Best and worst draft day trades

Did you guys read the Boston Herald article? It's a recap of some of the best and worst BB draft day trades. Just curious as to what you guys think is the worst? My vote is Chad Jackson

patriot1136 said:

Did you guys read the Boston Herald article? It's a recap of some of the best and worst BB draft day trades. Just curious as to what you guys think is the worst? My vote is Chad Jackson

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I recall trading down to get a mediocre center (Matich) and a DL who never did anything. SF used the pick for Jerry Rice.

The Rice pick was well before BB but if we are going back then Cortez Kennedy for Ray Agnew and Chris Singleton would get some votes.

Really sloppy and confusing reporting. if we're going to figure out how good the trade is, the writer should lay out the actual trades in clear language.

Did we really trade a 2003 #1 to the ravens for a 2004 #1? that's what the article says. I needed a road map and a spreadsheet to figure out the actual deal for Mayo.Sounds like it was a three way deal with New Orleans and we traded a 1oth for a 10th.

Of course we know the particulars of most of these, but sheesh, it's your article Mr. Howe.

We didn't really trade the 19th pick in 2003 and get the 21st pick in 2004 as the article says. Wilfork or not, that wouldn't be a good trade.

The Boston Herald really shouldn't be critiquing anything related to the NFL draft. I mean, they still let Borges spew his nonsensical garbage. So any publication that allows one of their ****ty writers (not journalist, writer) write something as ******ed as:

Maybe the Herald should run an article on their OWN asshats instead of constantly harping on stupid ****.

As for the article itself, it actually includes the trade-back for Darius Butler vs. Clay Matthews, without including all of the picks which eventually went into Jules and most of Gronkowski. But that would require...work. So can't expect the Herald to do some of that.

What a ****ing rag. I can't believe I clicked on an article.

convertedpatsfan said:

The Boston Herald really shouldn't be critiquing anything related to the NFL draft. I mean, they still let Borges spew his nonsensical garbage. So any publication that allows one of their ****ty writers (not journalist, writer) write something as ******ed as:

"On a day when they could have had impact players David Terrell or Koren Robinson or the second best tackle in the draft Kenyatta Walker, they took Georgia defensive tackle Richard Seymour who had 1 1/2 sacks last year in the pass-happy SEC, and is too tall to play tackle at 6-6 and too slow to play defensive end. This genius move was followed by trading out of a spot where they could have gotten the last decent receiver in the draft Robert Ferguson and settled for tackle Matt Light, who will not help any time soon."
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Maybe the Herald should run an article on their OWN asshats instead of constantly harping on stupid ****.

As for the article itself, it actually includes the trade-back for Darius Butler vs. Clay Matthews, without including all of the picks which eventually went into Jules and most of Gronkowski. But that would require...work. So can't expect the Herald to do some of that.

What a ****ing rag. I can't believe I clicked on an article.

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I believe Ron Burges was with the Globe when he though they should have picked David Terrell instead of Richard Seymore.

Then again, he may have stolen that from Mike Sando.

Here is the link to Jeff Howe's article:
Patriots' best & worst draft day trades of Bill Belichick era | Boston Herald

Best
2012: Chandler Jones and Dont'a Hightower
Jones - traded up to 1.21 (for #27 & #93 to Bengals)
Hightower - traded up to 1.25 (for #31 & #126 to Broncos)

2008: Jerod Mayo
Traded down to 1.10 for 1.07 (originally traded out from 2007, #1.28)

2004: Vince Wilfork
Traded out to 1.21 (from 2003, pick #1.19 to Ravens)

2010: Rob Gronkowski
Traded up to 2.42 (from #44 and #190)

2007: Randy Moss
Acquired in exchange for selection #4.110


Worst
2006: Chad Jackson
Traded up from from #59 & #75 to #36

2009: Darius Butler
Traded down from #23 and then from #26 for #41 (Butler), #73 and #83

2009: Ron Brace
Traded up to #40 (in exchange for #47, #124 & #199)

2003: Bethel Johnson
Traded up to #45 (in exchange for #50 & #117)

2010: Ras-I Dowling
Traded out from 2010 third round #89, to what became a 2011 second round #33 pick.


A few notes with the extreme benefit of hindsight:

• There were two parts to the Mayo trade. The first, in trading out from the 2007, resulted in San Francisco drafting Joe Staley; not a bad deal at all for the 49ers. The second part was moving down three spots in the '08; the Saints took Sedrick Ellis at 1.07. However the clubs also exchanged a 3rd for a 5th, which New Orleans got the better part of the deal' at 3.78 the Patriots chose Shawn Crable, while at 5.164 the Saints selected Carl Nicks.
• The Wilfork trade looks lopsided when comparing Vince to Baltimore's selection: Kyle Boller. But wait, there's more! The Patriots also received selection 2.41, which they traded to Houston; that resulted in draft picks for Eugene Wilson and Dan Klecko.
• The trade for Gronk has been heavily debated here in the past, as recently as last off-season, regarding Clay Matthews. Forget that for a moment, and consider what transpired with that 42nd pick. The Bears originally had that selection, and traded it to Tampa Bay for DE Gaines Adams. The Bucs then traded it to Oakland, for what ended up being WR Arrelious Benn. The Raiders then traded it to the Pats, and got only DE Lamarr Houston and LB Travis Goethel with those picks.
• Chad Jackson is often pointed out as being part of a horrible trade because Green Bay ended up with Greg Jennings, but it should be noted that the Packers originally passed on him as well, and at the time nobody questioned selecting Jackson over Jennings.

