramsey was firing arrows at Vic Fangio on the way out the door last year as the defensive coordinator left South Florida to take over the DC job and help the Eagles win a Super Bowl?
There’s no way that happens, just as there is no way the Eagles are trading Smith. Buckle up, though. There are more rumors waiting to hit the streets.
