Shades of Chawstains
The Commissioner takes a stand to protect the competitive integrity of the DelFL.
We learned two things this week. First, that certain members of the Brown family will continue to cause trouble once they're knocked out of playoff contention. Second, Jeff isn't the win-at-all-costs Owner we all thought he was.
Adding drama to the DelFL and continuing to be a check on the Commissioner's power is an important role for the Brown family (and all other Owners) to play, one which Andrew has done a commendable job with over his 10 years as an Owner. But when that drama comes from borderline to transparent collusion or an attempt to disturb the competitive playing field, the Commissioner must push back. This week's trade between Jeff and Andrew was one of these cases. Forget the league poll (which overwhelmingly supported the Commissioner's decision), but instead let's hear what Jeff had to say in his defense.
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Those crickets you hear were his arguments to why this trade should have been approved. In the earlier 'controversial' trades of this year, the Owners at question (think Parker in the ODB trade) were very active in presenting their side of the trade and why it should be upheld. We heard nothing this week because there isn't a case to make. Jeff has just went into the woods and kicked Andrew's ball out into the fairway. I guess every stroke doesn't count anymore...
Andrew has said that the trade should have gone through because no one can predict the future, which is true, the Commissioner has been wrong on a lot of predictions lately (although not with GOTWs). However, even if Amari Cooper were to be in a car accident tomorrow, doesn't mean that this trade would be justified. Jesse can trade Phillip Rivers to Boner for Cody Kessler because, who knows, Rivers might have to have an appendectomy later this week? That makes no sense. The truth is, Riddick/Cooper have twice the amount of points as Jennings/Montgomery and even if the unlikely scenario of the latter scoring more points actually happened, vetoing this trade would still have been the right decision.
This recent trade is exactly why such transactions are not automatically processed. The Brown family has proven many times over the years that the DelFL cannot be a laissez faire league. The Commissioner will continue to try and be fair and not overreach and will always protect the competitive integrity of the league. There should be push back from Owners when the Commissioner abuses power, but this was nothing of the sort. It was the right decision.
