Don Banks has a good article on CNNSI.com about how teams prefer to keep their draft picks instead of trading them for veteran talent. He specifically points to the Steelers trying to trade Jason Gildon for a second round pick. His response: "Good luck." In regards to the Browns getting a second round pick for Tim Couch: "Dream on." What about the Bengals getting a second round pick for Corey Dillon: "Get real."
I think you get the point. Even with the salary cap, veteran players are still in a position, given a few good years, to get a big payday. Newly drafted players however, come relatively cheap -- at least for the first three years of their contract -- and as a consequence these picks are very important when trying to (re)build a team.
Banks goes on to point out that if players like David Boston (traded for a sixth round pick and a player TBNL), Terrell Owens (traded for a fifth round pick and a backup DE) and John Lynch (released outright because no teams were was willing to trade a draft pick for him) get only minimal interest in terms of trading picks for their services, then there is virtually no chance the Gildons, Couchs and Dillons will will garner any attention.
Because teams know each other so well, they also know that if a team can't trade a player, there is a good chance they will release him before the start of training camp -- which implies that the same talent will be available, but at cut-rate prices. Banks finishes strong with the following observation:
"That's why so many teams are stuck shopping so many high-priced veterans with so few bidders, and why the deals will continue to be few and far between. This isn't, after all, fantasy football. It's reality. And in the NFL, the reality is this: Trying to trade for big-name veterans is usually more trouble than its worth."
