running back wheeling and dealing.

For whatever unfathomable reason, the Buffalo Bills are apparently interested in shopping around franchise RB Willis McGahee (likely to the Giants), afraid that he will walk after his contract year and they won't get anything in return. Unless it gets desperate, why would you even attempt to do this? It betrays every instinct to protect J.P. Losman, who has this year to prove he's a half-decent starter instead of an inconsistent wreck from week to week. The Bills put up a good fight last year in a division with two playoff teams -- there is absolutely no reason to throw it away now. What incentive or message does that send to Losman and the rest of the team, when they will likely have to live or die by his arm, since any replacemetn will be sub-McGahee quality? Running backs are a dime a dozen in the NFL at times, but it makes no sense to toss a good one out there for trade offers at this point.

The Bears are ahead of the game when it comes to completely disassembling an NFC champion: letting D-coordinator Ron Rivera go, being chintzy about paying head coach Lovie Smith what he's worth, franchising LB Lance Briggs instead of paying up, and now, it looks like Thomas Jones wants out instead of splitting time with Cedric Benson. While Jones' desire to be the featured back for an organization is understandable, he's probably going to run into this situation again, as more and more teams go to the running back duo as the preferred trend in order to maximize looks and keep backs from getting too banged up too quickly. Why you would want out of a Super Bowl team (and one with a decent chance to go back so long as the NFC North is the mess that it is) is beyond me, but that hasn't stopped any pro athlete from thinking he'd be better off in another venue. Jones used to play for Arizona, and maybe he ought to ask Edgerrin James how that aiming for money and individual work turns out sometimes.