Owner Jim Irsay recently tweeted that the Colts are pursuing a wide receiver, and the Indianapolis Star speculates it may be Doug Baldwin.

http://www.rotoworld.com/sports/nfl/football

Original source:

http://www.indystar.com/article/2013031 ... which-one-

I don't really see the point in trading Doug. Important part of the rotation IMO, an if someone were to go down, we need that depth. He is also comes on the cheap. I guess a 2nd or 3rd round pick would be 'worth more', anything less and I'd be scratching my head.

I don't think we could get a third for him and i wouldn't want to accept anything less.

A player, who we know can contribute?

Maybe.

Our front office knows what its doing so not to worry.

Makes sense for Indy. A lot. If if happens, I wonder what compensation would be. After Doug's first season it could have been a 3rd. After last season, I'd guess a 6th.

Yeah I kind of figured Baldwin was gone when we traded for Percy. There is just no reason to keep all slot receivers. You need more than just backup slot guys.

No offense to you, of course, but that Indy Star article is extremely speculatory.

Add to this that I think Jim Irsay is unstable and needs to be removed from Twitter, and I doubt that Baldwin is being traded, considering his use in 4 WR sets and his salary that makes him basically free to us unless Grigson is offering a third or higher.

You could just as easily name Andre Caldwell instead of Doug Baldwin. I mean, there are plenty of WR's out there and Denver is definitely more overstocked on WR's than Seattle is.

We spent a whole two years worrying about Rice's health so we're suddenly going to thin out our depth? I doubt we let go a guy entering his third season who had such a great rookie season and had a pretty decent sophomore year despite injuries.

Smelly McUgly wrote: Baldwin in 4 WR sets and his salary that makes him basically free to us unless Grigson is offering a third or higher.

Agreement. He has third round value TO US, imo.

To Indy? Dunno.

Nice job of speculation by that beat writer, but its not particularly plausible unless the Colts wanted to really overpay. Baldwin's value to the Hawks is far greater than any likely trade return he could fetch, as he's a young and significant part of the WR rotation (and on ST's) who is playing on a minimum salary and is great in the locker room. That being said, the Dolphins got a 2nd round pick out of Indy for the lousy Vontae Davis last off-season, so I guess you never know.

bestfightstory wrote:I don't think we could get a third for him and i wouldn't want to accept anything less.

Exactly. What's a late 4th going to do to replace a champion? Doug has a great attitude & is loved by those on the team. He may have got pushed down the depth chart but we will still use him. The only way this makes sense is if they say, "I want Doug Baldwin and I'm willing to pay." No way we shop him.

The authors on rotoworld go on to says we could get a 5th or 6th round pick for doug. Would be a horrible trade on our part if that is all we got.

Coug_Hawk08 wrote:The authors on rotoworld go on to says we could get a 5th or 6th round pick for doug. Would be a horrible trade on our part if that is all we got.

Just wait, someone will come along and point out a trade like this taking place in the long ago past working out in our favor. NOT!

Jim Irsay is a clown.

bestfightstory wrote:

Smelly McUgly wrote: Baldwin in 4 WR sets and his salary that makes him basically free to us unless Grigson is offering a third or higher.

Agreement. He has third round value TO US, imo.

To Indy? Dunno.

I think he has even more value than that to us. If Sidney Rice or Golden Tate goes down, Harvin can be moved outside and Baldwin would be a capable slot receiver. If Harvin goes down, Baldwin can take his place in the slot. In a year where a Lombardi is a real possibility for this team, an extremely low-cost player that can attack downfield a bit, that can be aggressive in the slot, and that can be a plus-player if another starter goes down.

Unless we have an offer sheet ready for Victor Cruz (in other words, no chance), Baldwin's low-cost and high-value to the team mean that were I the GM, I wouldn't trade him for less than a high-second rounder...and even then, I would have to think about it.

I disagree with Rotworld, I think we could probably get a 4th for Baldwin, particularly from a team like Indy who drafts in the back third of each round. That being said, my price would be 3rd round and I don't think anyone (Indy included) would go that high. The only way I take a 4th is if a conditional mid-rounder in 2014 is included as well.

Seriously doubt anything happens here, Baldwin is too valuable right where he is.

There's no way this is going to happen. We are deadly with Rice, Tate, Harvin and Baldwin.

Only thing missing is a large WR...could come from already on the roster (like Stephen Williams) or in the draft, to balance it out.

Also, Doug is inexpensive - so his cap hit isn't an issue either.

For a 3rd......all day. I doubt we could get that though.

The way Isray is tweeting I think it's likely to be a bigger name than Baldwin. The whole basis for this rampant speculation is that Stanford's former OC and Luck are now in Indy. But so what? Seems like 2+2=5.

