NFL Trade Deadline 10/20 4 PM EST

The NFL is not a trading league. Rarely does one see any significant activity at the trading deadline.

Why?

A couple of reasons.

1. The salary cap. The rules of the salary cap state that any deferred signing bonus money (and all signing bonuses are prorated over the lifetime of the contract) immediately hit the cap of the team that originally signed the player.) In other words if you give player A a signing bonus of $10 million on a four year contract, only $2.5 mil hits the team's cap each year. So if you want to trade player A after year two because he keeps smoking dope every chance he gets and he has collar bones like toothpicks that remaining $5 mil hits the cap immediately.

So in the era of massive signing bonuses, trading a big name can end up strangling your team for the rest of the year.

2. It's so early in the season. It's only week 6, there are eleven weeks to go, not many teams have any idea whether they should be buyers or sellers. This isn't like baseball where the trading deadline is a huuuuge deal. Player movement in late July is all about refortifying for the stretch run in baseball. Nobody has a clue in mid October if they'll even be in the stretch run in the NFL. Every team is one blown ACL or ruptured achilles away from being nobody in football.

3. Lastly, draft picks are completely overvalued in the NFL. The opportunity to be able to pick the player you want, albeit a player who has never played a down in the NFL, may or may not have some hidden health problem or lingering personal issues.

This is how a player like Randy Moss gets traded for a fourth round pick. Or how Marshall Faulk gets moved for a second and a fifth. Ludicrous.

So, now that I've told you why little or no trades happen at the NFL trading deadline, I'm going to talk about some players the Lions would be wise to make some phone calls about.

Why even write this article? Well, last year Martin Mayhew, just a few days after getting the "interim" keys to the Lions franchise bamboozled Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones with the Roy Williams trade. In other words, it only takes one idiot to make a great deal. With that deal, Mayhew probably solidified himself as the GM of the franchise. Now, he can look to greatly improve on the foundation pieces he's put in place.

1. Nnamdi Asomugha, CB, Oakland Raiders. There is talk in NFL circles that a fire sale is about to start in Oakland as Tom Cable faces assault charges for beating up his own assistant coaches and Jamarcus Russell continues to drill passes into the arms of opposing players. Anybody and everybody is on the table. Asomugha is probably the only player outside of Darren McFadden worth even looking at.

The Raiders top pick in 2003 emerged as a key member of their defense and as one of the NFL’s elite cornerbacks. He went to his first probowl last year and is only 28 years old. He has played in 92 games with 69 starts and has 10 interceptions in six seasons.

Also, Asomugha was franchised last season and is only on a one year deal.

Al Davis has made many bad deals in the last few years. It only takes one guy...perhaps Asomugha could be gotten for a second round pick. This would greatly help the worst secondary in NFL history.

2. Glenn Dorsey, DT, Kansas City Chiefs. Dorsey was the fifth overall selection in the 2008 draft. He is a dominant DT who can collapse the pocket and anchor the a 4-3 defense, which the Lions run. Kansas City changed defensive schemes this last year and ended up moving Dorsey outside to DE where he has still played admirably, but he is no longer dominating.

A second or third round pick to a team that is anxious to repopulate its defense with new pieces that fit its new scheme might work out.

Dorsey could be a building block to go with Delmas, Levy, Foote, Petersen, and Sammie Hill.

3. Josh Cribbs, KR, Cleveland Browns. To say that the Detroit Lions return games are woeful is an egregious understatement. Cribbs, 26, is one of the best in the business and has been in a contract fight with the ownership of the Browns for two years now. He has 5 career kickoff returns for touchdowns and 1 punt return for a score. Perhaps Cleveland (1-5) might want to move ahead without the headache.

This would give the Lions the kind of presence on special teams that they haven't had since the hey days of say...Desmond Howard or Eddie Drummond or, dare I say, Mel Gray!

The Browns are a team in desperate need of a new QB, RB, and numerous other parts. A prominent return guy is a luxury they might want to part with for perhaps a 2nd or 3rd round pick.

4. This Cheerleader. Come on guys! Why can't we have cheerleaders?

So, by parting ways with a second or a third round pick, the Lions could inject real tested talent into their team and perhaps still have a first round pick left to address the opposite corner position or maybe finally a LT to replace Jeff Backus.

The Lions are in such desperate straights, especially in the defensive backfield that they have to explore every option available. That's why I am continually surprised to find that the Lions haven't brought in perennial probowl DB's Chris McCallister and Ty Law at least for workouts.

Just a thought.