Dawg Bites: Tarvaris Jackson Trade Will Set Market for Colt McCoy
In Seattle, rookie Russell Wilson has won the starting quarterback job, and third-stringer Tarvaris Jackson will be traded to the Buffalo Bills. Early speculation is that Jackson will bring back a 2013 draft pick in a later round (think somewhere around the sixth).
As the first backup quarterback traded this offseason, that undisclosed compensation should help set the bar for what the Browns would be able to get for Colt McCoy if and when they move him.
Many Browns fans, including Mary Kay Cabot of The Plain Dealer, have openly pleaded that McCoy not be dealt for anything less than his draft slot two years ago, a third-round pick. This is a nice thought, but probably not realistic.
In 2007, Charlie Frye was traded to the Seattle Seahawks after a disastrous home opener in Cleveland for a seventh-round pick.
When Mike Holmgren joined the Browns, he traded a seventh-round draft pick to acquire Seneca Wallace to be his backup.
Given Tarvaris Jackson’s higher salary – $4 million, though that has been reworked – that sixth-round draft pick estimation is probably leaning closer to a seventh-rounder than it is a fifth-rounder. I’m expecting McCoy’s trade price to be within this range as well.
This is the market; backup quarterbacks are rarely traded. Most are either developmental draft picks of their original team or brought in as free agents.