Why Champ Bailey may be Traded

I know what you are thinking, Aussie are you crazy, what you been smoking man. But hear me out, I had this idea recently and I thought it could be something interesting to discuss and explore further. Now remember this hurts you as much as it does me. No Bronco fan wants to see Champ traded but it could become the hard truth. Know I am not doing this lightly.

Let’s being then, it has been said that Champ will be moved and finish his career at the safety position. Champ recently signed a new 4 year deal with the Broncos. It is my belief that he would spend the next two years of that deal playing the corner position. After those two season he would now be 35 years old (also happy birthday Champ for a week ago) and by then he has probably slowed down enough to not be considered ‘elite’ anymore. For this reason he will be moved to play the Free Safety position (he isn’t big enough to play SS I think). He will play safety for the final two years of the deal with the hope that if he succeeds at the position he may see another deal. I am thinking a 3 year deal so that he retires when he is 40.

This is where I get to my current dilemma and issue for my reasoning why Champ will be traded. Currently we have Brain Dawkins on the roster, we will get one more good year out of him and Dawkins will push for another (he wants a Championship). Dawkins isn’t the problem. He should have finished up or retired by the time Champ wants to make the change. The problem lies with the four other young safeties on the roster. McBath, Bruton, Moore and Carter. Bruton will be a backup and ST until he shows improvement. McBath and Moore will fight it out for that FS spot and Carter most likely has a very good look in at SS.

And here is the problem. In two years from now are you going to boot out a young and up-and-coming player (Moore/McBath) from a starting role for an ageing Superstar (legend, awesomeness, god etc)? This is the problem I see, if Moore, McBath and Carter even Bruton for that matter excel at the position would we bench them for Champ? I don’t know. Fox does like veterans and that plays in Champs’ favour but is he willing to undertake the experiment. This gets to the crux of my reasoning, we will trade Champ to a team willing to undergo the safety experiment and who doesn’t have much safety depth and we would get some picks in return. I don’t see any/many GMs or coaches taking an ageing experiment over a young and established player.

A lot of things can change between now and then though. The young safeties could tank, have injuries, etc; allowing Champ to side into the position easily. Maybe Champ is so good at corner we keep him there for the life time of the deal.

Otherwise the Broncos front office (if it is still EFX) will need to make some hard decisions on Champ in a few years. For me I hope to see Champ play out his career in Broncos colours and we find a way to keep him on the roster. But then having him playing off the bench or in special packages, is that doing a disservice to him? Let me know what you think. ~ Aussie