NFL Trades: Tampa Bay Bucs Trade Draft Picks For Kansas City Chiefs DE Alex Magee

The Falcons didn't make any moves today, but one division rival did.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers swapped 2011 draft picks with the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for the rights to DE Alex Magee. It figures trade-happy Scott Pioli, from whom the Falcons acquired Tony Gonzalez, would get a deal done today.

SB Nation Kansas City says Magee has been "disappointing and didn't see the field very often" since the team drafted him in 2009.

Bucs Nation has no idea who Alex Magee is. You'll excuse us if we presume the division balance hasn't tipped further southward due to this trade.

Alex Magee

#71 / Defensive- End

Height: 6-3

Weight: 298

Born: Apr 28, 1987

College: Purdue

NFL Trade Deadline: Houston Texans Are In Linebacker Market; Falcons Have Some LB Depth

After losing LB DeMeco Ryans for the season, the Texans are looking for linebackers.

Outside linebacker is one unit at which the Falcons enjoy a little bit of depth, with Mike Peterson, Sean Weatherspoon, and Stephen Nicholas all thought of as starter quality by the team’s coaching staff. Not that any of those three are going to be traded.

Backups Coy Wire and Spencer Adkins could be considered. Wire is one of the Falcons’ primary special teams leaders, earning a captaincy last year, so he's almost certainly staying put. Adkins hasn’t contributed a whole lot, making only four career tackles and generally being considered a long-term project.

The Falcons are going to be wary of letting any players go for future draft picks, as they believe this team is built to compete right now. But if they’re not using Adkins anyway…

Plus, the Falcons and Texans have done business before. Maybe Spencer Adkins for a decent draft pick can be thought of as a thank you for the great Matt Schaub gifting?

NFL Trade Deadline: Should The Falcons Trade For Lee Evans, Who Played For Mike Mularkey In Buffalo?

There have been at least a couple rumors floating around about Bills WR Lee Evans being available for trade. At 0-5, Chan Gailey’s team clearly needs to either get desperate or start building for next year.

It would take quite a commitment to get Buffalo’s only explosive receiving threat out of Gailey’s hands. Evans only has 15 catches in five games this year and has slipped on the depth chart, though he’s right in the mix for the team lead in receptions. The Bills offense is just that bad.

Matt Ryan would be the best quarterback Evans has ever had — and Evans has put together two 1,000-yard seasons in his NFL career. Plus Mike Mularkey is already familiar with Evans, having been the Bills’ head coach for Evans’ first two seasons.

Evans hasn’t missed a game due to injury since 2006. With Michael Jenkins, Harry Douglas, Kerry Meier, and Brian Finneran sporting their share of nicks, why not consider an especially durable receiver?

Then again, the last time we traded for a Bufffalo receiver, things didn’t work out so well.

NFL Trade Deadline: Falcons Fans Still Want Vincent Jackson?

After a flurry of rumors and speculation this summer, Vincent Jackson talk has mostly died down around here. Mike Smith saying the team isn’t looking for receiver help will tend to have that effect.

Jackson wants $9 million per year, last we heard, though his expectations must be starting to square with reality by now. Plus with Antonio Gates’ injury, the Chargers need to cling to every receiver they have. I’d like to see the Falcons get younger at receiver by next summer; taking on a 27-year-old with a suspension history

And he’s kind of a head case, or so we hear.

Yes, I’m just trying to talk myself out of how excited I’d be if Jackson somehow joined the Falcons in a very reasonable trade and at a salary somewhat lower than Roddy White’s. Jackson has the talent to be one of the league’s five best receivers.

Still, there’s no way this trade is happening.

NFL Trade Deadline: Patriots G Logan Mankins Still Available, And Falcons Need Offensive Line Help

While the Falcons’ interior offensive line has played well, the team’s tackles have struggled, especially LT Sam Baker.

With Patriots G Logan Mankins still disgruntled and available, the Falcons could consider making an offer. But GM Thomas Dimitroff developed his craft under Bill Belichick, and it’s tough to imagine two Pats guys finding a win-win deal together.

Then again, Dimitroff traded for Tony Gonzalez with fellow Patriots product Scott Pioli, so who knows.

Mankins has never played tackle for any significant period, so bringing him aboard would mean restructuring almost all of the offensive line. This one’s almost certainly not going to happen.

Plus he’s disgruntled. Arthur Blank put his foot down a while ago on that one. Gruntled players only.

NFL Trade Deadline: Two Oakland Raiders The Atlanta Falcons Might Consider

With the NFL trade deadline approaching, the Oakland Raiders have offered up all their Monopoly cards, which include only one railroad (but both utilities!) and no get out of jail cards.

While the Falcons aren’t likely to bite on Thomas Howard or Chris Johnson (not that Chris Johnson), here are two Raiders they might be more likely to think about:

WR Johnnie Lee Higgins: Speedy Higgins has returned punts for the Raiders, but hasn’t gotten much of a chance in Oakland’s passing game lately. Then again, nobody else has either. In 2008, he actually led all Raiders receivers in yardage, but he was injured for parts of 2009.

The Falcons haven’t gotten a ton of production out of their wide receivers except for Roddy White, though Michael Jenkins had a great game in his season debut. The receiving corps, including Tony Gonzalez, is also getting up there, so it might be nice to have another young guy aboard.

The Raiders aren’t going to part with Darrius Heyward-Bey or Louis Murphy, but an explosive athlete like Higgins might be obtainable for cheap.

OL Daniel Loper: Loper can play a little guard and a little tackle, having played in 50 NFL games for the Titans, Lions, and Raiders.

With concerns about LT Sam Baker getting beaten on a weekly basis, the Falcons could stand to throw another body onto the depth chart. Especially with Baker’s injury history.

Loper also did this earlier this year:

In light of Roddy White’s forced fumbles, that’s about the most Falconly maneuver an NFL offensive lineman has pulled off all year.

NFL Trade Rumors: Oakland Raiders Say All Players Are On The Block; Atlanta Falcons Interested?

ESPN reported the Oakland Raiders have offered their entire roster up to every team in the NFL as trade pieces, just as they did last year:

Raiders players that have drawn interest around the league since training camp began include linebacker Thomas Howard and cornerback Chris Johnson.

The Atlanta Falcons have devoted significant resources to both of those positions since Thomas Dimitroff took over three years ago, drafting linebackers Curtis Lofton and Sean Weatherspoon plus signing free agent linebacker Mike Peterson, and adding cornerbacks like Dunta Robinson, Christopher Owens, Dominique Franks, and Brian Williams.

The Falcons did add Tye Hill via trade last year, but that was a stopgap measure meant to shore up a young and depleted secondary. It's unlikely the team would consider trading picks for either Howard or Johnson at this point as the Falcons' defense has held its own so far, even considering last week's blowup in Philly.