FanHouse Trade

As you've probably been reminded about 1,000 times already, this Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the hockey world's Trade to End All Trades (Also known as Mark Messier Meltdown Day and the Day Canada Died Albeit Temporarily). More commonly, it is known as the day when Wayne Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings from the Edmonton Oilers for some guys who were pretty good but never really equated to the value of Wayne FREAKING Gretzky.

August 9, 1988. A day that will live in hockey infamy forever. At least in Canada. Or maybe just Edmonton.

But however you remember it, wherever you were that day when you first heard the news (heck, it might have taken a week to hear about it back in those days with the pony express and all), it's something that hockey fans will remember forever. At least those of us who were old enough to remember it.

With every passing day, and with every ounce of tension rising out of New England, slowly the rumblings get louder that the Chiefs should do all they can to acquire Deion Branch.

After all, the Chiefs are even thinner at wide receiver than previous years, when their wide receivers supposedly would prevent them from having a decent offense. Eddie Kennison is getting older, Samie Parker has yet to prove he can be consistent, and Dante Hall needs to focus on special teams.

I agree that Branch would ultimately be a nice fit. He is not a selfish receiver who would almost dictate that touches be taken away from Tony Gonzalez or Larry Johnson. His all-around skills make him a great option on first or third down. Still, I'm here to tell you, be patient.

If the Chiefs were to make a play for Branch, the ideal time would have been at the beginning of training camp. Despite Al Saunders' departure, the Chiefs' offense remains a complicated one. With all the motions and trick plays, not to mention disguised downfield blocking, the wide receiver position may be as complicated to learn as or more complicated than quarterback.

All that requires repetition. You can study the Chiefs' playbook 24/7 for weeks, but it is extremely difficult to master the timing of all the plays and get accustomed to all the shifts until you experience it on the field. While Branch would immediately boost the talent of the Chiefs' wide receivers, his acquisition now could also boost the false-start count during the season.

Furthermore, giving Branch the practice reps he would need now would probably mean fewer reps for Parker. At the beginning of the season, that could be costly, and the Chiefs need to play tough in their difficult first half of the schedule if they want to have any momentum going into the second half.

Of course, I say all this knowing full well that the cost for Branch would have been quite high a few months ago. After all, Tom Brady was pushing for management to re-sign Branch, and New England gave no indication that they were looking to trade him.

Now, different factors come into play. There are a lot of things the Chiefs will need to consider. If they conclude that they want or need Branch, they have to outbid other teams; however, with an older team, giving up premium talent or draft picks may not be in their best interests. They have to meet Branch's salary demands. They also have to determine that Branch would fit in almost immediately and not stunt the development of Parker. Those are a lot of factors to consider. So be patient, and hope that the Chiefs are carefully monitoring the situation.

Well, the trade is officially complete, but how the trade will play out is officially confusing. When the Denver Broncos sent holdout Ashley Lelie to the Atlanta Falcons and they in turn sent TJ Duckett to the Washington Redskins, well, what the Broncos are getting gets complicated.

The reports say either the Broncos will get a 3rd round pick next year and a 4th round pick the following year or the Broncos and the Redskins will swap first round picks next year. What the reports don't mention is that there are still 990 different scenarios of how this trade will play out. That's right – there are 992 different scenarios!

Now, I'm not sure how you can get 992 options out of 16 regular season games, a backup runningback at best and involving only two players total. This has got to be a record! Maybe it's based off of how many TDs Duckett will rack up this year, broken down by average yards per carry into the end zone, home or away, against a division opponent and if Clinton Portis was even on the field during those specific plays. Who in the world gets paid to come up with those formulas? I thought being a capologist was the toughest office job in the league!