Eagles

Peter Kings Weighs in on the Trade in His MMQB

By Kyle Scott

Published: Aug 14th, 2017 · 10:59 AM EDT

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Peter King, in his MMQB this morning, wrote surprisingly little about the Jordan Matthews-Ronald Darby blockbuster, but there was this:

“We researched trades at this time of year,” Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane said Sunday afternoon, “and there’s aren’t many like this.” Trades for picks, the Bills’ GM meant. There was Sam Bradford from Philadelphia to Minnesota last year for first- and fourth-round picks, Vontae Davis from Miami to Indy for a second-rounder in 2012, and Greg Olsen from Chicago to Carolina for a third-rounder in 2011 … all in the preseason. Beane did two of them in one day. On Friday he sent wide receiver Sammy Watkins to the Rams for a second-round pick plus cornerback E.J. Gaines; then he traded cornerback Ronald Darby to Philadelphia for a third-round pick plus wide receiver Jordan Matthews.

Everyone would say Darby is a better corner than Gaines, and Watkins is a better wideout than Matthews. I don’t worry about the Darby deal for Buffalo, because he hadn’t bought into the new administration of Beane and head coach Sean McDermott, and because he wasn’t a great scheme fit for McDermott’s zone coverage. Buffalo did get a gutty, durable (Matthews played 46 of 48 games in three NFL seasons) possession receiver who will take Watkins’ spot in the Bills’ offense. The Watkins deal could hurt in the long run, for two reasons. He’s healthy this year after being plagued by a nagging foot injury. And the veterans on the Bills loved him, and won’t be happy with this deal. I can’t imagine LeSean McCoy singing kumbaya over this trade for the future. He wants to win now.

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Interestingly, Beane didn’t tell McDermott about his tentative deal with the Rams before their game against Minnesota. Imagine the Rams’ shock when, on the first four plays of the game on offense for Buffalo, Tyrod Taylor threw to Watkins. Beane wanted McDermott, in his first game as coach, not to be shackled but rather to be able to use his 90 players the way he saw fit. They didn’t discuss the chance for the trade until after the game.

Few things:

1. The part about draft picks not moving much during this part of the offseason is interesting, if for no other reason than Howie now accounts for two of those trades.
2. I’m simultaneously thrilled and scared to read the part about Darby not buying in and not being a system fit. On one had, McDermott has had some success with CBs and it’s concerning that Darby wasn’t buying what he was selling and that McDermott (or at least the Bills) had no problem moving him. Then again, Darby is a man corner, and there may have been genuine system concerns for both him and the Bills. He said it when he met with the media yesterday– he wants to man up. Which is great, because that’s exactly what the Eagles need.
3. Adam pointed this out on the podcast– it’s interesting that both the Bills and Eagles featured Sammy Watkins and Jordan Matthews during their first preseason games. The Bills threw to Watkins four times, the Eagles to Matthews three times. McDermott allegedly didn’t know Watkins was about to be traded. Now I wonder if Pederson knew about Matthews and was told to feature him early.