Some other questionable trades to consider, probably more egregious than the Bethel Johnson pick:

• 2012: Patriots trade 30th pick of the 2nd round (2.62) to Green Bay for 3.90 (Jake Bequette) and a 5th round pick. Trade is somewhat salvaged when the Pats use that 5.163 to later trade back to the Packers in exchange for three selections (Nate Ebner, Alfonzo Dennard, Jeremy Ebert).
• 2010: The Patriots had the #22 pick and traded down; Denver used that selection to pick WR Demaryius Thomas. The Pats then had the #24 pick and traded down; Dallas used that selection on WR Dez Bryant. Patriots ended up with Devin McCourty and Taylor Price. The Bryant decision still gets heavily debated here to this day.
• 2010: Patriots trade 3.85 and 5.158 to Oakland for Derrick Burgess.
• 2010: Patriots trade 5.153 to Tampa Bay for TE Alex Smith, who was cut during training camp.

cupofjoe1962 said:

I believe Ron Burges was with the Globe when he though they should have picked David Terrell instead of Richard Seymore.

Then again, he may have stolen that from Mike Sando.

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That's true. I hate them both, but I shouldn't have mixed those up after calling out both for sucking for poor reporting.

jmt57 said:

2009: Darius Butler
Traded down from #23 and then from #26 for #41 (Butler), #73 and #83

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Vehemently disagree with this being in the worst. That trade ended up getting the Pats Gronk and Edelman.

JMC00 said:

Vehemently disagree with this being in the worst. That trade ended up getting the Pats Gronk and Edelman.

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Agree. You can't really look at it in a vacuum like Howe did. He is usually a much better writer than this.

jmt57 said:

Here is the link to Jeff Howe's article:
Patriots' best & worst draft day trades of Bill Belichick era | Boston Herald

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And in some of those cases, it was a bad trade solely due to bad luck.

As Bill Barnwell put it in his much superior article on Grantland, trading #89 for #33 the following year is borderline criminal.

If Dowling had managed to stay healthy (as he had for most of his first three seasons) that trade could have been fantastic. The mere fact that they had the opportunity to move up that far was a coup in and of itself.

Oh, and here's a quote from the article above:

This is the same trade, over and over again, made with teams who just don’t know what they’re doing. It starts with the Titans. They fell in love with the incredible athleticism of Jared Cook and traded into the third round of the 2009 draft, acquiring the 89th pick for their 2010 second-rounder. They promptly spent the next four years bemoaning that the freak athlete they acquired couldn’t block and refused to play him more than half the time, which is why they’re the Titans.

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Fun topic, horrible article.

The most recent one that irked me was when they traded pick #62 to Green Bay for #90 and #163 in the 2012 Draft. They then traded that #163 back to Green Bay for #197, #224, and #235.

I thought both trades were skewed in Green Bay's favor. When combining the total pick values, it comes out almost 2-to-1 in GB's favor.

Green Bay walked away with #62 and #163
We walked away with #90, #197, #224, and #235

Granted, BB killed it in the first with the two trade ups for Jones and Hightower. He had to give up #93 and #126 to do it, so I understand trading back #62, I just wished he was able to find a different/better trade partner. I think it also shows BB was willing to sacrifice "value" for more picks to "see what sticks." Had Dennard, and to a lesser extent, Ebner not worked out to be the contributors they became, that draft (or at least days 2&3) would irk me more than it does. In hindsight, we walked away with three good starters and two good special teamers in that draft, but the spoiled Pats fan in me wanted more at the time.

I don't remember all of the details, but I was pretty annoyed when they traded Ellis Hobbs for ultimately Rich Orhnberger in the fifth round. Putting aside the fact that I was one of his few fans, it made no sense. We just lost Samuel and literally had nothing besides rookies and eventually Deltha Oneal. Then we went the next few years searching for a kick returner when we arguably had the best one in the league.

I agree that the trades to land Hightower and Jones were the best.

Overall, I don't really bash our drafts and the results kind of speak for themselves. On draft day, I'm just thankful not to be a Raider fan. Picking fast guys that everyone knows aren't that good would be tough to endure.

Also, the Ron Brace trade took too many picks to move up such a short distance for a bust. It's sad that Ras-I didn't work out but the trade to put us in that position was still good imho.

jmt57 said:

Here is the link to Jeff Howe's article:
Patriots' best & worst draft day trades of Bill Belichick era | Boston Herald

2009: Darius Butler
Traded down from #23 and then from #26 for #41 (Butler), #73 and #83

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#73 was later traded to Jacksonville for a 2010 2nd round pick and pick 232, Julian Edelman
#83 became Brandon Tate.

The 2010 2nd round pick was the 44th pick. The Pats traded that and the 190th pick for, none other than, Rob Gronkowski.

So, they got Butler, Edleman, Tate and Gronkowski for #23.. Is that REALLY such a bad trade???

Worst picks, NY Jets:

I'm splitting hairs a bit here, and I know it, but I don't look at trades the way Howe does, so my list wouldn't be quite like his.

I don't count the "and then they traded that pick for these other picks" as part of a trade
I don't, in general, count trade downs as specific players (i.e. Butler), though I will for some discussions
I only count trade ups as specific players if they are direct and timely (Trading a week in advance wouldn't count for me, for example)