Colby lands Tiki Barber for the Quarter Pounders and the rest is history – Week Three, 2004
It will always been known as ‘The Trade’ and although it never directly resulted in anyone winning a title from it, we can only sit back and imagine what if. In 2004, Jeff/Colby, Matt and I all got off to rough starts. Heading into week three, we were all working at VH1 and Matt and Colby were talking trade. Matt had drafted Tiki Barber in the 8th roundthat year.
Tiki was good (but not great) and even
I noted it during the predictions, “Solid backup in the 8th. He’s too good to fall this far.” Matt already had James & Westbrook, two decent backs, but outside of Owens, he had no receivers. Jeff had taken Quentin Griffin (who was declared the starter in Denver) and Mo Williams in the 5th. They also had Bettis, but he was not reliable. I had Fred Taylor and Kevin Jones (rookie). Anyhow, Colby came to me first to tell me about his conversation with Matt (I cannot recall who Colby was offering for Barber). Less than five minutes later, Matt IM’ed me telling me about Colby’s offer. I went and talk to Matt in person and I decided to make an offer; Eddie George and Peter Warrick (both had okay games in week one, but nothing great). Matt Neatock (who once he starts talking trades, can’t back out) pulled the trigger with me.
I had Barber. Less than two minutes later though, Colby rolls by my office huffing and puffing. I don’t recall his exact words, but I did feel guilty afterwards. As commish, I felt bad that I ‘stole’ Barber out from under Colby. I gave in and offered him up Barber and Dunn for Quentin Griffen. How bad could it be….Barber had never done anything amazing prior to ’04 and Griffin was running in the mighty Denver offense, right?
It took only one weekend to realize the error. The Pounders RB combo of Dunn and Barber rolled up 500+ points in week three, while Griffin produced -15. A week later, Griffin went on the IR for the season (and his career was over). Neither Matt or I were able to salvage the season.
We both finished 5-9 that year, missing the playoffs. Jeff & Colby would actually only get one more win (six) than either Matt or I, but they were the league’s highest scoring team. In 2005, while Matt and I both started fresh in the draft and
did just fine (Matt won the division, I made it to the semis), the Pounders, led my Barber, made it all the way to the title game, before losing to Griff. Despite having one of the league’s best players, the Pounders were never able to win a championship, but one has to wonder how good the ’05 Matt or ’06 Robio teams could have been if they had Barber sitting in the 8th round each year.
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