ESPN revisits the wisdom of the Shockey trade

[SaintsFanatic]

from espn.com

Revisiting the wisdom of the Shockey trade

When Jeremy Shockey was traded from the Giants to the Saints back in July, I wrote an item talking about what a good deal it was for New Orleans.

I seriously thought Shockey might be the missing link and so did a lot of people. But this deal's not looking so good these days. The Saints are 4-5 and Shockey has 24 catches for 223 yards and no touchdowns. He also had a sideline exchange with quarterback Drew Brees in Atlanta on Sunday.

The Saints have tried to downplay the significance of what Brees and Shockey were talking about, but, if you can read lips and saw the clip, you'd know it wasn't pleasant.

Shockey went through troubled times with the Giants and took lots of heat for, perhaps, being a little self-centered. The fresh start in New Orleans, theoretically, was supposed to solve all tha
t.

But Shockey, along with defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs, is fast becoming a main target for a fan base that's understandably frustrated and disappointed with what's happened this season.

Is it all Shockey's fault? No, not even close. There have been injuries all over the place and the defense hasn't been very good. You can also give Shockey some degree of a pass because it doesn't seem like he's been fully healthy for a day since he joined the Saints.

But that doesn't excuse the Saints from making what's now looking like one of the worst moves of the offseason. At the time, the Saints looked like they were sliding all their chips to the middle of the table and going for a Super Bowl.

As it turns out, their hand was very weak (unless they somehow come close to running the table on their remaining schedule). The reality is the Saints are probably going to need to rebuild their defense (as well as adding some more parts on offense) again in the offseason.

The problem is, they won't have the second- and fifth-round picks they sent to the Giants for Shockey.