BREAKING: Kerrigan Asks Washington For Trade

ASHBURN, Va. - We wrote earlier this week that the Washington Football Team - for reasons of talent and culture - should not trade Ryan Kerrigan, except under one condition.

If the stalwart defensive end asks for a trade.

He has now done exactly that, according to an ESPN report via Adam Schefter.

However, the next graph in the story features this: "Another source insisted to ESPN on Sunday that Kerrigan has not requested a trade. Multiple people around the NFL believe that Kerrigan values loyalty to the franchise and his family over money."

If the WFT has the license to do right by him. Let's examine ...

Yes, he's playing limited snaps. He's absolutely being phased out and it is likely his last season in Washington, as the team probably can't afford to spend a lot of money at his position to secure a role player.

Can they get a mid-round draft pick? Possibly, A fifth? Maybe. A fourth? Is a late-round pick more valuable than what Kerrigan brings now? Maybe not, but ...

On some level, Kerrigan deserves the right to control his future. What we wrote earlier this week:

The only way we would trade Kerrigan is if he went to Ron Rivera privately and said, 'Can you get me home?' (Indianapolis Colts) or if he wanted to go to a specific contender (San Francisco and Kyle Shanahan?). Sean McVay and Joe Barry are in Los Angeles. Jim Haslett is in Tennessee. All contenders and all with past success and experience with Kerrigan.

He's earned the right to have a voice.

There are other issues. Kerrigan has an $11.5 million base salary, so an acquiring team would have to pick up approximately half of that figure (unless Washington was willing to eat the remaining part of his base in exchange for higher compensation).

Oh and another thing: Kerrigan has four sacks this year in 159 or 36% of the Washington defensive snaps. He has one sack for every 40 snaps played. He has two sacks in his last two games while playing a total of 23 defensive snaps.

Kerrigan is being used smartly for a team trying to win ... and for a franchise trying to fix itself. "The Untouchable''? Given the situation, Ryan Kerrigan earned that title. But he clearly also believes he's earned the right to request some control of his destiny. And now he's done that.