A trade between the Maryland Whipsnakes and Philadelphia Waterdogs was made official Monday morning.

Finalizing the trade before the league's post-season trade window closed on Friday at 5:00 p.m. ET, Maryland dealt attackman Zed Williams and the No. 23 overall pick in the 2025 College Draft to Philadelphia and received attackman Matt Brandau and the No. 17 overall pick in return.

For the Waterdogs, the move gives their attack line a physical dodger on the right side to complement the speedy Michael Sowers at X and lefty Kieran McArdle (and potentially No. 1 overall selection CJ Kirst). Williams had multiple points in every regular-season game in 2024 and even took over games down the stretch as a matchup nightmare. 

Maryland gets Brandau, who had six points (4G, 2A) in six games as a rookie -- a small sample size.

Trading away Williams, a 2024 second-team All-Pro who ranked eighth in the league in points with 31, in exchange for an unproven second-year pro will raise eyebrows, but I understand the rationale behind the decision for both sides.

Brandau was a highly touted prospect coming into the 2024 College Draft. The No. 7 overall pick racked up a lot of points during his tenure at Yale as a dodger and feeder, but I think his best attribute as a pro player is his off-ball play and finishing ability.

And if you think about when the Whipsnakes have been at their best offensively, they’ve had a righty finisher that moves well off-ball. Since the retirement of Jay Carlson ahead of the 2023 season, the Whips have lacked that element in their offense.

Yes, Williams is a more than capable finisher on the inside, but his real value comes when he has the ball in his stick and he’s able to post up his man with his strength to get a shot off.

This seems like a move to allow TJ Malone to have the ball in his stick as much as possible, and Brandau fits as a nice option who has the potential to rack up 20-plus goals alongside Malone with his off-ball movement and finishing ability.

And while a third-round pick swap doesn’t seem like much on the surface, Maryland jumps up six spots in what is shaping up to be a solid, deep draft class. In a draft with only 32 picks, that's a considerable leap. You can read my full Mock Draft 1.0 here.

Again, Williams is an amazing player and will be ranked highly on the Players Top 50 list after a terrific 2024 season. Philadelphia gets an absolute stud. But for Maryland, it seems like a move to get back to its roots with a righty off-ball finisher (Brandau is still very capable of creating chances off the dodge, as well) while allowing Malone, the team's superstar at X, to have the ball in his stick as much as possible.