New team in on Boldin discussion?
Anquan Boldin | Cardinals | Interested: Titans? Ravens? Eagles? Jets? Giants?
With talks having cooled for a day or two, and the new thinking being that perhaps Anquan Boldin would stay in the desert this season, the Tennessee Titans have emerged as a new destination, according to the Nashville Tennessean. Speaking with the Tennessean’s Jim Wyatt, Titans general manager Mike Reinfeldt was not explicit in discussing any possible trade, but did seem open to exploring the option, saying, “It’s safe to say we’re always trying to get the team better, so we’ll continue to monitor various situations.”

As long as the Titans have been in Tennessee, they have sculpted a run-first offense. Due to this philosophy, the team isn’t normally active in the market for top-tier wideouts, and it’s usually a possession receiver that closes the season as the team’s most productive pass-catcher. This culture underwent a small shift already this offseason with the signing of Nate Washington, a player who possesses both the speed and leaping ability to become a force as a deep threat.

A trade for Boldin would push the Titans further in that direction, and the team is in a good situation regarding the salary cap, with around $13 million to play with according to some estimates. Boldin’s individual production may take a hit because the Titans will still be focusing their offense on the running game, but he will provide the reliable target that the team has lacked for several years since Derrick Mason moved on to the Baltimore Ravens.

However, the alleged asking price that the Arizona Cardinals want in return for Boldin could be a big sticking point. Tennessee is a team that values its draft picks pretty highly, and usually develops players from within the organization. So to give up two of its first three picks would require some serious internal salesmanship from those in favor of the deal. While Boldin would certainly be the most dominant wideout the team has had since the days of Mason - who was part of a core that made it all the way to Super Bowl XXXIV - the Titans proved in 2008 that even without a topflight passing game, their style of play can be a great success in the NFL.

If the Titans take a pass on Boldin, they have some workable options if they decide to use their first pick on the position. The top two receivers will be long gone by the Titans’ first pick (No. 30 overall), but with a trade to move up a little, they could be in the mix for Darrius Heyward-Bey, and could definitely position themselves for Hakeem Nicks or Kenny Britt. Percy Harvin’s prospects have undergone an almost historic freefall as of late based on character concerns and a mysterious foot fracture, and after the whole Pacman Jones saga, the team likely won’t take a risk again on a player with questionable character. With all of this said, the team hasn’t drafted a wide receiver in the first round since 1998, and there is the thinking that the Titans will use the 30th pick on defensive end or the defensive backfield. The draft’s biggest wild card is Cal Poly’s Ramses Barden, and the Titans could try to land the 6-foot-6 specimen in one of the later rounds.

Giants looking to move up?
With the Braylon Edwards deal all but officially dead, the New York Giants may be looking to find another way to acquire a topflight wide receiver. According to Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News, that player seems to be Darrius Heyward-Bey.

Heyward-Bey has been on the mind of many NFL teams because of his size - 6-foot-2, 210 pounds - and the fact that he ran a comically fast 4.23 40-yard dash at the NFL combine. It’s no secret that the Giants are in need of a new standout wide receiver, and DHB could be that man. In the mock draft on “Sportscenter” on Thursday, Vacchiano was the media representative for the Giants, and he selected Heyward-Bey with the No. 29 pick. As he notes in the Blue Screen blog, Heyward-Bey is probably not going to be available at 29, so if he does fall, the Giants might themselves have their pick in to Roger Goodell in about 4.23 seconds.

It’s likely, then, that the Giants will have to trade up to make sure they can acquire the Maryland speedster. Going off the draft pick value chart, and based on a scenario proposed by Vacchiano where the Giants trade their first-round pick along with the proposed trade chips that they tried to use to land Edwards (a second- and fifth-rounder), the team can get as high as No. 14. That seems like a pretty big price to pay for a player whose future is as unknown as the deepest reaches of the cosmos. Furthermore, the Giants balked at the offer for Edwards because they didn’t want to sacrifice their first-round pick, so it doesn’t seem likely that they’d want to lose it now in an effort to return a mystery commodity.

