While you may not see the LA Rams as a player or two away from making a playoff run this season, other opinions still view this team as very active in the trade market up to the NFL Trade Deadline. In fact, a recent Bleacher Report article by Kristopher Knox still lists the team as one of the optimal landing spots for 3 veterans who are rumored to be up for the highest bidder.

The article, a compilation of 10 varying NFL trade scenarios that likely have no more foundation in actual truth than the imagination of an NFL analyst. But as we have often discovered, phone calls between NFL general managers can be triggered over a morning coffee. GMs, we know, are in the business of deal making. So any scenario concocted in an article has likely already been conceived, discussed, and vetted.

So why don’t they occur more frequently?

To be honest, negotiating a win-win exchange is a slippery slope. No NFL GM wants to be accused of giving more value away in a trade than he receives. And yet, it’s that emergence with more value than surrendering that is the basic foundation of the NFL trade.

The trigger is the perception of a win-win trade. That is, the value received is greater than the value paid. That can only occur in a limited number of circumstances. Whether its a player who is underused, no longer a fit for the team’s strategy, or simply buried on a depth chart unexpectedly, the process involves more than just production. It also involves compensation, anticipated fit, similarity in a player’s history to the type of strategy used by the new team, and even basic compatibility between players and their new coaches and teammates.

Okay. I’ve laid out the groundwork of NFL trades that pop up mid-season. Now, let’s try to decipher whether any of Kristopher Knox’s trade scenarios make any sense.