Bengals Trade???

First off, Palewook is actually the one who made me think about this scenario in another thread.

It was brought up in a discussion that the Raiders new regime may be willing to trade Darren McFadden.

Palewook's question was simple. What would you be willing to give up to acquire Darren McFadden, given his injury history? Would it be a 1rst rounder, a 2nd rounder, a 3rd rounder, or maybe nothing at all?

My first reaction was he is way too injury prone so I wouldn't give up a whole lot. However the more I thought about it, the more I thought maybe there is a way we could make a trade with Oakland that would benefit both teams.

We obviously need a RB and McFaddens's one of the best in the game, when healthy. The Raiders are desperate for draft picks because they have multiple positions of need they would like to address and virtually no picks. I went ahead and looked it up (Walter football), and one of positions they would like to address is right tackle.

We are set at right tackle with Andre Smith and Anthony Collins, assuming we can resign Anthony Collins this year. The problem is that it's going to be difficult for us to resign him because he will more than likely be able to go to several other teams and start. IMO there is virtually no drop off between Anthony Collins and Andre Smith, the only real difference is Andre Smith was a first round draft choice and has been given more opportunities to succeed.

My thinking is why not resign Anthony Collins to a long term deal as our starting right tackle (we could get him for a reasonable price as a starter and then we would literally be set at both the left and right tackle position for years to come). We could then use Andre Smith (who played well this year and his stock has never been higher) as an asset in a trade for Darren McFadden.

I realize it may seem like a lot to give up for a guy who has been injury prone but if it works out are offense could be devastating. He's still not even 25 years old and none of his injuries have been real severe (career threatening). Plus, because of his previous injuries and time missed he does NOT have a lot of wear and tear on his body, which is always a concern when talking about acquiring a veteran RB.

Andre Smith has one year left on his rookie deal for about 1.7 million dollars, Darren McFadden is still on his rookie deal with the Raiders as well. He has 2 years left at about 6 million dollars per year. I'd be willing to offer the Raider's Andre Smith (who was also a first round draft pick) along with our 2nd round pick this year for Darren McFadden.

The deal would hook us up with an elite RB (for at least 2 years). It would give the Raiders a high draft pick in return as well as address one of there team needs. Not to mention, it would free up additional (salary cap) money for them to go out after other free agents.

Worst case scenario for us, McFadden continues to battle injuries and does not pan out. If that's the case we make do with what we have on our roster, same as we would have to do if our potential draft pick got injured. For insurance, we still have the Raiders 2nd round pick next year and we will once again be able to look at addressing the RB position through the draft. Next years RB class appears to be stacked with RB talent (Marcus Lattimore SC, Michael Dyer Auburn, Montee Ball Wisc., Eddy Lacey Bama, Christine Michael A&M) and we may even end up being better off in the long run.

It's a BOOM or BUST proposition but it's a gamble I think I'd be willing to take. Not only because it lands us a potentially dynamic RB at a bargain price but it also give us long term stability at both tackle positions on our offensive line.

Well there you have it. If possible, would you pull the trigger on a trade for McFadden and if so what would you be willing to give up?