Shockey could bring a first-rounder in 2010

Did the Saints use one of the Jets’ picks in the 2009 draft to acquire yesterday?

When the Saints traded for Jonathan Vilma earlier this year, they gave the Jets a fourth rounder in the 2008 draft with a conditional pick in the 2009 draft that could go as high as the second round. That second round pick in 2009 was then included with a fifth-rounder in the more recent deal for Shockey. So what gives?

According to a league source, the Jets would get the second round pick if Vilma plays 85 percent of the defensive snaps and the Saints sign him to a new deal before the end of this season. If those criteria are not met, the Jets will receive a third-rounder and the Giants get the second- and fifth-rounders. If the Jets get the second rounder, though, the Shockey value will change from a second- and a fifth-rounder in 2009 to a first-rounder in 2010.

"That’s not going to happen because the Saints hold all the cards, and they’re not going to just give away that first rounder when they really don't have to," the source said.

It’s been speculated that Vilma, a fellow University of Miami product, was one of the players who was in Shockey's ear, trying to lure him to the Saints during this summer. If that’s the case (and we're not saying it is since that would probably be some type of tampering), Vilma may have recruited his way out of a new contract in New Orleans -- at least until after free agency opens up.

Many have called the Shockey trade a win-win deal. The only loser appears to be the Jets, who will undoubtedly see their potential second-round pricetag for Vilma shrink to a third.

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