Cultural Cuisinart

As reported in major news outlets, the Giants have traded Jeremy Shockey to the Saints. This is pretty big news. You've just made one of the deadlier offenses in the league that much better with this acquisition. Shockey, when motivated, can be a game-changing player. He'll add a dash of grit and oomph to the normally sleek and smooth offense of the Saints, which could be really interesting.

Michael Lombardi has a good analysis of how this trade will impact the Saints' offense. I particuarly like the point he makes about how this benefits Marques Colston (though you've got to believe that Shockey's run blocking ability will benefit Reggie Bush as well).

Tight ends are like knights in chess: They are versatile, they can strike from far away, and if used and deployed correctly they can make the other pieces fit well around them. Wideout Marques Colston, for one, will greatly benefit from having Shockey around. He'll see less rolled coverages and will have the freedom to beat some one-on-one matchups on the outside. And if the Saints were not already proficient in the red zone (No. 2 in the NFL last year in red-zone scoring), having Shockey will make them better as he can win in the middle of the field, which is where most red-zone defenses will force the ball to be thrown.

I believe the Saints have just become a more serious playoff contender in the NFC because of this move. And I think that the Giants are also better off as a team, because they won't have any potential fallout from Shockey moping around camp, and can focus on this season. Next season they have a nice, shiny new 2nd round draft pick to use (and believe me, a 2nd round pick is precious). Matt Mosley is less enthusiastic about how much Shockey will benefit the Saints.

All of this is not to cancel out the fact that I think Jeremy Shockey is a giant dickweed as a human being.

The other big trade of the week is of course Jason Taylor to the Washington Redskins, in exchange for a 2nd round pick in 2009 and a 6th round pick in 2010. Peter King (my favorite SI.com football writer) posted an interesting article about how the trade went down so fast. Check it out. I don't know how much this will help either team this season - will Taylor help the Redskins enough to overcome their other troubles and make them a serious Super Bowl contender? Unknown. The Dolphins will at least be able to move past the distraction this season, but frankly, they're playing for the future, and everyone knows it. If they win 5-6 games this season, chalk it up as a win for them.