"And for my next trick..."

"The Magic Man" is a pretty rudimentary nickname. It's been used by Cal Naughton Jr. in Talladega Nights after he broke away from Ricky Bobby, it was a song by the band Heart, and countless other drunken frat bros have been given the moniker after successfully hooking up with the girl who was not interested when the night began. But I ask that we start labeling one other person "The Magic Man" after the transaction he was able to pull off yesterday: Andrew Berry. He was able to maneuver a trade of Josh Dobbs and a 7th-round pick to Arizona for a 5th-round pick. Getting anything of value more than the $1.5m in cap relief from trading Dobbs is no less impressive than vanishing the Empire State Building.I mentioned it briefly in this week's Roundtable that Berry has done more with less than most other GMs so let's run down the tally of trades, even just from 2022 and 2023, and see the players and draft capital Berry has gotten in return for some of these moves:

• Traded a 5th and 6th-round pick in 2022 for Amari Cooper and a 6th-rounder
• Dealt Mack Wilson for Chase Winovich straight-up
• A slew of picks for Deshaun Watson
• Sent Case Keenum to Buffalo for a 7th-round pick
• Used his 2nd-round pick in 2022 to move back and get picks that turned into Martin Emerson, Perrion Winfrey, and Cade York ((Okay, so those last two players might not have been great...))
• Moved back into the 5th twice and sent out a 4th and Troy Hill (two separate moves)
• Removed the one and only Baker Mayfield from the roster for a 4th round pick
• Sent a 2024(!) pick to Atlanta for Deion Jones
• Used a 2nd round pick to acquire Elijah Moore and a 3rd
• Acquired Za'Darius Smith, plus a 6th and 7th in 2025 for 2024 5th and 2025 5th
• Received a 5th for Josh Dobbs and a 7th-round pick

Not included in the above are the signings Berry has been able to pull off, names like Juan Thornhill, Dalvin Tomlinson, Anthony Walker, Jadeveon Clowney twice, Ethan Pocic, Jack Conklin, and Shelby Harris. You can absolutely argue the merits of Berry based on his draft picks, there have been quite a few hits and seemingly more misses, but Berry's adeptness at skirting cap and filling rosters is nearing legendary. Need I remind you that the team currently has over $38m in cap space his season while building a roster that has every ability to challenge for not only a division title but a longer run into the playoffs?Kill him for his picks if you want, because while the bad ones are bad, Winfrey and York look especially glaring even just a year out and Anthony Schwartz looks like he's waiver fodder on Tuesday, but the good ones have shined. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah has battled injuries but is a good talent and was thought by many to be a 1st round talent picked in the 2nd, MJ Emerson is a "dude", Greg Newsome is a starting cornerback for most teams, and even Dorian Thompson-Robinson is QB2 this season. What you can't do is say he doesn't put his teams in the best-case-possible scenarios with his down-the-roster transactions. It's almost like it's magic.