Trade 14: Deacon Blues

We had a deal go down between the only two franchises that have yet to taste the playoffs: Oakwood and Manitoba. Oakwood is already out of that particular race for the fourth time in four years, but will try to make a bid for the Consolation Bowl's lottery pick sweepstakes- at 1-7 they're currently two games back of the pack with five to play. Manitoba's third season is off to a great start, as the team is 6-2 and in great position to make the playoffs in their third try. With two more wins in their final five games, the Moose should clinch a berth. Both teams made this trade hoping to make a difference down the stretch.

OAKWOOD ACQUIRES:

• RB James White
• TE Kyle Rudolph

MANITOBA ACQUIRES:

• RB Jerick McKinnon

Oakwood addresses a need at their flex, and brings back a viable RB in James White; They send away Jerick McKinnon, who replaced Adrian Peterson in the season's early going, but has ceded top billing to Devontae Booker. Asiata and White should be reasonable bye week fill-ins while Booker and DeMarco Murray take the bulk of the volume. The Drivers have three legitimate TEs on the roster going forward: Tyler Eifert should be a top notch option the rest of the way, but is on bye this week: Jason Witten and Kyle Rudolph do not boast the same upside, but have reasonable floor and plenty of red zone potential. Oakwood is still short a WR for week nine, and needing to make up considerable ground to make the Consolation Bowl they will not have the option of playing shorthanded- another transaction is coming.

Manitoba's search for a viable RB may be coming to an end. Lagarrette Blount remains the top option, but with the Patriot backfield on the verge of getting more crowded, the team divested their eggs from that particular basket. With Thomas Rawls still out, and Chris Ivory yet to carve out a sizable role, the team will turn to recent waiver claim Tim Hightower and McKinnon, who is coming off of an ankle injury but expected to play. He was given plenty of touches before his injury, but was unable to turn them into All-Day like production; No matter. If he can shoulder a similar load going forward, even pedestrian rate stats should be an upgrade in sustenance for the MooseCrew RB2 slot.