I also saw a rumor that the Colts are putting in for Victor Cruz, he would make a ton more sense than Baldwin. Only way I see us trading Baldwin is if we have our eye on a few WR's in the 2nd or 3rd round that we are confident in, and can get at least a 4th in return for Baldwin. Baldwin is still cheap and offers us a solid WR who can fill in for Tate or Harvin. I do know we need at least 1 more Big Body (6'2+) Wr on the roster because too much hinges of Sidneys health if we don't have depth for him.

there is absolutely no reason to trade him for anything other than an overvalued draft pick.
he's on an undrafted rookie contract and his cap hit is around 500,000 this year.

Trading him just means drafting a replacement, which is daft. I could see trading Rice on his 7 million contract as a reasonable idea (albeit stupid, we're under the cap right now and that's all that matters. If you start trading players to make cap room in the FUTURE you'll regret it when the player you made the room to extend has a career ending injury and you're left without that player and the player you traded away).
And by overvalued pick I mean top 2 rounds. Do you really think there are better replacements in the 3rd round of this year's draft? Re-do the 2011 draft and Baldwin probably goes in the top 5 WRs taken (along with Julio Jones, AJ Green, Torrey Smith and Randall Cobb)

doug has stated in the past that him and Luck are good friends and communicate every now and then. THis may be one of the reasons why Indi is perusing him?

5th or 6th round pick for Baldwin? God, no way I'd want us to do that trade. What a joke.

In Pete/John I trust! I don't believe this will happen though.

Sounds like reporters are shooting down the Cruz link. Could mean nothing, but could also make Baldwin more likely.

I kind if think it is bigger than that. Irsay said they had been working on it for days. Which makes me think a sizable salary is involved. Doug would be a quick trade, no cap issues, one/maybe two picks.

Go home Jim Irsay, your drunk.

Axx wrote:doug has stated in the past that him and Luck are good friends and communicate every now and then. THis may be one of the reasons why Indi is perusing him?

This is the only reason I can see it happening. They can't draft someone that has what Baldwin offers Luck. A history at Stanford and they train offseason together.

if the security blanket is important and Luck wants it they will over pay for him

Doug just tweeted: Well, your guess is as good as mine, but when I see ‘whopper’ I think Giant. I don’t play for the Giants. I play for the Seahawks!
6:16 PM - 17 Mar 13

Yeah, doesn't make a lot of sense from our side to trade Baldwin, unless someone pays what most consider over market value.

I say keep Baldwin and draft a WR or two for PS/backup/future development.

I don't understand why some of you would trade him for a 3rd. Are we really that greedy? Baldwin has great chemistry with our offense and has amazing talent for a 4th WR, not to mention he's on a UDFA salary.

Hawken-Dazs wrote:I don't understand why some of you would trade him for a 3rd. Are we really that greedy? Baldwin has great chemistry with our offense and has amazing talent for a 4th WR, not to mention he's on a UDFA salary.

Like you just said, he is a 4th WR, who we found as a UDFA. I think most teams would take a third in a heartbeat for that player. A obvious net gain in a vacuum. Even considering our SB aspirations, still pretty solid value for your 4th guy.

I'd even want more than Indy's late third. Not that Doug is necessarily worth more than that, but if we trade him, all of a sudden we need to go seek out depth at WR. As it stands, we've got 4 roster spots basically locked up, and can let the other 2 be battled out by existing guys or rooks. If you trade Doug, we lose a guy that we know is a dependable slot guy, whose presence gives us some of that freedom we need to move Percy all over the field, including into the backfield. I know Doug isn't absolutely necessary, but he's more than just a slight luxury to me.

I think it's Jeremy Maclin. The situation makes more sense, he's in last year of contract, only 24 years old, new coach, doesn't overlap with TY Hilton, Eagles aren't settled at QB

The Colts appear to NOT have a round-5 pick this year, so IMO, if they want Baldwin to play with his former OC and QB-Luck, their round 4 pick, #118 overall MIGHT be a potentially acceptable option. Per current cbssports.com rankings their round 4 - #118 pick could result in players like:

CB-Leon McFadden, CB-Brandon McGee (both projected as potential slot corners),
DE-Devin Taylor, DE-Cory Lemonier, DT-Jordan Hill,
OLB-Jelani Jenkins, OLB-Gerald Hodges,
OT-David Quessenberry, OT-Jordan Mills,
WR-Kenny Stills, WR-Cobi Hamilton, WR-Chris Harper, WR-Steadman Bailey (if he somehow falls),
RB-Marcus Lattimore, RB-Kenyon Barner, RB-Le'Veon Bell.

