I get you would be moving the best piece in the deal in Rust but where's the incentive for Edmonton to take something less than Rust to be saddled with 4 years of Johnson?
Manning is a soon to be UFA and can be buried as you said. He offers little incentive in this trade for us. As per Russell he's an overpaid #5. I'd love to move on from his contract but moving to for a worse contract with 2 additional years and you want us to add or take less than Rust, it's just a non-starter
Then I think both teams pass.