Busy Trade Deadline for the AFC West

The last few days have been very active for the NFL compared to past trading deadlines.  There have been a few major deals and some smaller transactions.  The division that has been the most active is the AFC West.  This division has spawned 3 trades in the last few days and 2 of them were game changers.

Those of us who live in Denver are well aware of the Broncos trade of Brandon Lloyd and the fact that Eddie Royal and other WR's were actively being shopped around the league.  Lloyd's trade the the St. Luis Rams was the broncos way of telling the world that they are in a full blown rebuilding stage.  Tim Tebow is taking over a QB for the rest of the year to see what he can do and be evaluated for the future he may or may not have here in Denver.  Lloyd was traded for a conditional late round draft pick and Eddie Royal was being shopped for a similar pick.  That means the Broncos are going to try and build a team through the draft and are willing to give up on some decent talent in order to bring in new blood.

The Raiders are a the other team that made a splash in the division at the deadline.  On the 13th of October the Raiders acquired LB Arron Curry from the Seattle Seahawks.  Curry was the 4th overall pick in the draft 3 years ago and had 73 tackles last season along with 3.5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles.  He has proven to be a solid LB in the NFL and now calls Oakland home.  This is a trade that symbolizes a team in the ready position to win now.  The Raiders made this move because they are already very good on defense but Curry makes them just a little better and more consistent.

Then Jason Campbell broke his collar bone in his game on Sunday.  A Raiders  team that was poised to make a run at the division title or at least a wild card spot had to rely on the backup Kyle Boller to get them to where they want to be.  That is until yesterday when the Raiders made the decision that they can win now with the right QB.  The right QB is Carson Palmer, formerly of the Cincinnati Bengals.  Palmer was retired due to his dysfunctional relationship with his former team and not because he couldn't or didn't want to play.  The Bengals refused to trade Palmer simply because he asked to be traded and the Bengals don't give in to player demands.  So, how did Palmer wind up in Oakland?  Simple, the Bengals aren't stupid.  They didn't make a deal to get rid of a disgruntled player, they accepted a deal that gave them 2 1st round draft picks (potentially) over 2 years.  Now, if Palmer can get into shape soon enough, the Raiders are even better then they were with Campbell.

The AFC West made some significant moves before the trade deadline in which one team started its rebuilding strategy and the other got significantly better.  The trading deadline for the NFL is typically very dull, but thankfully this year it gave us something to talk about.  Now we can sit back for the rest of the season and see how these trades worked out, or in the Broncos case we'll see next year.