3-Wide: Who is the NFL's scariest player?
3-Wide is a weekly feature in which theScore's NFL editors debate hot topics around the league. Grab a cold towel and brace for hot takes.
What blockbuster trade would you like to see before Tuesday's deadline?
Michael McClymont: How much fun was it watching the Carolina Panthers in 2015 when they were winning and dancing on everybody? The league is drastically less entertaining with them 1-5 this year and their secondary deserves the brunt of the blame for that. One move could change that: The Panthers should pick from the carcass of the Cleveland Browns and make a deal for Joe Haden. The top corner is making $10 million this year after signing a five-year, $67.5-million deal in 2014. He'll make less in the final years of his contract than Josh Norman will with the Redskins, making it appear to be a sensible move after allowing their mercurial defender to walk.
Arun Srinivasan: The Seahawks continue to be a leading Super Bowl contender but their chances of hoisting the Lombardi Trophy could get derailed by a porous offensive line. Needing help at every position on the line, the Seahawks should trade their first-round pick along with linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for nine-time Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Thomas. Thomas is seeking a Super Bowl ring after playing for the mediocre Browns for the entirety of his career, while the Browns receive two assets that could accelerate their rebuilding process. It's a win-win situation, even if the Browns are resigned to a winless fate in 2016.
Dan Wilkins: Minnesota's running game has been a disaster without Adrian Peterson, and Jerick McKinnon now appears to be facing a multi-week absence of his own. Though the team has been able to overcome those issues thus far, due largely to a stout defense and the steady play of Sam Bradford, there needs to be something done about the lack of balance on offense. Why not give the Dallas Cowboys a call? Darren McFadden is healthy and ready to return after starting the season on the physically unable to perform list. Given that he's in a contract year and primed for a spot no higher than third on the Cowboys' running back depth chart, there's no reason this trade can't be done for a conditional late-round pick.
Should the NFL eliminate ties? How?
Srinivasan: Ties may be endlessly frustrating to players and some viewers, but there's no reason to get rid of them during the regular season. It's rare that ties occur in the first place, and it's a testament to the defensive struggles that often happen during the course of a game. Any ratification to the current system would likely compromise the integrity of the game, so the NFL ought to keep ties during the regular season.
Wilkins: Endless overtime isn't an option if league officials are truly serious - as they should be - about addressing player safety. But ties are for Father's Day. The most sensible solution is a 10-minute quarter under the current rules that can transition into a college-style red-zone battle in the event that the game remains a draw. Teams immediately being placed in scoring territory would make it fairly simple to have a different offensive result sooner or later. If there's any concern about scores and stats being out of whack should a number of touchdowns be traded in such a format, the NFL could treat the second overtime similar to an NHL shootout: Award the winning side one score (7 points? 3 points?) to break a tie in the game's final result.
McClymont: There have been a grand total of four ties since 2012. Ties do not occur in the playoffs or the Super Bowl, they're only used to put an end to regular-season games that lapse 75 minutes without a leader coming to the fore. So I ask: Who exactly are ties hurting? In this age of immediate reactions, I know it's necessary to pile on anything that doesn't appeal to the grand majority, but the hate here is misguided. The NFL has it right. Just move on after five quarters in the regular season, play till there's a winner in the postseason.
Who is the NFL's scariest player?
Wilkins: Well, that depends on what we consider to be scary. If by scary we mean the kind of player that invokes fear over what he may do to another on the field, outside the parameters of the game, it'd have to be Vontaze Burfict. As difficult as it can be to define a dirty hit or player, Burfict's rap sheet of player safety violations is far too extensive to ignore. Whether it's twisting ankles on the bottom of a pile, stomping on opposing players, or taking blatant headshots over the middle of the field, the actions of the Bengals linebacker can be deemed scary, to say the least.
McClymont: The title of NFL's scariest man continues to belong to James Harrison. He famously posed as a hitman on the cover of Men's Journal and is such a daring figure that he came head to head with the boss, commissioner Roger Goodell. He also plays volleyball with medicine balls and leg presses 1,100 pounds. Scary.
Srinivasan: The NFL should've learned its lesson by now: don't mess with Steve Smith. Listed at 5-foot-9, Smith defies his diminutive size, winning numerous physical and mental challenges throughout the course of his 16-year career. "Ice up, son," "blood and guts everywhere," and countless other quotes have become part of the cultural vernacular because of Smith, and he's still the most imposing player in the NFL at age 37.