With the NFL's trade deadline fast approaching, teams across the league are scouring rosters for players that could potentially help them in their second half of the season playoff push.
But there are also teams on the opposite end of the spectrum, who, like the New York Jets, at 1-7 and entirely out of the post-season race, are most likely fielding calls from teams interested in pilfering the few gems on their troubled and talentless roster.
The Jets are among a handful of teams that Jason La Canfora of NFL.com believes should sell high on some of the few players they have in their organization that other teams would potentially still be interested in acquiring.
Two names he mentions that would most likely bring back quality return in trade are linebackers David Harris and Antwan Barnes.
"David Harris is playing hard and I'm sure the Jets want him back in the future at a reduced rate from his current mega-contract as an impending free agent," writes La Canfora. "But you could trade him and still re-sign him. That's allowed, you know. He makes $4.9M this season in the final year of his deal and with all of Arizona's injuries to its front seven, or the Chargers linebacker woes or the 49ers' rash of injuries I wonder if he makes sense for one of those teams."
As La Canfora notes, it may be in the Jets' best interest to go as young as possible for the remainder of the season - allowing players new to the league to develop in real, live game action.
"Antwan Barnes has been in demand at times in the past as a situational pass rusher, and with a $1.2M salary he won't save the Jets much money and is a nice player to have around, but other teams could target him for precisely those reasons. John Idzik already made one big trade, getting Percy Harvin, maybe he'll make more. Barnes with the Seahawks, Idzik's old employers who dealt him Harvin, doesn't seem crazy to me."
Trades are rarely consummated in the NFL, a league where it is incredibly difficult to assimilate a player into a unit and playbook in the middle of the year. But should the Jets continue to see their season founder, finding value in unloading unnecessary pieces may be the right move to make.
