FRISCO (105.3 The Fan) - Sports fandom is an ideal barroom brawl in which nobody really gets hurt and nothing really gets broken.
Except for feelings and hearts.
Everybody, of course, has an opinion on the stories of the day. Some are uninformed, some are knee-jerk, some are biased, some come with the always-inviting fact-based foundation.
But - in regard to one such "story of the day'' - what do NFL general managers truly think is the trade value of available Detroit Lions QB Matthew Stafford?
Writer Peter King thinks it can be done by Denver, for instance, swapping two second-round picks.
Keen scout-like observer Jeff Cavanaugh, my 105.3 The Fan colleague, thinks as it relates to the Dallas Cowboys and in comparison to Dak Prescott, it shouldn't be done at all.
And then there is Bryan Broaddus, another 105.3 The Fan teammate who worked for years in the NFL as a personnel guy ... and who therefore has countless connections ...
Including seven NFL general managers who agreed to answer his simple survey question, which went something like, "What'll it take to get Stafford in a trade?''
The overwhelming consensus: A first-round pick, plus another pick of value. (Third-round, maybe).
There are other tidbits we've gathered in the last couple of days on Stafford, the DFW local kid made good who at 32 has an agreement with the Lions to allow his escape from Detroit. To wit:
*Does Stafford think of DFW as 'home'? For what it's worth, I'm told he does indeed.
*It's a legit question that a team should ponder: Would you rather employ Dak at $38 million for one year or Stafford at $43 million for two years? (Opinions are fine - but the question, no matter your answer, is valid.)
*What if (ahem) Stafford wishes for a pricy extension? Has anybody thought of that? (Yes. I just did.)
*Is Stafford an over-the-hump QB in Washington, Indianapolis, New England, etc? (Again, opinions are cool. But they're not facts.)
The closest thing to "facts'' here? there is no more important fact-based angle on this NFL "story of the day'' than the one Broaddus has unearthed - the real trade value, voiced by seven people who actually set the value - on Matthew Stafford.