NFL Free Agency Rumors: Is Doug Baldwin Available?
By Keith Myers
Jan 6, 2013; Landover, MD, USA; Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin (89) runs with the ball as Washington Redskins inside linebacker Perry Riley (56) and Redskins free safety Madieu Williams (41) attempt to tackle at FedEx Field. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
There’s a rumor floating around that the Colts are about to trade for Seattle Seahawk wide receiver Doug Baldwin. The question has to be asked: Why would the Seahawks even be interested in doing that? Answer: They’re not.
All of this stems from a Jim Irsay tweet. First he said that the team was looking to get another player on the roster, and then tweeted “Colt Fans,hint—–it’s a Wide Receiver!!” That’s it. There’s no indication of who the receiver might be.
So why is Baldwin’s name attached? That’s a wild and baseless guess by the Indianapolis Star. Why they would even guess that Baldwin might be available in the first place is something I don’t understand.
Trading Baldwin makes zero sense for the Seahawks. He’s a young and productive receiver who plays for the league minimum and is under team control for the next 2 years. That’s something that isn’t exactly easy to find.
The Seahawks simply have no reason to trade him. There’s exactly zero cap relief for doing so, and it isn’t like the team is overly deep at the position. I’m sorry, I just don’t buy that Baldwin is available. Not one bit.
The way I see it, the only way Baldwin gets traded is if a team drastically overpays for him. If the Colts were to offer a 1st or 2nd round draft pick, then Baldwin would be as good as gone. But in a year where the position in the draft is very very deep, and quality WRs can be picked in those rounds, why would any team offer that for guy coming off an injury plagued year?
If Seattle was going to trade Baldwin, than I think we would have heard about it already. You don’t trade a player like him to the first team that calls you to see if he’s available. No matter how good the offer, it only takes a couple minutes to call around to the other receiver-needy teams to see if they’re willing to beat the offer. And if that was happening, there’s no way that Adam Schefter or Jason La Canfora or one of the other well connected reporters out there wouldn’t have caught wind of this by now.
No, it’s safe to say this is just message board fodder and nothing else.
If the Seahawks are going to trade a receiver, the odds are much more likely that it would be Golden Tate. Tate is coming off of a big season, going into his contract year, and it is highly likely that he walks in free agency after next season. That combination means that the return for Tate’s services would likely be more in tune to what the Seahawks would need to complete the deal. Trading Tate would make sense, but only for a draft pick that the Colts are unlikely to offer.
I just don’t believe that the Seahawks will be trading away one of their young receivers any time soon.
Update: like 5 minutes after I published this, Doug Baldwin tool to twitter to put this rumor to bed for good.
Turns out I’m not crazy.