--Thinking as if this were a straight-up trade, which of these, IF ANY, would we consider trading for Doug Baldwin?

If not a 4-th this year, maybe the Seahawks would take a round 7 pick this year and a round 3 pick next year that replaces the ones given up in the Harvin trade? We all know how JS values draft picks.
I'm sure PC/JS would consider any possibilities they think will help the team, so you never know.......

Hawken-Dazs wrote:I don't understand why some of you would trade him for a 3rd. Are we really that greedy? Baldwin has great chemistry with our offense and has amazing talent for a 4th WR, not to mention he's on a UDFA salary.

Ask yourself this, if the Seahawks used their 3rd round pick next month on a guy whom they envisioned long-term being a #4 WR, would you be happy? Of course not. A 3rd round pick is a top 100 selection, and has to be a projected impact starter a la Russell Wilson or KJ Wright (2nd pick of the 4th round). If somebody offers you a #3 for a nice-but-ultimately-limited rotational guy who has already hit his ceiling at what is a relative position of strength for you already, you take it. Every time.

Strength now, next year you have two contracts up and with Harvin starting and Tate on the bench unless we go trips you think Tate stays if he can try to start somewhere, then the strength takes a hit and Baldwin is a nice supplement to a potential depth issue.

chris98251 wrote:Strength now, next year you have two contracts up and with Harvin starting and Tate on the bench unless we go trips you think Tate stays if he can try to start somewhere, then the strength takes a hit and Baldwin is a nice supplement to a potential depth issue.

You say that as if there's no such thing as the 2013 Draft, the 2014 Draft, 2014 free agency, and the trade market. There's a whole lot of other transactions that are going to happen between now and the start of the 2014 season, its not as though all the WR's that we have today is all that we'll be allowed to have then. Also, Baldwin will be a RFA after the 2013 season so its not a mortal lock that he'd even be in Seattle for the 2014 season anyway.

I say a UDFA can be brought back a lot easier then a 2nd round pick, I also say we have been trying to fill WR spots for a few years and would not have traded for Harvin if Tate had been able to step up his game faster since Harvin is essentially what we were looking for in Tate when we drafted him. We keep rotating our depth chart at WR to find competent back up and depth, Baldwin is a proven cheap commodity. Those future drafts are future, they may or may not bring in a guy that sticks, you have one here now. So many people look a gift horse in the mouth and then bitch and moan when that player leaves based on what we try to replace them with.

This is a draft that Schneider has admiited, he likes the WR position as far as talent goes.

I could see a trade if it makes sense. Right now, we have 3 guys capable of playing the slot. This draft seems pretty deep at slot guys. It's a position we can get younger and cheaper in 2014 at, while maintaining quality. I'd hope we explore that option.

NorthDallas40oz wrote:

Hawken-Dazs wrote:I don't understand why some of you would trade him for a 3rd. Are we really that greedy? Baldwin has great chemistry with our offense and has amazing talent for a 4th WR, not to mention he's on a UDFA salary.

Ask yourself this, if the Seahawks used their 3rd round pick next month on a guy whom they envisioned long-term being a #4 WR, would you be happy? Of course not. A 3rd round pick is a top 100 selection, and has to be a projected impact starter a la Russell Wilson or KJ Wright (2nd pick of the 4th round). If somebody offers you a #3 for a nice-but-ultimately-limited rotational guy who has already hit his ceiling at what is a relative position of strength for you already, you take it. Every time.

There has always been a group of folks on this board that have been Baldwin bashers. I don't get it. You're talking Bout the team's leading receiver in both receptions and yards in 2011 , and he was just as good in 2012 when he was finally healthy. If you don't believe that, just watch the Seahawks/49es game again, which has recently been posted to YouTube (that video served as the topic of a recent thread here). Baldwin makes two spectacular TD grabs, the first of which was also quite acrobatic, and you and the other Baldwin belittlers are going to sit here and bash him as "nice, nut limited"? Please...

Escamillo wrote:

NorthDallas40oz wrote:

Hawken-Dazs wrote:I don't understand why some of you would trade him for a 3rd. Are we really that greedy? Baldwin has great chemistry with our offense and has amazing talent for a 4th WR, not to mention he's on a UDFA salary.

Ask yourself this, if the Seahawks used their 3rd round pick next month on a guy whom they envisioned long-term being a #4 WR, would you be happy? Of course not. A 3rd round pick is a top 100 selection, and has to be a projected impact starter a la Russell Wilson or KJ Wright (2nd pick of the 4th round). If somebody offers you a #3 for a nice-but-ultimately-limited rotational guy who has already hit his ceiling at what is a relative position of strength for you already, you take it. Every time.

