Abraham suitors mull options

March, 17, 2006
03/17/06
8:55
PM ET
You can see what the Seahawks are doing by working out a trade for John Abraham with the Jets and having linebacker Julian Peterson visit. What they are trying to do is weigh options in case they don't match the seven-year, $49 million offer sheet of guard Steve Hutchinson. The Seahawks have enough cap room to fit two big deals whether it's keeping Hutchinson or signing Peterson or Abraham. They could let Hutchinson go and use the cap room on Abraham and Peterson. Fitting in all three would be out of the question. It creates an interesting question -- are the Seahawks a better team adding Abraham and Peterson at the expense of Hutchinson and their No. 1 draft pick? Are they better with Hutchinson and one of those defensive players? That's the question they're weighing this weekend.

The Jets plan to stick to their position of not giving up Abraham for less than a No. 1 pick now that they know they could have the Seahawks' first-round pick, the 31st overall. That No. 1 pick is an interesting bargaining chip. The Jets have three of the top 35 choices and could move up from No. 4 in the first round to get Matt Leinart in some kind of a trade. A second-round pick wouldn't be good enough.

Abraham has positioned himself well, too. First, he knows what the Atlanta Falcons will pay and is comfortable playing there. He knows the Seahawks will probably have to pay him more than Atlanta to talk him into coming to Seattle. The Jets also control some cards because they won't let him go to Atlanta for lower value than a No. 1 choice. It's an interesting three-way battle.

Moulds era over in Buffalo: The $2.5 million average for Bills wide receiver Josh Reed pretty well spells the end of Eric Moulds' days in Buffalo. Reed's four-year, $10 million deal is good No. 2 receiver money. Moulds has a $10 million-plus cap number and refuses to take a pay cut. The Bills have been aggressive in the offseason and will need Moulds' cap room to free up money for the draft and other signings.

Let's get physical: It's interesting to see how different teams treat physicals. The Raiders failed Toniu Fonoti after he agreed to a one-year, $1 million deal earlier this week. The physical problem was that he weighed close to 400 pounds. He flew to Tampa Bay and the Bucs didn't have as much of a problem. His one-year deal is less than what he would have received with the Raiders, but the Bucs didn't take long to pass him on the physical.

Comments

You must be signed in to post a comment

Already have an account?