Bleacher Report’s trade proposal for Washington is dumbest idea ever

The Washington Football Team’s roster likely won’t undergo wholesale changes this offseason, but it might come pretty darn close.

All we know for certain is that the club will have a new quarterback.

While it’s impossible to gauge what direction Ron Rivera and the front office are leaning, it’s encouraging to know that both parties understand the emphasis behind adding a franchise-caliber guy this offseason.

After all, when your head coach, general manager, and other high-ranking executives are on the same page, good things tend to happen.

Speaking of being on the same page, we would all agree that Washington won’t be in the market for a running back this offseason, right?

Well, don’t tell that to Bleacher Report, because they believe the club swinging for the fences at the position is “realistic” this offseason.

B/R’s trade proposal for the Washington Football Team might be the worst idea of all-time.

In this trade, the details are as follows:

Panthers Receive: 2022 first-round pick (from WAS)

Washington Receives: RB Christian McCaffrey

Sadly, this isn’t a troll job. Bleacher Report wasn’t hacked. Yes, they’re somehow convinced McCaffrey to Washington is feasible. Almost nothing about this proposal makes sense, so let’s break it down step by step.

We’ll start with the one argument you can make defending the idea: the Panthers are reportedly open to dealing McCaffrey and a trade to Washington would reunite him with Rivera, under whom he posted historic numbers.

That’s it.

Everything else makes this proposal the worst idea ever. To start, giving up a first-round pick for a running back, who, while transcendent, has played just 10 games since the start of the 2020 season is a fireable offense.

In addition, McCaffrey signed the richest contract in terms of annual average value (four years, $64 million) for a RB in league history last offseason. The deal runs through the 2025 season and will account for an average cap hit of $15.8 million.

For comparison’s sake, Antonio Gibson, who’s played 30 games in two seasons and finished with over 1,000 rushing yards this campaign, is under contract through 2023 and is on the books for less than $3 million total before it expires.

Just two years removed from playing wide receiver in college, Gibson has already established himself as a top-10 player at the position. Why would Washington trade for McCaffrey — while keeping Gibson, per B/R — when they already have an ascending stud who’s proven to play through injury?

The lack of thinking behind a trade like this is concerning. It’s like Bleacher Report recalled McCaffrey thrived under Rivera, looked at Washington’s cap space and draft assets and thought “Wow, this could actually work,” without considering the fact that this would send the franchise back years.

We haven’t even gotten to how this trade would impact Washington’s pursuit of a quarterback. That 2022 first-rounder, in all likelihood, will be used on an incoming rookie or as trade bait for an established veteran.

Trading for McCaffrey would force Washington to dig deeper into their bag of draft capital or sign a free agent. You’re talking about Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston, Mitchell Trubisky, Teddy Bridgewater or Andy Dalton.

That group of quarterbacks falls under the “break glass in case of emergency” category for Washington this offseason. Why would they back themselves into a corner and be forced to sign one of them?

They wouldn’t, unless Dan Snyder was running the show, maybe.

“Reuniting McCaffrey with the coach who got the most mileage out of him could be a win for both parties,” said author Alex Kay.

Wrong. It would be a disaster of epic proportions.