With the trade last month of Chad Johnson (sorry, still can't do the Ocho thing) to the Patriots, there has been a lot of rehashing the "how could Mike Brown pass it up" trade offer from the Redskins back in 2008.  While two firsts may be the golden goose of trade offers, we need to remember a few key truths from that time.  First, Chad had just had his best year as a Bengal (1440yds, 8 TDs) and had been a consistent 1000+ yd receiver for the five years before that.  He was certainly a Top 6-8 receiver in the game at that point.  Second, he had just signed a contract extension in 2006 with $8M in new bonus money and two years remaining on his rookie contract.  Trading him would have created $8.5M of dead money.  At the end of the 2008 season they had about $9M in cap space available plus another $3M from Chad's base had they traded him.  Certainly a do-able deal but a tough pill to swallow for an owner known for his tight grip on his wallet.

Of course no one could have predicted his miserable 2008 season (13 games, 540yds, 41.5/game, 4 TDs).  So let's hold off on all the Monday morning quarterbacking on this non-trade.

And who would we have drafted had we made the trade?  In 2008, Washington had the 21st pick which they traded to Atlanta who picked OT Sam Baker.  Given that we released Rudi Johnson in August 2008, a pick of Rashard Mendenhall (picked 23rd) or Chris Johnson (24th) certainly would have been an excellent move - no offense to Chris Perry!  In 2009, Washington took Brian Orakpo with the 13th pick.  Assuming Chad helped them win another 4 games (from 8-8 to 12-4, best case) they would have had the 26th pick.  Not sure about you but OLB Clay Matthews (26th) or WR Hakeem Nicks (29th) would have been pretty good choices.

Hmm, maybe I should rethink my initial conclusion...