The Things We Do For Love
Some teams fall in love with players and the desire becomes so overwhelming, the infatuation so strong that they just give in to the loving feeling and do whatever it takes to land their guy. Press play or read the transcript below about some crazy trades in the NFL.
Crazy trades leading up to the 2016 NFL Draft have taken away some of the uncertainty at the top of the draft board. Jared Goff and Carson Wentz will be off the board quickly and then the countdown will begin to the firings of the Rams head coach Jeff Fisher and the Eagles GM Howie Roseman.
Both teams paid Ferrari money for a Toyota Camry.
Based upon Jimmy Johnson’s Trade Value Chart and assuming average seasons for all four teams involved in the blockbuster trades, the Titans outscored the Rams by roughly 300 points, the equivalent of a late 2nd round pick. The Browns outscored the Eagles by nearly 500 points, the equivalent of a high
end 2nd round pick.
These aren’t eye-popping wins by the Titans and Browns, but they could be if Goff and Wentz fail to perform like franchise quarterbacks. They need to be Andrew Luck-like. And it’s doubtful that they will be.
There have been other one-sided trades involving big name players in the past, one of which still haunts Baltimore football fans – John Elway to the Broncos.
Going by Jimmy Johnson’s chart, which by the way didn’t exist during this 1983 trade, the Colts were snookered for 325 points, again a 2nd round pick. But Elway was a can’t-miss prospect, something that cannot be said about Goff or Wentz.
In 1990 the Vikings coveted Herschel Walker so much that they were willing to accept a 4200-point trade value loss to the Cowboys – the equivalent of the 1st overall pick AND the 12th overall pick.
In 1999 Saints head coach Mike Ditka traded away New Orleans’ entire 1999 draft and his first and third picks in 2000 to land Ricky Williams with the 5th overall pick. That resulted in a loss of over 2600 points, the equivalent of an extra No. 2 overall pick.
Williams would play in the Big Easy for just 3 seasons and amass 4,221 yards from scrimmage and 18 TD’s.
By the way, the Saints fired Ditka after that 1999 season…
