Big C

This is absolutely an exercise in team building. Sammy never embraced the team and we have replaced him with a new prospect, two productive NFL receivers, one of whom is a tremendous leader. And we have a high pick next year to boot.

Agreed. Maybe overall talent went down, but production won't necessarily. Matthews has been consistent and Gaines is a question mark but has shown in the past he could play. I also think the Watkins trade comes down to his place on the team and in the locker room. He did not embrace the team, was not a leader and his production was spotty due to injury. He also clearly lacked toughness out there and it has nothing to do with the foot. If Sammy came out and balled and we ponied up and paid him huge money we could have had another Dareus type contract on our hands. And too much money tied up in too few guys that aren't elevating the whole team would cripple us for much longer than this one season. If we had traded TT, Shady, Kyle or Wood for example I would be thinking total rebuild, as those are the guys I consider the faces of our franchise.

Boldin didn't come here to stand on the sidelines and mentor all season. I'm betting he's ready to ball.

Also shying away from contact and going down easy.

I'm more inclined to agree here. It depends on what we do with the picks, of course. But the logic is sound. Sammy could light it up this year, but he has so far shown no leadership and he seems to me like the opposite of a guy you want to pay during a rebuild. He may not be an OBJ-type diva, but so far he's spoken about how he isn't being targeted enough and about how much money he deserves, etc. and not much else. Not once in the time he's been here has it seemed like he was the face of our franchise or even wanted to be. Tyrod, Shady, Kyle, Wood and a few others have totally embraced their role on the team and have backed it up on the field (granted, to varying degrees). If we had traded any of those guys I'd be more concerned about a tank job than I am now.

I don't think that tanks his value. The team that traded for him is now free to work on an extension on their own terms and still have an out if he gets hurt again. Or, if the team is a so-called "competitor," they can bring the guy in for a year and pursue their title and aren't worried about crippling themselves financially in the next year or beyond. Frankly, I'm surprised the Rams went for him because they don't fit into the latter category (unless we are all sleeping on them this year).

If they gel with the team, then sure extend them midseason.

Perhaps, but Darby was not very good last year and the defense was virtually unchanged from the year before. The two trades go hand-in-hand, essentially we traded a WR and a CB for another WR and CB + draft picks. We are taking a downgrade this year to improve long term and I think that's OK, and the reality is that Matthews is a productive NFL receiver and Gaines has potential (though he needs to regain his 2014 form which may not happen). Our forte is still in the run game and we've added two productive receivers in Boldin and Matthews plus a solid prospect in Jones as our top three. No reason to think we can't be competitive this year. Sammy missed a ton of time last year and we still could have made the playoffs if Rex and Rob's defense wasn't so pathetic.

I wouldn't be surprised if neither guy was well liked in the locker room.

Thank you for getting the discussion going on this issue!

Think we had too many cooks in the kitchen, so to speak, over the past few regimes. I like that this new one has a unified vision. Could go badly, but could just as easily go well.

Thank you. Sounds OK to me, although it'd be nice to have a deep threat too. That's the best part of TT's passing game.

Not Darby.

Maybe the Rams wanted to see Sammy play ball before pulling the trigger on the trade?

BREAKING: Sammy Watkins arrives at Rams camp:

BREAKING: Sammy Watkins arrives at Rams camp:

You're thinking of 2015.

Long term, I think you're right. I was hoping to see a competitive team this year, though. I'm going to continue hoping that they will be competitive with the guys we have now (TT/Shady/Clay/Zay/Boldin/etc) and then we just have the extra picks and I'm allowed to hold onto this delusion until at least week 4.

He did. He didn't play in 2015.

Their #1 CB is Trumaine Johnson.

Truth!

Not the point, though. It's a team that knows they aren't re-signing a player that will command big money in free agency and getting something for that player instead of just losing them the following year. This difference is the Patriots didn't need Jones and we probably needed Sammy.

We need to merge threads!

Played well in 2014, injured 2015, played poorly last season.

Yeah, it's like the Patriots shipping off Chandler Jones last year. Not keeping him, might as well get a 2nd for him. The trade is pretty fair and we replace the WR lost with the one gained in Matthews and we still have two starting caliber CBs.