There has always been a group of folks on this board that have been Baldwin bashers. I don't get it. You're talking Bout the team's leading receiver in both receptions and yards in 2011 , and he was just as good in 2012 when he was finally healthy. If you don't believe that, just watch the Seahawks/49es game again, which has recently been posted to YouTube (that video served as the topic of a recent thread here). Baldwin makes two spectacular TD grabs, the first of which was also quite acrobatic, and you and the other Baldwin belittlers are going to sit here and bash him as "nice, nut limited"? Please...

Umm, I am not "Baldwin bashing." Go back and read my first post in this thread on page 1. I've already stated that Baldwin's value to the Seahawks - even as a #4 WR - is enough that only an overpay by Indy (which to me would be a 3rd round pick) would make a trade worth consummating.

Apparently one of Irsay's tweets referenced a quote in 'On Golden Pond', so there's that to chew on.

Attyla the Hawk wrote:This is a draft that Schneider has admiited, he likes the WR position as far as talent goes.

I could see a trade if it makes sense. Right now, we have 3 guys capable of playing the slot. This draft seems pretty deep at slot guys. It's a position we can get younger and cheaper in 2014 at, while maintaining quality. I'd hope we explore that option.

So you want to get rid of a cheap 24 year old a year removed from being the first UDFA in about 50 years to lead his team in yards and receptions to get one of these guys?

I know it means absolutely nothing, but on my season in Madden 13, after the first season I drafted a WR in the first round. I then had a trade request for Doug Baldwin from Indianapolis for a 3rd round pick. Thought that was kind of crazy...

Dude, that article is 100% self-described SPECULATION based on nothing but Doug's prior relationships with Luck and Indy's OC.

Can't believe anyone is talking about this like it's a legit possibility. Doesn't make sense for either team.

Hell no we don't shop Baldwin. Won't trade him either, unless the trade is absolutely ridiculous and we fleece Indy out of a very high pick. I'd say front office wouldn't pull the trigger on a trade for less than a first or second, and that's not going to happen. Otherwise it isn't worth it. Baldwin is a known entity and a proven quality player. No way we get that in a third or fourth rounder without a gamble.

bestfightstory wrote:

Smelly McUgly wrote: Baldwin in 4 WR sets and his salary that makes him basically free to us unless Grigson is offering a third or higher.

Agreement. He has third round value TO US, imo.

To Indy? Dunno.

Well BFS, if he does have third round value in the Seahawks evaluation chart that Pete and John probably pretty much adhere to, then unless they think that they might be able to take a 4th or lower and group it with another 4th or 5th of their own and move up to grab some other Receiver or maybe another position that might tickle their fancy in this draft, if they have some particular player that they want up the hill that they'd be willing enough to take a chance on?
PC & JS have done some off the wall moves that have paid off big time, and some moves that I bet they wish that they could take back, but if they could turn down a trade deal with the Buc's for L. Washington, who knows what they might be tempted do here LOL

I think the biggest crux to me is how high of a pick do you spend to replace Baldwin? Is he your #4? Yeah, kind of, but he's going to be your go to slot guy in a lot of cases depending where Percy is lined up (and we've talked a lot about him in the backfield). Dougie is on a minimum contract and under team control for 2 more seasons with the RFA tag. I don't see the value in a trade that isn't an overpay.

"On Golden Pond".
Could that be a subtle reference to Golden Tate? If so, I would think the trade compensation would be at the very least a 2-nd rounder+, if not a 1-st. I'm thinking that might not be a bad trade considering the overload at slot receiver and the expressed desire to go bigger at WR. With that higher pick, several of the taller WR's could come into play, or perhaps even DeAndre Hopkins! If that were possible I'd think the Seahawks would probably be fairly interested.

Two new tweets from Irsay just now:

Jim Irsay‏@JimIrsay
We're still n the hunt for WR n others..it's never DONE until it's DONE! We ride the roller coaster,just like u guys! Nerve racking stuff!

Jim Irsay‏@JimIrsay
Colt Fans,I just give u an inside view,blow by blow...it's not teasing or anything like that..ups n downs,getting close then stalling out...

I'd be shocked if it was Golden despite the movie reference, or even Doug... They have to like Hilton in the slot and given Reggie Wayne's age, they have to target outside guys and probably taller guys... Cruz, Baldwin, Tate, Bess all don't fit that bill, imo. Maclin isn't a big guy, but plays outside, has a contract due up, has a new coach and a team that isn't settled at QB, so extending him doesn't make a lot of financial sense. Better to get some value for him now.

Gah. I like our set of wide receivers. No reason to trade unless someone wants to overpay significantly imo.