S. Moss for L. Coles appears to be a done deal.
 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/column...len&id=2005788

Updated: Mar. 5, 2005, 2:17 PM ET
Deal to be completed pending physicals

By Len Pasquarelli, ESPN.com



After more than a week of discussions, hours of deliberation, high anxiety and low comedy, the much-anticipated trade of disgruntled wide receivers from the Washington Redskins and New York Jets has been agreed upon.

	Laveranues Coles Wide Receiver Washington Redskins Profile
	2004 SEASON STATISTICS Rec Yds TD Avg Long YAC 90 950 1 10.6 45 341

Redskins wide receiver Laveranues Coles will return to the Jets, the team with which he started his NFL career. The Redskins will receive Santana Moss, a former first-round draft pick.

The deal is pending physicals exams for both players, which ESPN.com has learned will take place Monday.

The on-again/off-again swap, in the works since last Friday when the team began to bargain while attending the draft combine workouts in Indianapolis, came together on Saturday. The turning point came when the Jets and Coles agreed on tweaking his contract. How the deal was sweetened is not yet known.

It had become obvious in recent days that, despite numerous hurdles and complications, the deal would be consummated. There were too many people who wanted to trade to be consummated that it almost had to happen. And neither player, knowing they were on the trade block, wanted to return to their incumbent clubs.

Drew Rosenhaus, the agent for Moss, told his anxious client earlier this week that he should consider himself a "Washington Jet." At no time during trade negotiations did Jets officials attempt to contact Moss, another circumstantial hint they were set on dealing him away.

	Santana Moss Wide Receiver New York Jets Profile
	2004 SEASON STATISTICS Rec Yds TD Avg Long YAC 45 838 5 18.6 69 229

New York clearly feels that Coles, whom they chose in the third round of the 2000 draft, is the better receiver of the two. The former Florida State standout caught 170 passes in his three years with the Jets, including 89 catches for 1,264 yards and five touchdowns in a breakout 2002 season. It was after that season that the Redskins signed Coles to a lucrative offer sheet as a restricted free agent.

The Jets did not want to let Coles escape, but the terms of the restricted free agent offer sheet, a seven-year deal worth $35 million and including a $13 million signing bonus, were too prohibitive to match. New York passed on the opportunity to match the deal and received a first-round choice in the 2003 draft as compensation.

Coles played well in his two seasons in Washington but chafed about the team's passing game design. He met twice with head coach Joe Gibbs to air grievances about a passing game, which he felt lacks vertical dimension.

The two sides also disagreed about a lingering toe injury that Washington officials felt had become a problem. The Redskins preferred that Coles have offseason surgery. The wide receiver, who played the entire 2004 season with the injury, disagreed. Even with the toe injury, Coles had 90 catches for 950 yards in 2004.

Washington covets Moss' explosiveness. With the departure of Coles and pending exit of Rod Gardner, the club's other starter, he will become the 'Skins' top wideout.

Moss, 25, was the Jets' first-round choice in the 2001 draft and has been a productive playmaker when healthy. Moss has missed time, however, with hamstring and knee injuries. In four seasons, he had 29 starts in 51 appearances, with 151 receptions for 2,416 yards and 19 touchdowns. His best season came in 2003, when he posted 74 catches, 1,105 yards and nine scores. He is entering the final year of his original rookie contract and is scheduled to earn a base salary of $448,000 in 2005. Washington will seek a contract extension with Moss before completing any deal for him, but that should not be a problem. Rosenhaus, the agent for Moss, has worked with Redskins owner Dan Snyder on several contracts in the past and the two men have a strong relationship.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. To check out Len's chat archive, click here .

What's your take on this Corey? Sounds like a pretty good deal for the Jets, no?

If I'm gonna have a short receiver I'd rather have Coles.

so the Redskins consider Patten and Moss an upgrade over Coles and Gardner?

I would rather have Coles than Moss.

since the Jets have Pennington - Coles is the better option. Pennignton and Coles were developing a rather good rapport with each other before Coles departed.

I love it. I thought the Jets were crazy for letting Coles go back then, since he and Chad Pennington seemed to have great chemistry that year.

Coles is definitely the more consistent receiver, and he's under a multi-year deal.

We loss Moss' punt returning skills, which is the only real negative i see.

The Redskins at least get something in return for a player who didn't want to be there.

I'm very happy. I wouldn't mind seeing them bring in a good #3 receiver though, maybe Ike Hilliard.

