Who Has The Firepower In This Year's Draft?

by: William P. Tomisser

Hey gang. Long time, no post. I had another bout with pancreatitis and because of my aversion to hospitals, I stayed home this time and rode this one out. I've been pretty much out of it for the last 12 days. Also, I couldn't miss the gigs my bands had during that period of time and the hospital has no work release program. In fact, they take a downright dim view of walking out of the hospital before released. I know that one from personal experience. Don't ask.

I'm happy to be able to report that I'm feeling much better now and although a bit weak, the pain is entirely gone at this point. I'm going to try and ease back into writing some stuff for SA. I hope some of you missed me and not everyone was jumping for joy when I turned up missing.

I was browsing over at the NFC West blog and came across an interesting chart that was developed while reading an article about the Rams trade for Laurent Robinson. Since it had a link provided, I thought I would bring it over for you guys and gals here at SA to enjoy too.

Mike Sando developed the Excel file that shows the current full draft order for all 7 rounds and shows how many total trade points each team has for future trades which is based on criteria that is explained here.

It has two different views one of which shows all 7 rounds of the draft including the most recent trade of Robinson from the Falcons to the Rams and the swapped picks. The second view shows each teams total trade points and is sorted from the highest (Detroit with 4913.4) to the lowest (Carolina with 520.8).

I spent an hour going through the "what ifs" using the chart and had us making all kinds of trades. It shows pretty well why no one can afford to move up into the top two spots and how unlikely it will be to see someone trade with Kansas City unless they really want someone.

The Seahawks do have a few teams that could make a deal with them but the further the teams get from the number 4 pick, the more picks they have to give up until you hit Miami and Houston who would have to give their entire draft to trade with the Seahawks. Half the teams in the league couldn't make the trade using this years picks. Of the teams below us, only 12 show the firepower to make a deal for number 4.

With the first pick being worth 3000 points, only the Rams and the Bronco's have enough points to trade into the top spot without using future year's picks. The Bronco's would have to give their entire draft and the Rams would come out with just their second round pick. No one else has the ammunition.

Have fun and install yourself as the new Seahawk GM. Using the charts, give us your best trade deal that balances out the points and tell us who you would like to take with our new picks you so shrewdly acquired.

Hasta,

BillT

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