AdamJT13;1782039 said:
This is Tomlinson's SEVENTH season, and he was already 22 years old when he was a rookie.
It's comparable to trading Emmitt after 1997, not after 1994. And right now, we have the hindsight of knowing that Emmitt would continue to be productive longer than any other feature back in NFL history. The odds of Tomlinson doing the same thing aren't great.
Do you think the Seahawks wish they had traded Shaun Alexander for even ONE first-round pick after his MVP season of 2005 (he'd have been the same age as Tomlinson will be this offseason). You bet they do. He's an albatross now, and they're stuck with his broken-down body and fat contract.
We have the hindsight to see that Emmitt's play went down after his 6th season. He was productive, but not nearly as productive and impactful as he was during his first 6 seasons. Emmitt never topped 1400 yards after his 6th season. He only topped 1300 yards 3 times after his 6th season. In his 7th season Emmitt had 1204 yards. Sure that is productive, but it is not a monster year and one worth multiple 1st round picks and a high salary. LT is now in his 7th season with 733 yards and right now is projected to gain 1173 yards.
Adam is right. Can we expect LT to remain as productive as Emmitt did or will his game deteriorate even more? Even if he maintained Emmitt's totals for 3 more years, is that good enough? Emmitt had 1074 yards in his 8th season, 1332 yards in his 9th season and 1397 yards in his 10th season. That is good, but not two or more first round draft picks and his high salary good.
Barber has 713 yards right now. I don't expect him to produce monster yardage seasons, but he combined with another good running back will make for a formidable tandem. That would be better than LT by himself in my opinion.