Peyton Manning trade

[CubmanPi]

I'm in a 14-team league that drafted a week ago Sunday, back when Manning was still going very high. I drafted my backup QB very early, just in case someone else's QB went down. The guy who has Manning is my week 1 opponent who now has to start Colt McCoy.

It's time to build a trade proposal. Here are the rosters:

 

Me                       Him
--                       ---
Tony Romo                Colt McCoy
Ray Rice                 Chris Johnson
Daniel Thomas            Mark Ingram
Braylon Edwards          LaDainian Tomlinson
Hakeem Nicks             Dwayne Bowe
Brandon Marshall         Steve Johnson
Jimmy Graham             Jason Whitten
Falcons D                Ravens D
Billy Cundiff            Josh Brown

        BENCHES
        -------
Joe Flacco               Peyton Manning
Sydney Rice              Julio Jones
Michael Bush             Donnie Avery
Donald Brown             Jerome Simpson
Eddie Royal              Jamie Harper
Anthony Dixon            Patrick Crayton
Matt Hasselbeck          Stevan Ridley

I drafted Daniel Thomas late hoping he'd turn out to be a good sleeper pick. As it stands right now, he just tweaked his hamstring at the end of a pre-season where he played himself down from starter to at best a platoon guy. I also have 3 quarterbacks because of bye-week fail with Flacco and Romo, and I figured having one of the few remaining starting quarterbacks was more important than scraping rock bottom for a final WR/RB slot.

 

CLIFFS NOTES VERSION: I'm thinking Flacco and Michael Bush for Manning and Tomlinson, and if he doesn't accept, I can "compromise" up to Flacco and Thomas. So far, Manning seems to only be ruled out for the first 2-3 months with a possibility of returning around fantasy football playoff time, which could be HUGE. Otherwise, I get a significant RB upgrade, and he gets a significant QB upgrade with a potential starting RB to fill the gap. Thoughts?

[WrigleyField 22]

Any context on what QBs might be on the waiver wire. If I'm him I consider biting the bullet with McCoy and a waiver QB and that offer isn't enough. You can try though. Its not a bad proposal on your end, I just don't see it being accepted.

[CubmanPi]

IT's a 14-team league, and I'm carrying 3 QB's, so based on that alone, the waiver wire is bone dry.

 

ETA - I just went and checked, and according to ESPN rankings, the top 3 available QBs in order are Carson Palmer, Shaun Hill, and John Kitna.

[CubmanPi]

I know he may be better off running with McCoy and seeing what happens, I'm just hoping that me being the one to play him adds some desperation on his end. Either he accepts the trade and I upgrade RB, or he risks McCoy laying a turd and I blow him out, in which case I'm in even better shape before week two.

[MWV]

First, as a fellow 14 team D. Thomas owner I feel your pain.

The trade as I see it, though, amounts to you giving up Flacco and M. Bush for Tomlinson and maybe a half season of Manning. I'd just start Bush this week (Denver run defense was 2nd worst in the league last year) and let him roll with McCoy. Perhaps let him know that you are willing to part with Flacco and see what he might offer. He may become desperate in subsequent weeks if it looks like Manning is headed to IR.

[CubmanPi]

I also just realized that, according to ESPN rankings, the sixth best quarterback available is Kerry Collins. It may be worth it for him to try that route as well.

 

I offered the Flacco-Bush for Manning-Tomlinson trade last night, but I just pulled it off the table. Hopefully after he watches Flacco put up better numbers on my bench than he'll ever see from his team, he'll get desperate. Seeds have been planted.

[sneakypower]

personally, i don't like Flacco much better than McCoy, but i'm relatively higher on the latter than most

[CubmanPi]

Are you still angry at Art Modell? Time to move on.

[DivineBovine]

I just don't think Manning produces great numbers even if he does come back.

 

2-3 months is a long time. I think more likely, the Colts are out of it and they just shut him down to get a good draft pick. He has very little value except to the guy who's still pissed off he drafted him high in the first place. He would keep him just because the only thing that would piss him off even more is to see him come back after he trades him and light it up, even if he knows it isn't happening.

[CubmanPi]

I haven't gone back to see who was available at the time I drafted Flacco, but reaching for a higher-quality backup in hopes it would prove to be valuable trade bait turned out to be a pretty dumb idea. I didn't realize how easy it would be to come up with a suitable replacement for QB, even in a 14-team league. I also didn't realize the small point difference between a solid week from Flacco and a week of relative non-failure from a QB like McCoy.

 

I've decided that if I want my quarterback situation to turn into a benefit at RB, I'll probably have to be willing to part with Romo and then ride it out with Flacco the rest of the way. I also really hope Daniel Thomas sees some success this week and can earn a bigger share of the load in Miami.