Bad Things Come In Sevens: A League Trade Review

Over the course of the entire fantasy football season, there was precisely seven (7!) trades made. That’s it. Very lame.

Anyway, I’m here to break them all down, in retrospect and in order of occurrence, so we can all see how Joel managed to make half of the trades in the league… and screw them up.

TRADE ONE

Weseloh GETS
Joseph Addai
Thomas Jones
Marques Colston

Schilb GETS
Chris Johnson
Donald Driver
Ryan Grant
Jamal Lewis

Thoughts:

I think Joel actually came away on top in this one. Johnson was a consistent performer as a rookie and is an excellent keeper prospect as a 12th round pick (undrafted). Worse case scenario, Johnson is an excellent flex option for next year. Grant struggled in the first half of the season, but redeemed himself a bit at the end of the year.

Joseph Addai and Marques Colston were never fully healthy all season. This hurt Jeff for much of the middle of the season. A healthy Addai and Colston and Jeff would have been tough to beat.

TRADE TWO

Weseloh GETS
Reggie Wayne
Larry Johnson

Allen GETS
Willis McGahee
Thomas Jones
Randy Moss

Thoughts:

Total crapshoot of a trade. Just… ugh. I can’t even analyze this. Next trade…

TRADE THREE

Allen GETS
Eddie Royal

C. Wessley GETS
Steven Jackson

Thoughts:

Ouch. This is not a good deal for Tony. He gave up on his biggest “boom” fantasy guy for a, at best, fourth option keeper. If you are keeping Eddie Royal at the end of this season, you’re not in good shape for the long haul. A steal for Chris.

TRADE FOUR

Weseloh GETS
LaDainian Tomlinson

C. Wessley GETS
Julius Jones
Marques Colston

Thoughts:

This was a gutsy trade by Chris, but he had nothing to lose at that point in the season. I do think that Chris pulled the trigger a little too late on LDT, otherwise he would have gotten a better haul than Colston and Jones. But I liked the idea. Weseloh, with exception to the final week of the season, never got “LDT” production for LDT. So giving up on a keepable guy in Colston (although round three is high) for a guy who can’t be kept and never gave you the punch you’re looking for is a bit of a disappointment. But I don’t blame him for trading for him either. Ultimately, I think this trade is a push.

TRADE FIVE

Weseloh GETS
Steve Smith
Donovan McNabb
LenDale White

Johnson GETS
Reggie Wayne
Matt Forte

Thoughts:

Erik essentially traded what was bench fodder for him for and excellent keeper prospect. McNabb and was his backup quarterback and wasting away on the bench. White was a guy who was either going to get 20 points or nothing at all and Smith was on a team that was running the ball far too well to be throwing it as often as Erik liked. So Erik traded one top level receiver for another and a couple of bench guys for an excellent keeper prospect in Matt Forte (8th round) who also helped earn the regular season championship. Erik really hit the trade out of the park and was the difference between him being the top seed and Jason being the second seed.

Jeff didn’t necessarily bomb on the trade, but he is developing a disturbing trend in trading great keeper guys (Chris Johnson and Matt Forte this season, Adrian Peterson last season).

TRADE SIX

Weseloh GETS
Chris Johnson
Ryan Grant
Brett Favre

Weseloh GETS
Donovan McNabb
LenDale White
Larry Johnson
Lance Moore

Thoughts:

Secretly, I think Joel thought he was getting Lance BASS in this traded, not Lance MOORE. Either way, Weseloh redeemed himself and got Johnson back, who should be an excellent keeper for him next year (I think I’ve said that three times already). Ryan Grant was a good back at the end of the season and Favre was in the playoff mix until the final week of the season.

Joel ended up with a solid Donovan McNabb and excellent postseason keeper. The same could be said about LenDale White. LJ and Lance Moore? No clue what getting they got him. There is always a “Lance Moore” in a Joel trade. Always.

TRADE SEVEN

Nielsen GETS
Wes Welker

Schilb GETS
T.J. Houshmandzadeh
Tyler Thigpen

Thoughts:

Aaaaaaand this is where Joel looks stupid. Sorry, but anybody who trades for Tyler Thigpen is an idiot. And you were doing so well Joel…

Welker went off for back-to-back 20 point efforts while T.J. found himself inactive. Thigpen also made no sense because he had just picked up Donovan McNabb and already had Ben Roethlisberger on his roster. Are you planning on keeping Tyler Thigpen, Joel? God, I hope so…