FanPost

Trading Joey Porter .... or someone else???

Over the past couple of weeks I have seen many comments calling for a trade of Joey Porter.  From what I have read everyone's thoughts are to sell high and try and get a possible 1st rd or 2nd rd draft pick and possibly more. If that was the case I would be all for it but my thoughts are this would likely be impossible for a couple different reasons. 

I have been listening to Pat Kirwan on NFL Sirius Radio and the former GM takes calls with questions like this all the time and he always answers it by asking two things .. 1) who will replace his production and 2) who would be interested in trading for him.  After that you can find out if that team is willing to make to pay the price you ask for.

1) Replacing Joey Porters Production

We all know about what Joey brought to the table last season .. a career best 17.5 sacks with some coming at the most important of times.  So if we do let him go we could draft someone .. and we also just brought in Cameron Wake as well who can play that position.  This would leave us with to big of a hole in that position in my mind for us to let this happen.  Yes 1st round talent (or 2nd) is nice but 17.5 sacks nice I'm not sure. Their is also the FA talent out there but once again to get someone like him we would have to make a huge splash and that isn't the trifecta's style but still an option.  

I think his production for any team is tough to replace .. look at the Chiefs who made a similar move a year ago and what it cost them once they let go Jared Allen and his production .. not a great move if you are team that is coming off a Division Champion season like the Dolphins .... it is a move you make if you are a team like the Chiefs and have no hope for the next season.  

2) Finding a Trading Partner

Last season Porter showed that he struggles in a 4-3 Defense which would have a lot of teams not willing to part with a high draft pick because of his age and he doesn't fit what they like to do on defense.  This would limit the possible amount of trade partners down to roughly 7 teams who play the 3-4 defense and of these seven ..  two are division rivals which would also probably stop a trade from happening to those so we are now down to 5 teams. 

*Although with the amount of coaches being fired this may change by 1 or 2 teams* 

Of the 5 left .. the Browns, Ravens, Steelers, Chargers and Cowboys.  Only the Browns would have probably what it takes to make this deal.  The Cowboys don't have any draft picks to trade, the Steelers have talent at that position already, the Ravens will most likely resign who they have and also don't have the cap space to make the deal and the Chargers are getting Lights Out Merriman back this season which will probably hold them off from a deal at that position. 

So that would leave the Browns ... this could happen for a couple different reasons.  They have Wimbley who is a good young talent and might be losing an aging Willie McGuinest and the thought of adding Porter on the other side might get them to bit.  On the other hand it will be a new GM and coach who might want to rebuild through the draft while they still have the freedom of patience from the owner on their side.  They also have a very high pick once again making the trade much harder to become reality ... unless we were willing to receive a high second round pick that is. 

We got lucky last season with the JT deal but also remember that was after the draft and right before training camp and I can't see us doing that again before the season .. and I'm sure that is what everyone is thinking  .. if we can trade JT why not J-Peazy? The best offer we had for JT was a third round pick before the draft and so we held onto him .. I doubt the price of a 1st round pick which is what you want for someone with his talent, won't be offered before the draft .. maybe after but not before. Another example would be the Deon Branch trade which was a 1st round pick, it also done after the draft when getting more back seems to be easier. 

I like the rest of you would love to stock pile talented rookies and build for the future but to do that we would probably have to lose something for today to build for tomorrow.  It is hard to really know where we are as a team because we got so many lucky breaks last season.  Are we more like the 05 Saints? who haven't made the playoffs since their amazing turnaround or like the 99 Colts? who have been great every year since their turnaround.  I like to think we are more like the Colts lol  So I say keep Joey as we will have the need for his talented Ol' Ass next season or two as we make a couple more shots at the postseason success. 

So after looking into the possible trade of Joey Porter do you think this will still happen? or should happen?

A trade or two can happen this offseason .. so below I created a poll of who might be on the shopping block .. remember these are just names put in and not who I think will be traded. 

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of The Phinsider's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of The Phinsider writers or editors.