Coles/McCareins/Chrebet?

What's wrong with that?

Chrebet is almost certainly done. I haven't heard anything, but I'm assuming he's going to retire.

Even if he does come back, he's one concussion away from being forced into retirement.

the biggest winners: people who own a Laveranues Coles Jets Jersey.

You don't like Cotchery or whatever his name is?

I'm going to go ahead and say that Coles himself is the big winner. Originally had a whopping $13M bonus on the $35M contract and now the Jets are guaranteeing another $8M, so now $21 Million of that original deal is guaranteed. Crazy.

Actually he did play well down the stretch. Maybe they're alright at WR... they definitely have bigger fish to fry at OL, DB, LB and backup QB.

I believe he gave back 6.5 M of the original bonus. So hes only getting an extra 1.5M

nope. (from the linked article):
"But Coles will receive guarantees totaling $8 million and, almost as important, will not rebate any of the $13 million he received from Washington in 2003 to the Redskins. That means since March 20, 2003, Coles and Barnes will have struck deals totaling a whopping $21 million in guarantees."

I like this deal for the Jets, as I too was upset when most of the Jets went south a few years back. I think it's a good deal for the Jets, especially since Coles is younger than Moss anyway - which is wacky.

The Jets may have gotten the better part of this deal, but I am satisfied with getting Moss back in return. Coles is a great player, but I don't want to keep anyone here that is unhappy being a Redskin. The alternative was either bringing back a disgruntled player or releasing him.

i agree, but if Coles gets all his bouns money from us, then we take like an 8 million dollar cap hit this season. That just doesn't make any sense to me, you give up a better reciever and screw yourself for the rest of free agency after the 8 million dollar cap hit. Should have just kept his ass, who cares if he doesn't wanna be here.

agreed 100%.. this makes move just makes no sense to me as the redskins... I don't care if he did not want to be here, it's just a waste..

This is a shit deal for the Redskins. No offense to Moss... he's a little younger.. and has a lot of talent... but they got fucked with that bonus money that Coles took with him. I wish they had sat his ass on the bench for the next two years. Sooner or later, teams need to stand up and remind these greedy bastards who signs the checks around here...

I've heard that Coles' toe injury is more serious than has been reported. The Redskins wanted Coles to have surgery in the offseason and he refused. It will be interesting to see how his physical goes with the Jets on Tuesday. If it's not as bad as the Redskins' doctors think, then the Jets could be getting a steal.

I wonder if in Coles' first interview he'll refuse to admit he played for the Redskins...

100% agreed here and I'm having a hard time finding others that agree...

I'd definitely be worried about Coles' toe if I was a Jets fan ... he definitely didn't look as explosive on all those 5 yard bombs the Redskins threw. Still, Coles managed to play and catch 94 balls on a bad limb last year, compared to Moss who tends to sit out every couple of games with a bad hamstring or something.

I am not a Redskins fan, but manage to follow tham a bit just due to proximity. Their "front office" has been a giant comedy of errors over the last few years ... I find it unbelievable that Vinny Cerrato still is essentially their GM -- when it's pretty clear at this point that he has absolutely no idea what he's doing. Yes, they have made a number of mistakes in simply selecting players (and I have no idea what role he plays in that) but as far as offseason strategy, there can't be any team that's worse at this than Washington under Cerrato.

Agreed. Gibbs has never been a personel guy.. he has always excelled with someone else signing the players and the Gibbs/Cerrato combo is not working..

Who pushed for Brunnell?

Redskins better hope Moss gets a hammy transplant. Guy's hamstrings are tweaked it seems every week. Without looking I believe he either didn't return punts or was limited in returning punts last year.

By most accounts it was Gibbs. Gibbs wanted to sign him w/out even having him do a workout (which might have been the first clue that his noodle arm is dead).

That's what I thought.

My point exactly..

And no one there that knows to say, "ummm... no"

They may finally be learning to say no. Not matching the ridiculous offer for Pierce or giving in to the contract demands of Smoot seem to be good moves. Both guys are decent players, but not worth the money they want/got.

Moss and Patten are the starting wideouts?

Oof.

Well, who have we had lately, besides Coles?

Let's see...

* Michael Westbrook
* Henry Ellard
* James Thrash
* Rod Gardner

And, for me, a die-hard 'Skins fan, those are the memorable ones. I can't name anyone else who's started at WR for us in the last 6-7 years.

