Duckett, Lelie involved in three-team trade

The Atlanta Falcons traded running back T.J. Duckett to the Washington Redskins as part of a three-team deal and acquired holdout receiver Ashley Lelie from the Denver Broncos.

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NFL.com wire reports

ATLANTA (Aug. 22, 2006) -- The Atlanta Falcons traded running back T.J. Duckett to the Washington Redskins as part of a three-team deal and acquired holdout receiver Ashley Lelie from the Denver Broncos.

The Broncos received Washington's third-round pick in the 2007 draft as part of the deal, according to two officials within the league who spoke on condition of anonymity because the trade had not been officially announced.

Washington had been shopping for a running back since star Clinton Portis partially dislocated his shoulder in the preseason opener against Cincinnati. The Redskins are unsure if he'll be ready for the start of the regular season.

The Falcons, meanwhile, were eager to land another receiver after losing Brian Finneran to a season-ending knee injury in the early days of training camp. Lelie was the NFL's leader in yards per catch the last two seasons, but he held out of training camp in hopes of forcing a trade.

Any thoughts on the trade? Who got the best deal? It's hard to know because the Broncos will get a 3rd pick next year but I really think it was good for both Washington and Atlanta...made a lot of sense for both teams.

I thought Denver's asking price was a lot higher than just a 3rd though...

Denver wins, easily. I'm absolutely shocked someone gave a 3 for Lelie. Duckett is overrated and is yet again the backup HB, and Lelie is Atlanta's 3, and he'll probably suck and they won't re-sign him.

I like the move for Washington. Portis will get 100% healthy and once he comes back, he can get spelled for one of the best short yardage backs in the game. I don't like Duckett for the full-time starting job but he won't have that in Washington either.

As far as Lelie, it made sense for Atlanta after Finneran went down. Smith and Jenkins are still very young and bringing in someone like Lelie who has played in some huge games (both regular season and playoffs) may help those other two along if the Falcons end up having a good year and earning a playoff berth.

If by Smith, you mean Roddy White, then yes.

Oops...my bad. Yeah, that's what I meant.

I like the move for Atlanta, Duckett is overated and they drafted someone in a mid round that I heard was pretty good (something like Darius Woods maybe) to back up Warrick and they need help at WR with Finnerman down and a young core

Jarius Norwood. He's not as powerful as Duckett, but still better than Dunn between the tackles, and a very good reciever.

Ashley Lelie's departure from Denver was a costly one.

Broncos coach Mike Shanahan confirmed Thursday that in order to be free from the final year of his contract, the recalcitrant receiver agreed to pay the Broncos a hefty sum.

The amount is believed to be $982,000.

Not counting players' days off, Lelie skipped 23 days of training camp, making him liable for $14,000 in daily fines totaling $322,000.

The Broncos also wanted Lelie to repay a prorated portion of his $3.3 million signing bonus, which would amount to $660,000 if divided by five (because his sixth year was voided when he reached certain incentives).

In speaking Thursday for the first time about the three-way deal that sent Lelie to Atlanta, T.J. Duckett to Washington and a conditional package of picks from the Redskins to Denver, Shanahan said at least as important as the draft day compensation was the money Lelie owed the Broncos.

"It wasn't really the pick as much as I just wanted to make sure that they knew whatever the prorated signing bonus was and whatever the fines were that that was going to be a hefty amount. That's a lot of money to pay back," Shanahan said. "And when that was agreed to, then we talked about compensation relative to what we should get for his services and we were able to do that."

Shanahan added: "We would not have released him unless he agreed to it and signed a contract to do it."

Lelie, who led the league in yards per catch the last two seasons, skipped the Broncos' offseason workout program, forgoing a $100,000 bonus to work out on his own in Arizona. He said he wanted out of Denver because the Broncos were misusing him and weren't giving him the chance to be the featured pass-catcher with Rod Smith and Javon Walker on the roster.

Shanahan reiterated his stance Thursday that Lelie would have been better off competing for the top receiving spot in Denver, where Smith is 36 and entering his 12th season and Walker is coming off a severe knee injury that cost him almost all of last season in Green Bay.

"I really believe somewhere down the line he got some bad advice," Shanahan said. "I don't think that was coming from Ashley. Ashley wasn't like that. He wasn't like that the four years here. I don't know why, to be honest with you. This happened even before we started talking to Javon.

"So, I just really can't figure out why he went in that direction, but I wish him well."

The Broncos acquired Walker in a draft-day trade with the Packers but earlier in the year they flirted with signing Terrell Owens and it was that dalliance that sparked Lelie's trade request.

"I'm glad it's behind us," Shanahan said. "I think it worked out hopefully good for both parties."