Because of all the injuries teams around the league have suffered at the wide receiver position, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports speculates Thursday that Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery could be one of several players traded before the start of the season.
La Canfora writes:
And the rare team that might have a surplus of serviceable receivers, I believe, will be able to get decent value in trade. I could see the Steelers shopping Jerricho Cotchery, for instance, and finding a better market than they may have anticipated. The free-agent market has been picked apart, and there isn\’t much there.
La Canfora must not have noticed that the Steelers already figure to have two rookie wide receivers on their 53 man roster now that Plaxico Burress has been lost for the season. By trading away Cotchery, they would then likely have three rookies backing up Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders.
In addition, Cotchery is entering the final year of his contract, so it wouldn\’t make sense for another team to trade away a draft pick or player for a player who very well might be playing the final year of his career.
While I do like Cotchery, he is at best a No 3 wide receiver who is effective at moving the chains on the third downs. He is not a legitimate candidate to be a No 2 for another team which would require him to play roughly 50 snaps a game.
While the Steelers would initially save $1 million in cap space by trading away Cotchery, you still have to remember that another player\’s salary that they would have to then have on the roster to take his place would then offset the savings. So at best, the Steelers would save nearly $600,000 in cap space while depleting their depth chart of experience in the process. For what, a seventh-round draft pick or a second-string offensive lineman?
La Canfora certainly didn\’t think his speculation through with Cotchery, and I will tip my hat to him if he winds up being right. I have a funny feeling he won\’t be.