They could have kept Coles (he would have been disgruntled, but I bet your butt he would have still played) and had more than enough money to pay what Pierce was asking. Most of the people around the Redskins seem to think Pierce was a good fit and probably worth the money.

Now b/c they have to take the Coles cap hit, they only have like $2mm or so left, which means they probably won't keep Smoot and can't afford Rolles which means they're short a starting CB in a system that likes to put pressure on the QB. Not a good sign.

Part of the problem is whom do you blame if you're a Redskins fan? Who is really calling the shots ... is it Vinny, is it Daniel Synder, or is it Coach Gibbs?

What an absolute nightmare my team has become...

You don't think our WRs are better than last year?

Sheesh... Joe Gibbs has one bad year, and all of a sudden, nobody thinks his offense can throw the deep ball.

I'll go on record saying that Moss & Patton don't catch over 94 balls combined.

But then again, what difference does it make whom the WR's are? Anyone can catch a 5 yard out pass for 6 yards on 3 and 20. Besides the H-back gets all the good throws anyways.

Moss is a wussy but will make an occasional big play. Patten is a little guy as well.

They need some move the chains guys. Neither of the two you have are even close.

Also both guys will be lucky to play 16 games.

I think they are worse.

Gardner was horrid last year...I think he had more drops than any other WR out there.

Coles might have been stuck in a conservative offense, but he shares some blame as well - he dropped his fair share and I don't think I ever saw him get separation on those deep routes.

I like Moss and Patten and am guessing we'll go Mike Williams or some other big target in the draft.

I am just pissed because this was a horrible move for the team financially. I would rather have had them tell Coles to suck it and then used the cap space to re-sign Antonio Pierce. He's the real deal.

I wasn't talking about the Coles trade in my post. I don't think it was a good deal for the Redskins myself. But matching the Pierce offer from the Giants would have been a huge mistake IMO. I think the Giants paid way too much for him. He's an average player who benefited from a really good defensive scheme and will probably bust in New York. Smoot is a solid player but not worth any more than the Redskins are offering, so again I think the Redskins are playing that situation correctly as well. Sometimes you have to say no to a player's demands and that's something the Redskins didn't do in previous years.

i agree about Smoot, he wanted to much dam money. But i think subby is correct about Peirce. I think he is gonna be the real deal at MLB. He's EXTREMELY smart and always seems to hit the right hole. He's not a flashy big play kinda guy, but he gets the job done.

I totally agree. There were a ton of guys (especially linebackers) for the Redskins that look like the 2nd coming last year that have done absolutely nothing previously in their careers. Lamar Marshall and Clifton Smith both played well this year. I think the Redskins finally have a defensive scheme that transends the players in it. I won't be thrilled but I can deal with Walt Harris @ CB and one of the young LB's starting at MLB. Michael Barrow definitely has had injury problems, but remember he did have 177 tackles in 2003, so it's not like he doesn't know how to find the football. We had the 3rd ranked defense last year missing a ton of starters and with several journeymen in hte lineup. If we can get Arrington, Phillip Daniels, and Barrow back on the field, I don't think we are going to be crying over Pierce's absence.

That's fine if you think he priced himself out of the market, but you have to have a plan to replace him ... and if they have one i haven't heard it. They don't have enough cap room (thanks to the Coles debacle) to sign the top FA's at CB ... so are they going to draft one at #7 (or whatever their pick is)?

Again, Greg William's defense last year relied on alot of blitz packages and pressure on the QB. In order to do that you have have a good pair of CB's who can play one on one alot. So ... who is going to fill that role next year??

WOW what a blockbuster, two overpaid average at best WR's changing teams
:rolleyes:

Hey man im with you on that, what we did with Coles was just stupied. We've completely screwed ourselves for the rest of free agency and we still have a few glaring holes to fill. Plus we don't even have a second round pick since we traded it away during last seasons draft (for a freaking 3rd rounder).

It will be interesting to see what happens the rest of the season, but at this point almost all of us look like fools...:D

Nice, Bump.. Moss finally staying healthy for the Skins..

Clearly a breakout year for Moss. I can't really blame Coles, as the Jets can barely even get a pass off.

Fucking Jets.

I had no idea Moss was so fast. His Big Play Receiving and Getting Downfield ratings are red bar maxed-out at 100.

And how about Mark Brunnel? Number one rated passer in the NFC. Not a single person thought acquiring him was a good idea. Gibbs was practically vilified for benching Ramsey after Game 1.

Pinch me.