Another scenario that could play out would involve the San Diego Chargers. The Chargers have the No. 16 pick, but no picks in the second round. Chargers general manager A.J. Smith told the San Diego Union-Tribune that, “I am already prepared if somebody calls me and offers me a (second-round pick); I have a fallback scenario. I could get a second, drop down ‘X’ number of picks and still get a good player (in the first round).” While Smith’s usage of algebra is wonderful, he does need to find a suitor willing to part with its second-rounder. Well look at that, the Giants have two, the No. 45 overall pick and the No. 60. Breaking our draft pick value chart back out, we see a 360-point discrepancy between pick No. 16 and pick No. 29, and while giving up the No. 45 pick would actually be too much (450 points), the No. 60 would be almost perfect (300 points). With no glaring needs, the Chargers might happily take the extra pick and draft the best player available with their lower first-rounder, and the Giants would now be ahead of the other teams who want DHB, namely, the New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings, Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens. It’s an almost flawless plan, so that means it probably makes too much sense to actually happen.

Broncos also looking to move up?
With two picks in the draft’s second 10 picks, the Denver Broncos are in a great position to do one of two things: They could keep the picks and bring in some new bodies to help the shift to a 3-4 defensive scheme or they could involve the picks in a trade to try to move up to grab a potential superstar.

This latter strategy is one that could end up getting them Mark Sanchez, and according to the Denver Post, this is a strategy that has already led to discussions with some teams who are looking to move down. The likely scenario is that the Broncos will have a deal in place with another team (likely the Jacksonville Jaguars at pick No. 8), and as long as Sanchez is still on the board when this other team is on the clock, the move will be executed.

With a new offense being installed, Sanchez would be competing with newly acquired Kyle Orton and newly signed Chris Simms for the starting job. According to the Post, Orton is signed through the 2009 season and Simms is on the first year of a two-year deal. With two veterans already on the team, it might make sense for the Broncos to wait until 2010 to draft their next franchise quarterback, especially considering Sanchez’s relative inexperience. Sanchez was USC’s starter for the entire 2008 season, and part of the 2007 season.

While making a bold move to acquire one of the draft’s brightest stars might be a good salvo for the organization that just traded away the face of the franchise, the smarter move is to retain both picks and draft some defensive studs. Going on game yardage, the Broncos had the league’s second-best offense in 2008, but had the fourth-worst defense. Moreover, the teams in that neighborhood of yardage against are not exactly the kind of company you’d like to keep: the bottom seven teams were the Cleveland Browns, Oakland Raiders, St. Louis Rams, Broncos, Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions. Switch the Cincinnati Bengals in for the Broncos and you have the worst seven records in football in 2008.

Under this “draft defense” strategy, the Broncos will have four targets for the first two picks: a large, versatile defensive end, a line-clogging nose tackle, an outside linebacker and a cornerback that is skilled at the art of tackling.

Campbell on the move soon?
Jason Campbell | Redskins | Interested: Jets?
First, it was the rumors that the Washington Redskins were swooning over Jay Cutler. Now, with reports that the team is similarly enchanted by Mark Sanchez, incumbent starting quarterback Jason Campbell has put two and two together, and decided that enough is enough.

According to a report yesterday on NFL.com, Campbell will ask for a trade if the Redskins acquire Sanchez in this weekend’s draft. Although he took the Cutler rumors pretty well, it’s certainly a trying endeavor to maintain a happy face in public while your team is doing everything possible to replace you.

If this chain of events takes place, the New York Jets would be an interested trade partner, according to what a source has told the Washington Times. The source did not indicate the return compensation for Campbell, but bear in mind that the Auburn alum is in the final year of his contract, and is probably expecting fairly high compensation in his next deal. As of now, the Jets have about $12 million in cap space according to some estimates.

There’s another way the Jets won’t have to start 2009 with Kellen Clemens or Brett Ratliff under center, and that could be if the Cleveland Browns decide to pick up Sanchez with the No. 5 pick. Drafting Sanchez would give the Browns three starter-caliber quarterbacks, and it’s rumored that Brady Quinn would become the odd man out. The Jets would jump at the opportunity to grab Quinn, even despite limited NFL experience, based on his track record running a pro-style offense during his time at Notre Dame. After all, Jets coach Rex Ryan seems pretty set on establishing a conservative, smashmouth team, reliant primarily on a strong rushing attack. If this strategy comes to fruition, the quarterback will need to be more of a “game manager,” to use a redundant cliche, and won’t have to shoulder the burden of carrying the offense very often. In that sense, Quinn’s development as a pro could be eased along more slowly than if he was forced to win games with his arm in his first full season as a starter.