Rams, Redskins, and……Jets?
By Joe Tufaro
Big news came out of the NFL late Friday night, and also some news for for the sake of news it seems. First, to the real story. The Rams have traded the rights to the second pick in the upcoming NFL Draft to the Washington Redskins for draft picks. The Rams will move down to Washington’s #6 spot and also receive the Redskins second round pick this year, and their first round picks for the next two years. Quite a haul for first year GM Les Snead. The Redskins and Browns were rumored for weeks to the teams seeking to trade up into this spot. The Redskins were thought to be players in the Peyton Manning sweepstakes recently, but it has become widely known that Peyton and the Mannings didn’t want to be in the same division as Eli. The Redskins took the plunge, probably over paid a bit, considering the timing of the deal, and now will most likely select QB Robert Griffin III out of Baylor on draft day. Griffin is a player, and will contribute instantly, but it still will be a process to surround him with talent considering the trade of draft picks.
The Rams make out like bandits. They knew they could get a lot for their pick and did. They have a QB in Bradford, and now have the stock pile of picks to continue to improve this team in the near future. Good decisions using those picks will know be the only thing standing between St. Louis and rapid improvement.
Peyton Manning took a trip to Denver yesterday to speak with John Elway, and is on his way to Arizona to interview the Cardinals. He will probably make stops in Miami, K.C., and Houston. All other dreamers of winning the Peyton sweepstakes should probably move on and make other plans….and that brings us to the Jets.
The Jets made no secret that they would, of course, entertain the thought of bringing in Peyton Manning. They should have, that’s a GM’s job, to explore all possibilities. However, the Jets can’t ever seem to do anything quietly, or make it seem like business as usual. They had players saying they NEED to get him, the G.M. was on the radio talking about how they would explore the possibilities. They had put themselves in the talk, so they would be talked about. This quest for recognition is childish at times, like little kids insisting they sit at the grown-ups table. Everyone wants to be a Jet right? Everyone wants to play for the Jets right? When they finally got the word that Peyton had no interest in them, they then felt they needed to do something, anything to show they were on a different path all along. What did they do? They extended the contract of Mark Sanchez. Here is a QB that at the end of the season the GM said had “taken a step back this year”. A kid, who while talented, has shown no ability to lead this team, and maybe shown some signs of either being un-coachable, or maybe lacking a bit of a work ethic. So, Now we know why everyone wants to be a JET….they reward poor performance, don’t ever reprimand or hold you accountable for your actions, and provide NO competition for your job at any level or position. Great Job!
Let’s see Peyton in Miami, Brady in N.E…….