They make calls to many teams and the reverse is true. There are conversations between teams on a continuous (more or less) basis that allow them to gauge other teams’ interest. It’s tough to get anyone to indicate interest in a player such as Gronkowski, because his original value was benchmarked in the draft as not particularly valuable. He’s gained some value in the interim but lacks any particular outstanding quality that would make him tradeworthy. Teams value draft picks so highly that they’re reluctant to part with one unless there’s some overriding reason.

It’s easier to wait until the final cut and pick up a TE, and we had to cut someone. There are so many TEs out there lately that it’s hard to trade them. There’s a glut of supply that makes only the elite ones worth giving up a pick for.

Re: Phonz. We decided to dump Phonz and we tried to recoup some value for him — IMO. We had to give up one CB at the final cut and Phonz was the one who was tradeworthy. We were willing to go with Cox/Squid/Vaughn and forgo the problems that kept recurring in Phonz’s difficult learning process. And he’s still having problems, but he has ball skills that make him attractive to a team that is experiencing extreme problems at CB. We should have gotten more for him but teams become unwilling trading partners once they conclude that you’re going to dump a player anyway. Timing is important, too. It’s very difficult to arrange a trade around the time of the final cut. Our trade of Gaffney and acquisition of Bunkley illustrate how little a quality player can be worth.