Trading Crayton Right Move for Everyone

You can always tell when the preseason has worn out its welcome mat sort of speak. You get situations like this where Cowboy fans are over analyzing the trade of what was going to be their #5 WR. Let me say this as clearly as possible, if trading Patrick Crayton is the reason the Cowboys don't accomplish their goals this season, then they were never going to accomplish those goals.

For Crayton to have been a factor this year that would have meant that Miles Austin, Dez Bryant and Roy Williams are either going to be ineffective and/or injured- if the preceding happens trust me when I tell you that Patrick Crayton wasn't going to get your Cowboys over the top.

Listen, the reasons the Cowboys traded Crayton, operative word being plural - "reasons"- are these. First and foremost, Crayton was sitting at #5 on the depth chart as the Cowboys pecking order of WRs would be Miles Austin, Dez Bryant, Roy Williams and Kevin Olgetree. Olgetree is a young player with a nice upside and plays the slot which Crayton specializes in. Like it or not, for all his disappointment to Cowboys fans, Roy Williams still has more ability than Crayton. Thus, based on the preceding, the Cowboys would be paying a guy $2mm to be an "insurance policy".

The next reason is special teams, Crayton does one thing, returns punts and he's ok at it. When I say "ok", I mean he does his job,doesn't drop the ball, catches it when he's supposed to and let's it hit the ground when he's supposed to but make no mistake, Crayton is not an explosive punt returner. Dallas has Dez Bryant to return kicks and if need Terrance Newman is a very good punt returner as well.

Finally, the main point the #5 WR position was essentially a tie between Sam Hurd and Crayton. Hurd is 27 years old while Crayton is 31. Hurd is one of the Cowboys best special team players, he's an excellent gunner on kicks and punts. More importantly, Hurd wants to be a Cowboy in 2010 while Patrick Crayton does not. Thus you see this one is easy if you're in management for the Cowboys because you have a younger player who does more things for your team and wants to play for your team.

I know there are those of the school of thought that Dallas should have just kept both of them but keep in mind, this is the NFL not college. In the NFL a team gets to have 53 players on its roster and 7 on your practice squad. If you keep a 6th WR, Crayton, for insurance that means you have to cut another young player that you may want to develop for the future. This doesn't even address the point of your game day roster which is only allowed to be 45 active players. How would you justify Crayton's roster spot when he would be inactive most Sundays since you're not going to bring a 5th WR to the game who may play two or three offensive plays and return 4 or 5 punts, are you?

I am very confident that Sam Hurd will be a good #5 WR and if given the same number of opportunities as Crayton he would put up similar numbers. More importantly Hurd improves the Cowboys coverage teams and wants to wear the Star; good move by Cowboys trading Crayton and getting a 7th round pick in 2011 which could be a 6th if Crayton catches 40 passes in San Diego.