When Detroit gave Dre' Bly permission to seek a trade last month, he was able to go out and find the right team(s) to be traded to. Throughout the search for a team to make a deal with, the Redskins' name continually popped up, sometimes even before Bly was given permission to be traded. Now, we're a few days removed from Bly being dealt to Denver in exchange for George Foster, Tatum Bell, and a draft pick, and it seems the Redskins' name is still coming up.
Springs was coveted by Detroit and Denver, and very open to the possibility of a trade, but the Redskins could not match Denver's offer of two players and a draft pick (the Redskins had no suitable picks in the 2007 draft) and the Lions sent him to the Broncos instead. Once it was clear Bly was going to Denver, the Redskins tried to work out a swap with them, but according to a source, the Redskins asked for cap help deferring the costs of trading Springs ($7.5 million) and Denver refuses (the Broncos did not have a ton of space, either).
However, the Broncos have been unwilling to extend Bly's contract, which has one year and $4.2 million remaining. Bly has told numerous other NFL players that Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, in the course of trade talks, was willing to give Bly a new contract including a lucrative signing bonus, and Bly has expressed his concern with remaining a Bronco with several of his new teammates in Denver. He's from Chesapeake, VA, wants to be here and wants that new contract. His agent, Kennard McGuire, initially declined to comment on the matter.
I really believe that the Lions didn't get a deal done with Washington simply because they didn't have what Detroit needed. In the Denver trade, the Lions got an insurance back in Tatum Bell, a tackle that adds depth to the offensive line in George Foster, and another fifth-round draft pick that may be used as trade bait come April.
It is more than interesting that since the Denver trade, talk has been surrounding Tatum Bell and George Foster, suggesting that either one of the two could end up being traded in the near future. However, Dre' Bly, the player on the opposite end of this trade, may actually be the one that gets traded.