There seems to be a lot of threads about the guards and only Mathis is getting mentioned. We may be overlooking possible trade targets. A trade I could see happening if Franks does good in preseason is us trading Caleb Sturgis to Pittsburg for Ramon Foster
No one is going to trade for Sturgis. When they can just pick up a free agent kicker who is just as good.
Chris Chester was available in May, signed a cheap one year deal with Atlanta. He would be functional right now as competition for Billy Turner. Personally I think if you're going to make a trade, it better be for a RIGHT guard. That's the problem position right now. Billy Turner isn't a natural right guard, IMO. If they trade for a right guard that we have belief can really lock down that position, then we can have the competition between Billy Turner and Jamil Douglas at left guard that we ought to be having. One guy you might consider pursuing to that end would be John Greco of the Cleveland Browns. He's a good performer, always has been, but the Browns had a weird draft where they grabbed Cameron Erving at 19th overall and I believe it's been determined that his most likely starting spot would be Greco's right guard position. They have Joel Bitonio at left guard and trust me Cleveland fans and coaches adore the guy, think he's one of the best guards in the game. They of course have Alex Mack at center, which is the position where a lot of folks speculated Erving could end up in the NFL. Erving certainly isn't going to replace Joe Thomas at left tackle. I haven't heard any talk yet of Erving trying to replace Mitchell Schwartz at right tackle. That's the situation I would keep an eye on if I were the Dolphins, make some exploratory calls to see what they'd want in exchange for Greco. Their asking price could be high because Greco performed so well last year and because there's some thought to the idea that Cameron Erving will replace Alex Mack a year from now and then Greco is starting at right guard again. But Greco is only set to make $2.8 million, which is right in that neighborhood of what the Dolphins would like to pay Evan Mathis.
Mack has more or less said he isn't going to re-sign in Cleveland after this season so I think the Erving pick was made thinking he'd slide into Mack's spot next year.
Problem is we need a real right guard IMO, not another left guard trying to be a right guard. I just realized that if Rishard Matthews has as good a preseason showing as he supposedly is in training camp, he's total trade bait.
I'd totally be for Greco. Always liked him. Wonder what it would take to pry him from Cleveland. Matthews and a 5th if Matthews keeps showing well?
Ideally the answer would be Zack Martin but we all know he wouldn't be available. I think the idea of getting Mathis is a good one if it isn't for some kind of drawn out, guaranteed deal.
First of all, I will be very surprised if Franks wins the job. He was not very accurate at the college level and basically the one thing that is stated most in regards to his kicking is that he has a strong leg but needs to become more consistent as a FG kicker. If a miracle were to occur and Franks does beat out Sturgis for the job. I really don't see any team trading for Sturgis. He was in the bottom third of all kickers in FG percentage over the last two years and therefore he wouldn't appear to have any trade value at this time. In fact getting beat out by an inconsistent college kicker would likely only make him less desirable to other NFL teams.
