For weeks, NFL news has been made up mostly of speculation. From the abundance of mock drafts out there to the myriad trade rumours, the chatter is endless.
So with the day many college football players have been dreaming of their whole live less than 48 hours away, we’ve decided to do some speculating of our own.
Here are three draft-day trades we want to see on Thursday night:
Philip Rivers shipped to the Titans for the No. 2 pick
To the Titans: Philip Rivers, 2015 second-round pick (48th overall)
To the Chargers: 2015 first-round pick (2nd overall)
Why we want to see this: It’s a blockbuster! Other than some – OK, maybe most – Chargers fans, every sports fan would love to see a game-changing deal like this one go down. The effects of such a trade have the potential to be far-reaching. With Rivers at the helm in Tennessee, the landscape of the AFC South would change dramatically. All of a sudden the division isn’t the cakewalk it once was for Andrew Luck and the Colts over the last three seasons.
Assuming San Diego takes Marcus Mariota with that shiny, new draft pick, the power dynamic of the AFC West also shifts. Sure, the Broncos are still at the top for now, but are the Chargers in rebuild mode? Can the Chiefs take advantage? Or is it the Derek Carr-led Raiders that leapfrog the rest?
Adrian Peterson traded to the Cowboys
To the Cowboys: Adrian Peterson
To the Vikings: 2015 first-round pick (27th overall)
Why we want to see this: Because the combination of Peterson and the Cowboys offensive line – by far the NFL’s best in 2014 – is enough to make any football fan salivate. If DeMarco Murray could rack up nearly 2,000 yards behind this group, can you imagine what a healthy and highly motivated Adrian Peterson could do? The possibilities are almost too much to handle.
I’m sure some of you are asking, “Why only a low, first-round pick for a high-impact player like Peterson?”
Well, the answer is running backs just aren’t that valuable any more. The days of a Herschel Walker-type return are long gone (coincidentally, also a trade between the Cowboys and Vikings). The other major trade involving a running back this off-season was LeSean McCoy to the Bills for Kiko Alonso. Sure, Alonso’s a great player, but he was a second-round pick and hasn’t played football in a year. The deep running back class in this year’s draft also plays a factor in diminishing Peterson’s value.
Browns trade up for a big-play receiver
To the Jets: Two 2015 first-round picks (12th and 19th overall)
To the Browns: 2015 first-round pick (6th overall)
Why we want to see this: Because who doesn’t like to see the Cleveland Browns desperately attempt to claw back to relevancy? For our purposes, both Winston and Mariota are both off the board at No. 6, meaning the Browns will be looking elsewhere. Sure, with plenty of players to choose from a defensive pick might be smart here, but that’s not the Cleveland way.
With Josh Gordon suspended for another season and likely done in Cleveland, we envision the Browns taking a page out of the Buffalo Bills’ playbook and bringing in a game-breaking wide receiver for Josh McCown to overthrow or to block for a scrambling Johnny Manziel while he tries to do it all himself. That means either West Virginia’s Kevin White or Alabama’s Amari Cooper.
