There was news on Friday night - sources are saying the Washington Redskins have made a potential trade with the St. Louis Rams. ESPN's Adam Schefter is reporting that the two teams have just completed a blockbuster trade in principle even though we are still over forty-seven days away from the 2012 NFL Draft. The deal cannot become official until Tuesday at 4pm when the league year officially commences.
In a pre-draft blockbuster trade, the St. Louis Rams have agreed in principle to send the second overall pick in this year's draft to the Washington Redskins for three first-round draft picks and a second-round pick, according to a source in Cleveland familiar with the terms of the deal.
It was well known that the Redskins would be players for Robert Griffin III, but that is a king's ransom to move up for him. This is a good trade for the Rams, they get a Herschel Walker-type of package in return and can use the picks to build their team from the ground up. Considering they are one of the worst teams in the league, this is the type of deal that gives them a bright future.
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As for the Redskins, they got their man. They have lacked a franchise quarterback for a very long time and now they have a talented one to build their team around. Of course, this is assuming the trade is approved by the league office and the Redskins intend to select RG3. Head coach Mike Shanahan has struggled to find the right quarterback to run his offense. His team wasn't too far off from contending last year, he had a solid offense that was held back because of Rex Grossman and John Beck. Their defense is talented enough to win football games and now they have a potential franchise quarterback to lead them.
I am not saying that all of a sudden the Redskins are a Super Bowl contender, far from it. It will be difficult to build their team around Griffin after surrendering so many draft picks in order to secure his services. Many have feared that he would end up wearing the burgundy and yellow, now the nightmare may come true. We will have to face him twice a year, possibly three times if we meet in the playoffs. He has an incredibly accurate and underrated arm. His legs and athleticism allow him to turn broken plays into big ones, and that is an area that could be a problem for us a very long time.
ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper knows that this is a quarterback driven league and believes the Redskins made a great move.
"You're not giving [those picks] away. You're getting a quarterback who has star power," ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper said Thursday when asked about the price of moving up to acquire the Rams' pick and the chance to draft Griffin. "I don't care about the spots you move up. It's a quarterback-driven league. Griffin is red hot right now. ... Dan Snyder knows what [the Redskins] need, and they've got to get a quarterback. They beat the Giants twice, and they beat Green Bay a year ago. He knows the missing link in Washington is quarterback."
A part of me really wishes the Cowboys would do the same one day and trade up for a franchise quarterback, but the timing isn't right yet. Tony Romo is in his prime and he is more than capable of winning games for us. The front office should consider adding a young and talented quarterback to groom under Romo, but we don't have to rush into making a move like the Redskins just made to compete for a Super Bowl.
Sometimes we take Romo for granted, I know that I appreciate him even more because we don't have to trade our future away to acquire a quarterback. This is a quarterback driven league. This potential trade just goes to show you how willing a team is to trade away a lot of assets in order to get a franchise quarterback.
The Cowboys need to start revamping their defense because the NFC East just got a whole lot tougher...