Pete Carroll and LenDale White have been reunited in Seattle. The Seahawks picked up LenDale in a trade, along with defensive tackle Kevin Vickerson for a 4th round pick and a 6th round pick.  But they also got back the Titans 4th and 6th rounders, so all they did was swap picks.  Not bad considering LenDale white has been a bruising goal line and short yardage back for the Titans, and went in the second round of the draft to Tennessee in 2006 out of USC.  He would have gone higher, but showed up to workouts 30 lbs overweight.

In 2007 White had 1100 yards rushing and 7 TDs.  In 2008 he had 800 yards and 15 TDs.  Last season, running along Chris Johnson, White only had 222 yards and 2 TDs.  He also has some attitude issues, once spitting in the face of teammate and safety Donnie Nickey.

Jason Campbell has been traded to the Oakland Raiders from the Washington Redskins, who apparently ARE going to admit that Jamarcus Russell is garbage at QB.  Now they gave up a 4th round pick for Campbell, which nis definitely worth it.  But not a 4th rounder this year, and not a 4th rounder in the 2011 draft, but a 4th rounder in the 2012 draft!  What a steal, that would essentially be the same worth as a 7th rounder this year, for a guy that can come in and play the position immediately.  The Redskins continue to blow the draft process at a whole getting almost nothing for a good QB, but they definitely did Campbell a favor (even though its the raiders) with McNabb taking over the starting job.

The Oakland Raiders also extended Jason Campbell for another year on his contract.  He will make 3.1 million in 2010 and he was extended 1 year for 4.5 million in 2011.

Jason Campbell has increased his QB rating, completion % and TD/INT ratio every year for three years, all with different offenses.

Brandon Marshall has finally been traded away from the Denver Broncos for 2010 and 2011 2nd round picks to the Miami Dolphins. Marshall agreed to a 4-year, $47.5 million dollar contract with around 24 million guaranteed. This is the largest WR contract per year in NFL history, beating out Larry Fitzgerald’s $10 million/year recent deal.

Now Marshall definitely deserves the contract, and people will argue that the Broncos picked up fair value in return given the market, but thats just insane.  Marshall is one of the most, if not the most talented wide out in the game today.  He’s made Jay Cutler look like a pro-bowler and Kyle Orton look like a legitimate starting QB, both are far from those.

So who’s crying the most over this deal? Brady Quinn. Quinn was loving the trade to the Broncos from the Browns, knowing he would easily beat out Orton in any kind of competition and knowing he would have a chance at super-stardom just jacking the ball up to Marshall deep 7 times a game.

Oh, and the Broncos may be planning on replacing Marshall with their 11th overall pick in the draft by taking Oklahoma State’s Dez Bryant. Now, that 11th overall pick is almost double the value of a 2nd round this year and 2nd round next year combined. You can’t just trade a top 3 wide reciever in the NFL and replace that in the draft, with a pick twice the value of what you traded for.

Now for the Dolphins. Huge pick-up for Bill Parcells. They did have to give him an absurd contract, which he deserved, but he’s well worth it.  Over the last 3 years the Miami Dolphins entire core of receivers has only 18 TD’s.  Marshall has 23.  And it’s not like he had Peyton Manning throwing to him. Marshall last year, with one of the worst starting QB’s (talent-wise) still had 100 receptions, 1100 yards, and 10 TDs.

And Pennington is a legit QB again. It will also bolster Miami’s unstoppable run and wildcat game. Marshall will be double-teamed out there a lot but he was in Denver and still thrived.  Expect this to make Miami an instant 2nd place team in the division to the (hold your breath) NY Jets, and ahead of the (wait for it) New England Patriots. Pat’s probably have the most potential with Bellichick Moss and Brady still alive, but they are now the third best team in their own division after standing back during the offseason.

The Cleveland Cavaliers essentially traded for Antawn Jamison for one of the last picks in the first round of the draft.  Sounds like a fair trade.  The Washington Wizards need to save money and cap room and the Cavaliers wanted to bolster their team for their championship push.  The Wizards also received Big Z Ilgauskas but he will eventually be waved and resigned with the Cavs in 30 days, like Jerry Stackhouse with the Mavs last year.

So what does this mean for the Cavs?  Instant Championship.  Jamison is one of the most underrated players in the NBA and has been for many years.  He isn’t as explosive offensively as Stoudemire who was rumored to be heading to Cleveland instead, but hes probably a better offensive player.  And Stoudemire is essentially worthless on defense, Jamison has a very high basketball IQ and will help the Cavs defend the Odom’s and Lewis’ in the late stages of the NBA playoffs.

Jamison plays from the perimeter and works his way inside.  So he won’t just be clogging up the lane with Shaq like Stoudemire would.  You don’t have to run any sets for Jamison to do his part like you do with Shaq and would need to for Stoudemire.  Jamison fills up the stat sheets in the natural flow of the game, just making teams better.  He puts up 20 ppg and 9 rebounds without too many sets run for him and hes done it every year he’s been in the league.  This instantly makes the Cavs a much better team, and a favorite over the Las Angeles Lakers for the NBA championship.

But was it a good idea?  Well if the Cavaliers assume Lebron is leaving after this season and signing with a team with more financial ability it was a great move.  I mean really just one of those Gasol to LA for Kwame Brown trades that is just genius and is instant championship in a bag, just add water.  But if you were trying to keep Lebron long term, it was a huge mistake.

Lebron wants to sign with a team that has flexible cap space and can bring in another big time star like Chris Bosh of Toronto to play along side of them.  While the Cavaliers have shown the commitment to winning by bringing in and paying Shaq, and now Jamison (33 yrs old, 2 years, 28 million contract), they have strapped themselves financially.  Even though Shaq’s 22 million and Big Z’s 12 million wont be on the payroll for next year, with Jamison they now have a commitment of over 50 million dollars for the 2010-2011 season.  Big problem.  The salary cap is projected to be lower than this years 57 million, meaning there would only be 7 million dollars to sign another big name player which obviously isn’t enough.  Now that 7 million dolalrs worth of room doesnt’ include Lebron.  While they will go way over the cap resigning him, it’s allowed under the CBA since he is a veteron player who has been with the Cavs.  But it does mean they cant sign Bosh, Stoudemire, Boozer, any big talent young big guy who is a free agent this off season.  The only option is signing a player to the mid level exception.

Had they taken Stoudemire, it could have been an audition of sorts to see if him and Lebron can play long term.  And just for the record, I think Stoudemire is garbage unless packaged with a Steve Nash, Lebron James, or Dwayne Wade.  He would have worked very well with Lebron and there would have been a ton of highlight reels from every game to prove it.  And if things didn’t work out with Stoudemire they simply do not resign him and go with Bosh or Boozer (Who Cavs management would never resign after he screwed them 4 years ago).  So while I firmly believe Jamison would allow the Cavs to easily win 2 out of the next 3 NBA championships, it doesn’t provide the long term talent and roster Lebron is looking for to go after a pocket full of NBA championship over the next 10 years and will eventually lead him out of town.