Earlier this week the Falcons moved wide receiver Laurent Robinson to St. Louis for a swap of fifth and six round picks.
“Atlanta sent wide receiver Laurent Robinson to St. Louis along with a fifth-round choice (160th overall) and a sixth-round pick (No. 196). In return, the Falcons will get St. Louis’ fifth-round pick (138th) and sixth-round choice (176th overall).”
Much to the chagrin of The Falcoholic:
“Despite that, I still don’t like this move at all. When we drafted L-Rob in the third round, he flashed speed and pass catching skill in his rookie season. He was a complete non-factor last season, yes, and maybe he’s going to turn out to be an injury-prone player. He had a lot of upside, though, and that’s something we don’t really have outside of Roddy White and Harry Douglas. Michael Jenkins is a quality option, but we know that his ceiling is a decent number two receiver with good blocking skills. Nobody else on the roster right now–and yes, I’m looking right into your soulful eyes, Eric Weems–has the upside Robinson had. Letting him go to move 20 spots up in two of the latest rounds of the draft immediately weakens the depth of our receiving corps in the short-term and long-term.”
Me? I do not think this is such a shitty trade. The Falcons managed to move up approximately 20 spots in the fifth and six rounds for a WR that shows some promise, but one that will be buried on the Falcons depth charts. Why not cut bait, get what they can for essentially nothing, considering Laurent had no future in Atlanta? According to the FalconsInsider @ scout.com …
“Between Robinson’s injuries, no visible role in the offense or on special teams, and general manager Thomas Dimitroff inheriting Robinson and having nothing personally invested in the former 3rd round pick, the Falcons used the talented receiver to significantly improve the team’s draft position in the fifth and sixth rounds.
Dimitroff has also done Robinson a favor by trading him to a team he has the potential to start for. As nice a guy Dimitroff assuredly is, I’m not sure how much that played into the Falcons’ thought process, if it did at all.”
I think this is a good move, especially when you consider the NFL Draft Value Chart. At some point you have to take some risks in order to move onwards.
