Seattle made one of the all-time panic trades, barely beating the Lions in Detroit, then panicking and ponying up an unprotected No. 1 for Deion Branch 24 hours later. Now, I like Deion Branch. Great teammate, great guy, came through in some big playoff games. But he's a possession receiver, rarely makes big plays (only five TDs last year) and dropped a surprising amount of balls last year. He's a slightly better, younger version of Bobby Engram ... who's already on the Seahawks. Since when did teams start trading No. 1's for possession receivers? Why would Seattle think it's a good idea to shell out a No. 1 pick, a No. 3 pick and $18 million in guaranteed bonuses to two non-No. 1 receivers (Nate Burleson and Deion Branch) when it could have used that money to re-sign Steve Hutchinson, saved the picks and gone with some patchwork guys? It's like Isiah Thomas took over the team.
(As for the Patriots, apparently their season is over because they don't have an elite receiver anymore ... even though they won the Super Bowl five years ago with Troy Brown and David Patten as the starters and Fred Coleman as the No. 3 guy. Gimme a break. I wrote last week that I would have taken a No. 2 for Branch and been done with it. Getting a No. 1 was gravy. He was valuable, but he wasn't invaluable. There's a difference.)
