Add Another Jersey to the Pile

As I've talked about before, my closet is full of jerseys for players who no longer play for that team. I've got many jerseys that seemed like sound investments at the time, but are now just hanging there, probably never to be worn again. (I will not, however get rid of them because if any of these guys make the Hall of Fame suddenly I've saved $150 by not having to buy the retro jersey.) At this point I'm used to it and so I have stopped getting bent out of shape when yet another player gets traded or released. Still, with today's trading of Richard Seymour I'm down to pretty much one Patriots jersey to wear on game day. It's kind of annoying.

The trade itself surprises me because the Patriots are usually pretty good at keeping guys while they are still productive. This leads me to 5 possible conclusions:
1. Maybe he is on the downturn of his career. He hasn't made a Pro Bowl in a couple of years but I attributed that more to the fact that he's been fighting double teams.
2. The Patriots didn't think they would be able to re-sign Seymour once his contract expired after this season and wanted to get while the getting was good.
3. The defensive line is one of the deeper units on the team and thus the team figures his loss would be lessened.
4. This could mean that a long term extension is on the horizon for Vince Wilfork. They weren't going to be able to afford Seymour and Wilfork, so this could be their way of making a decision.
5. Perhaps they need an extra first round pick because they intend to trade their own for a player of high value (Julius Peppers, anyone?).

The trade also marks the end of an era. Seymour is one of the last guys who has been here since the beginning of the team's resurgence and I thought he was going to go down as an All-Time Patriot. I guess how long he plays beyond his Patriot career will determine that. But, it shouldn't change the fact that he's probably the greatest draft pick of the Scott Pioli/Bill Belichick regime. Brady was luck - Belichick himself would tell you as much. But you need to nail top 10 draft choices or you could set the franchise back years. Ask Lions fans.

Or, you could ask Raider fans. I'm not sure why the Raiders would make this deal. I highly doubt he'll re-sign with them after his deal expires, unless they throw a ton of cash his way. And while I have no doubt that AL Davis would be more than happy to do just that, I don't know why Seymour would stay in a team that looks to be at least 2 more years away from contending. They're deep into a rebuilding project - a project that just got a lot harder when they gave the Patriots a pick that could be in the top 20 in 2011.

-One more football note: if you are playing for a Division 1 school in the opening game against a 1-AA school, please tone down the strutting. You're supposed to be beating those teams by 50 points.