TRADES 14 & 15 Uprising Downsizing

Following their second loss, Phoenix made a couple of moves bringing in a glut of new wide receivers and the King of IDPs, while shipping out a lot of proven talent to his brother and his father. Lets take a look:

Margaritaville acquires:

WR Brandon Marshall

RB Ahmad Bradshaw

TE Heath Miller

DE Robert Quinn

Phoenix acquires:
DE JJ Watt

WR Brandin Cooks

WR Marques Colston

RB Alfred Blue

Kneejerk reaction is that the Parrots won this trade, due to the focus on offense: They attain bonafide WR1 Brandon Marshall and RB Ahmad Bradshaw, who has played like a RB1 to date. (He's probably more of a RB2 on volume, but results are results.) Heath Miller is a solid TE option during starter Vernon Davis' bye week, and a guy they might keep around going forward, as he is a distinct notch above the typical waiver wire flotsam. DE Robert Quinn has was a stud last year- this year the sack numbers just have not been there, but there's a good chance they are coming. Flip side, it's highly possible that M-Ville has already extracted the best weeks of JJ Watt's 2014: There are only so many touchdowns a defensive lineman can score. He is undoubtedly the class of his position (no one at any position dominates their peers so thoroughly- he's outscored his nearest competitor by nearly fifty points, and the Watt advantage has produced a championship in each of the past two years. But the truth is, Watt is on bye in week 10, and there is a chance the margin between him and Quinn in the second half is marginal anyway. Phoenix gambled to have the best player at all three levels of their defense: Watt joins Lavonte David and Harrison Smith as the highest scorers at their position through seven weeks. They were also the first player chosen at their position in the draft, which edges in on the notion that IDPs are impossible to predict. Despite Watt as the clear get, Phoenix scored two WR2s in the deal: rookie Brandin Cooks and veteran Marques Colston. Joining Drew Brees and Mark Ingram, the Uprsing have tied their fate to the Saints. They also acquired Arian Foster's backup Alfred Blue, a handcuff that they shed quickly. Did Phoenix overpay by including Bradshaw in the deal, or can a team built on defense win this league? Will the depletion of offensive talent sink the Uprsing? Will M-Ville regret moving the most dominant player in the league? Time will tell.

New York acquires:

RB Trent Richardson

Phoenix acquires:
WR Anquan Boldin

In a matter of hours, the Uprising's vaunted RB carousel went from overloaded to vacant, as they moved two solid starters back to back. Richardson is not a game breaker, but he sees a healthy volume and gets plenty of opportunities in the red zone, making him a low ceiling RB2 in the vein of Steven Jackson, whom New York also acquired from Phoenix earlier this year. In return they get a similar player at a different position: Boldin is a savvy vet with strong hands, but without the playmaking spark of youth. He's a safe play that won't produce a ton of highlights but will refrain from going invisible in big moments.