The Ponies love Chainsaw Dan

[Chavez]

it was some creative work with the Washington Redskins that allowed the Broncos to get exactly what they felt that a receiver of Lelie's experience, contract situation and résumé merited -- a deal that has the value of a high third-round choice.

 

"Once Washington decided that they were okay with the value, then it was just a matter of making it fair, in my opinion ... The idea is not to fleece anybody," Sundquist said. "Everybody's got to come out and feel good. They felt like the value to obtain (T.J.) Duckett (from Atlanta) was worth that upper-tier third-round spot. I don't fault them for their logic one bit."

 

The Redskins are a team with whom the Broncos have a substantial recent trade history. The teams swung the Clinton Portis-Champ Bailey/second-round pick deal two years ago and then exchanged first-round picks last year in a deal that took the Broncos out of the 2005 first round while giving them Washington's first-rounder in 2006 -- an extra pick that eventually helped make the acquisitions of Jay Cutler and Javon Walker possible.

 

"Washington came forward a couple of days ago and was really the first team that was firm in committing a third-round pick to us," Sundquist said.

 

The Redskins, though, head into the season with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations -- an experienced team coming off a 10-6 season that saw them win a wild-card game over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last January.

 

"Our feeling with regards to the Redskins was that they'll be a playoff team, and a contender this year, and that their third-rounder more than likely will fall in the back of the round," Sundquist said. "Since our goal all along was to gain that upper-tier-of-the-third-round value, we felt like there was a need to bridge the gap between what we think Washington's third(-round pick) will be and what we felt the value of Ashley was all along."

 

That led to one of the more ingenious deals ever crafted in recent memory, one where the exchange of draft picks will not be determined until after the season concludes and the draft slots are set -- and one that is based upon the value of each pick as measured on a chart that delineates specific point values for each selection in the draft -- with the discrepancy between each pick decreasing as the draft progresses.

 

"They don't have a second- and a fourth-(round pick)," Sundquist explained. "Their fifth-, sixth- and seventh-rounders -- even if they trade them to us, it wouldn't have added up (to a high third-round pick), and the goal here was not necessarily to take the Redskins' entire draft away in '07, but to try and make this fair and equitable to everybody, and since they had stepped up, we wanted to come up with some sort of out-of-the-box compromise.

 

"Our thought was, 'What if we took the value of that high third-(round pick) and said, 'Based on how the teams fall in the draft order at the end of '06 -- which will be done off of record -- we'll look at our draft chart and say, 'OK, if Washington falls at No. 21 and that's worth 'X,' and Denver falls at No. 27 and that's worth 'Y,' then if the difference is in a certain range in regards to value, then we'll flip-flop because we feel like being able to jump that high in the first round is worth a high third-(round pick)."

 

The result? The Broncos will receive one of four deals from the Redskins:

 

* Scenario 1: The Broncos and Redskins exchange first-round picks next year. This is if the Broncos are lower than the Redskins in the first round and the difference in slots is roughly equivalent to an upper third-round pick.

* Scenario 2: The Broncos and Redskins exchange first-round picks and the Broncos receive the Redskins' fourth-round selection in 2008. "There's a little bit of risk there on both sides," Sundquist said. "If Washington falls real high in the draft order, then it's higher; if it's lower, it's below what our value was, but at the same time, we got a pick."

* Scenario 3: The Broncos and Redskins exchange first-round picks and the Broncos receive the Redskins' third-rounder next year. "That's if the gap between the picks is even less," Sundquist said, adding it could be anywhere from one to five selections based on where the selections reside in the first round.

* Scenario 4: The Broncos get the Redskins' 2007 third-rounder and 2008 fourth-rounder.

 

"The best we can do -- in my personal opinion -- is move up 11 slots in the first round having won the Super Bowl," Sundquist said.

 

But as it stands, the Broncos already did fairly well -- as did the Redskins, who found depth in the backfield, which could be helpful in the wake of the shoulder injury Portis incurred on Aug. 13 at Cincinnati. The direct results of the Redskins' recent deals with the Broncos are Portis, Duckett and 2005 first-round pick Jason Campbell, a quarterback who remains a significant part of the Redskins' future.

 

"The one thing I respect Washington for is that they realize that if they want to get something, they've got to give something," Sundquist said. "There's a lot of teams in this league that want something for nothing and they tend to not get deals done."

 

Neither the Broncos nor the Redskins fall into that category.

 

"I think some teams are much more open to being ready to do deals," Sundquist said. "I think a lot of that has to do with stability, ownership. Mr. Snyder (Redskins owner Daniel Snyder) wants to win really badly, and he's willing to do whatever he feels he needs to do to win (whether) that's trading draft picks (or) trading for a high-profile running back."

 

Sundquist said that most of his conversations on potential trades usually flow through Redskins vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato.

 

"Then he speaks with Coach (Joe) Gibbs and Mr. Snyder," Sundquist said. "I've known Vinny for a while, and he has a relationship with (Head) Coach (Mike) Shanahan through (the 1992-94 seasons in) San Francisco. I sit with Mr. Snyder at the Super Bowl every year; they happen to be in our box. He's always (saying), 'Hey, if you want to do deals, let's do them.'"

[Bronco Billy]

Yes, we do. Thank you Mr. Snyder for your continuing lack of football sense.