Bradford trade talk not going away

Draft day trade rumors are a bit like Freddy and Jason, they will not die, unless they are killed by some bizarre circumstance or reality. Talk of the St. Louis Rams swapping the first overall pick is not going away, no matter how much holy water got thrown on it with an earlier report today from Bernie Miklasz that there's nothing to the Rams/Redskins trade rumor. 

The DC media market drives the message in two areas. The obvious one is politics, and the more surprising one is NFL football. When it comes to politics they never let facts get in the way of a good story, and it's no different with NFL trade rumors. At the Washington Post's Redskins Insider, they're standing by the possibility of the Rams and Redskins making a deal for Sam Bradford, be it before the draft or before Washington makes their fourth pick. 

That echoes a point made on PFT earlier today, when they took to opportunity to add a layer of speculation to something Tom Condon said in an interview with ESPN. From PFT:

Asked about speculation that Bradford does not want to play for the Rams, Condon said that Bradford has no feelings one way or the other. But Condon prefaced his response by saying that "[w]e've been down that road once before" with Eli Manning and the Chargers in 2004.

Assuming that suggests there's another first pick trade in the works, a la Eli Manning, from that line is a pretty big leap to say the least. There's more reading between the lines going on this time of year than the last time Jacques Derrida had a cocktail party. 

Rob Rang of NFL Draft Scout and CBS Sports is standing by his report that the Browns are interested in trading for the Rams top pick. In fact, he predicts that it will happen. 

The latest from Miklasz has Billy Devaney telling him that "there's virtually no chance" the Rams trade the top pick, and that the Rams will draft Sam Bradford first overall. Of course, the die-hard deconstructionists out there (man, two references to deconstructionism in one post, it must be draft day) can read that as a 2004 Eli Manning trade is still a possibility. 

Expect the back and forth to continue all day, and at 6:30 p.m. Central expect the Rams to hand Sam Bradford a personalized jersey.