weswelker#83
In the Starting Line-Up
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2007
- Messages
- 4,528
- Reaction score
- 4
10/16/09
Q: With the trade deadline coming up on Tuesday, why is it difficult at this time of year for a team like yours to upgrade a position and make a trade?
BB: Well, there are two things that make trading difficult in the National Football League. No. 1 is depth. I know there are some injuries in baseball, but there aren't too many. For the most part, those guys don't get hurt; they play all year. Whereas in football, you have more of that. You really have to think about trading somebody because who are you going to replace them with? You probably don't have anybody, so that's just one less player that you have and no one has - generally speaking - excess players at any position where you can just get rid of them and then have somebody to replace them. That's one issue. And the other issue, of course, is the system. [You] bring in a player this late in the year that doesn't know your system and hasn't been with you. At this point in time, we've had over half the practices for the entire year that have already occurred because of the number we have in training camp and in preseason. [To] bring in a player now and teach him your system is tough because - even if he learns it on paper, or in a playbook and [is] actually going out there and doing it - [there are] limited opportunities, so you trade for a guy and by the time you get him ready to go, the season is over.
Now, in the Jets/Cleveland case with Braylon Edwards, I think there are a lot of circumstances around that, but from a scheme standpoint, there's quite a bit of similarities from the Cleveland scheme to the Jets scheme, and they probably felt like this was a player that they could catch up scheme-wise. Every case is different, but I think that might have tipped the scale a little bit. You see more of those kinds of moves in preseason when there is an advantage to getting the guys in there and being able to spend that kind of time with them and those number of practices.
Press conference:
Bill Belichick Press Conference
Q: With the trade deadline coming up on Tuesday, why is it difficult at this time of year for a team like yours to upgrade a position and make a trade?
BB: Well, there are two things that make trading difficult in the National Football League. No. 1 is depth. I know there are some injuries in baseball, but there aren't too many. For the most part, those guys don't get hurt; they play all year. Whereas in football, you have more of that. You really have to think about trading somebody because who are you going to replace them with? You probably don't have anybody, so that's just one less player that you have and no one has - generally speaking - excess players at any position where you can just get rid of them and then have somebody to replace them. That's one issue. And the other issue, of course, is the system. [You] bring in a player this late in the year that doesn't know your system and hasn't been with you. At this point in time, we've had over half the practices for the entire year that have already occurred because of the number we have in training camp and in preseason. [To] bring in a player now and teach him your system is tough because - even if he learns it on paper, or in a playbook and [is] actually going out there and doing it - [there are] limited opportunities, so you trade for a guy and by the time you get him ready to go, the season is over.
Now, in the Jets/Cleveland case with Braylon Edwards, I think there are a lot of circumstances around that, but from a scheme standpoint, there's quite a bit of similarities from the Cleveland scheme to the Jets scheme, and they probably felt like this was a player that they could catch up scheme-wise. Every case is different, but I think that might have tipped the scale a little bit. You see more of those kinds of moves in preseason when there is an advantage to getting the guys in there and being able to spend that kind of time with them and those number of practices.
Press conference:
Bill Belichick Press Conference
Last edited: