NFL Trade Deadline Rumors: Jaguars Mike Sims-Walker

This is the fun time of the year when the most ridiculous of trade rumors begin. One such rumor involving Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Mike Sims-Walker sprung up on Sunday when someone took something an esteemed reporter said, Chris Mortensen of ESPN, and twisted it into a "report."

TheRedZone.org put up a headline on Sunday that Chris Mortensen "reported" that Mike Sims-Walker was on the trading block because of the emergence of Tiquan Underwood.

I never really addressed the rumor because I did some checking of my own and was essentially laughed at. I have been asked about it quite a bit however, so I figured it was best to address the rumor.

First, this is where common sense and running with an erroneous report clash. Chris Mortensen never said Mike Sims-Walker was on the trading block. He said it's possible he's on the bubble because of the two games in which he did not have a catch and the comments Sims-Walker made earlier in the week. Second, I'm not sure I'd call 4 catches in 5 games an "emergence" of a player by Underwood, who had his 3rd game of the season without a catch on Sunday.

In the common sense department, how does it make any sense at all for the Jacksonville Jaguars to ship off one of their better offensive players? This is already a team who's limited in the passing game, so what sense would it make to limit it more? This is a team that's 26th in the NFL passing the football, so what good does it do moving one of the integral parts of that?

Not only does moving Mike Sims-Walker not make sense in that regard, but realistically what are you going to get for him in a trade? Maybe a 4th round draft selection, at best? If it were me, I'd rather keep Sims-Walker the remainder of the season and re-sign him or wait for the potential compensatory selection you would receive when he's signed to another team in free agency.

Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio addressed the rumor yesterday when he met with the media.  "That’s garbage, false, not credible," said Del Rio. "It’s difficult to see things like that thrown out there without somebody checking out sources. There are no issues here. There are some being manufactured outside our building. I went pretty strong with my response, so I’m upset about it," he added.