Well, it's official.
Deal #3: Matt Schaub for
Phillip Rivers. Agonized over it for a couple of days, but I had Schaub ranked higher going into the draft, and every source I can find has him higher, so that's enough for me. I think he's just a tad less proven, but has bigger upside, particularly given how often the Texans' liked to throw the ball last year, and how good their offense might be this year.
Of course, the agonizing thing over this trade is that there's no inter-positional calculus. It's just one guy for another at the same positions, which means by season's end there are going to be two simple numbers, and whichever one is higher will decide which guy was better. I thought about how lame it would be to lose and then have to go look at Rivers' numbers and see if he would have made the difference that week, but the moment the trade was offered I'd inevitably have ended up doing the same with Schaub, anyway.
One thing I do like about this is that, assuming I keep Jacoby Jones (tentative: I keep getting offers for him!), it helps mitigate one of the risks: Schaub losing big value if Andre Johnson gets hurt. If that happens, the blow would be softened because Jones' could presumably take his place, or at least get a lot more playing time.
Matt Schaub, welcome aboard. You're now an Angry Man. Here's your stress ball and baseball bat with nails in it.