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Today in Patriots History
Jim Plunkett traded
Jim Plunkett traded
April 5, 1976:
Patriots trade Jim Plunkett to San Francisco 49ers for four draft picks
The Pats received a bevy of draft picks in return, plus backup QB Tom Owen. In exchange for a player that was no longer in their head coach's plans, the Patriots secured two 1976 first round picks (Pete Brock, Tim Fox), a 1977 first (Raymond Clayborn), and a '77 second (Horace Ivory). It turned out to be one of the greatest trades in franchise history, if not NFL history.
The most significant NFL QB trades of all time
Joe Flacco became the seventh quarterback to be traded after winning a Super Bowl, joining a lengthy list of pivotal passer trades in NFL history. Here are the most important quarterback swaps the league has seen.
www.yardbarker.com
Deshaun Watson was not the first QB to fetch three first-round picks. Before winning two Super Bowls with the Raiders, Plunkett prompted the other Bay Area team to pay up big. Seeking a post-John Brodie answer, the 49ers traded three first-rounders and a second to the Patriots for Plunkett in 1976. The 1970 No. 1 overall pick, Plunkett saw second-year QB Steve Grogan supplant him in New England. Plunkett was mediocre in San Francisco, being waived months before Bill Walsh's 1979 arrival. The Patriots did very well, turning the picks into standout cornerback Raymond Clayborn and longtime starters in center Pete Brock and safety Tim Fox.
Spirit of '76: a look back at the 1976 Patriots' historic 11-3 season -- Patriots.com
They were coming off their ninth consecutive non-winning season, an utterly dreadful 1975 campaign that concluded with six straight losses, prompting the offseason trade of Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jim Plunkett, once heralded as the man who would save the franchise.
In the face of all that, Patriots tight end Russ Francis did what any self respecting 23-year-old free spirit from Hawaii would have done at the time.
He caught a wave.
"There was panic," Francis said. "So I went surfing."
Thirty years later, it appears Francis knew exactly what he was doing.
Riding a wave of success from start to finish, the 1976 National Football League season was, in many respects, the high-water mark for the Patriots franchise to that point in its history.
"We became a football team that year," said Francis. "Nineteen-seventy-six was the year the New England Patriots became a bona fide, quality, stand-ontheir- own, ready-to-compete-on-any-given-day, any-given-year football team."
"That 1976 team," said Gil Santos, the radio voice of the team then and now, "was the best Patriots team to never get to the Super Bowl. They were good enough."
"That was a pretty special team," said quarterback Steve Grogan. "I played on the [1985] team that went to the Super Bowl, but I think that '76 team had more talent."
Debate the contentions put forth by Francis, Santos and Grogan, if you wish. This much is certain: Chuck Fairbanks' 1976 Patriots were good enough to win a then franchise-record 11 games and qualify for the conference playoffs where they took that season's eventual Super Bowl champions to the game's closing seconds before a highly controversial roughing-the-passer penalty helped lead to their defeat.
"No one expected us to do what we did," said Grogan. "We were coming off a bad year and started the season by playing four playoff teams from the year before, so it didn't look too promising. But I do remember going out and giving some talks before the start of the season and telling people, 'If we can get through those four games in pretty good shape, we should be decent.'"
That, really, was all that could be hoped for in the aftermath of a 3-11 finish in 1975 and the April 5 trade that sent a battered and beaten Plunkett back home to the Bay Area in exchange for San Francisco's two first-round picks in the 1976 draft, the 49ers' first-and second-round choices in 1977 and backup quarterback Tom Owen. Turned out that what Plunkett couldn't do for the Patriots on the field, he did for them off it: The trade went a long way towards turning the franchise's fortunes around.
The Patriots turned the picks they acquired for Plunkett into center Pete Brock and safety Tim Fox in 1976 (cornerback Raymond Clayborn and running back Horace Ivory completed the deal in 1977). Add cornerback Mike Haynes, whom the Patriots selected with their own first-round pick in 1976, and it was evident that the face of this franchise was changing dramatically.
Today in Pro Football History -- 1976: Patriots Trade Jim Plunkett to 49ers
A deal that had been in the making for two weeks was consummated on April 5, 1976 when QB Jim Plunkett was traded by the New England Patriots to the San Francisco 49ers. A moratorium on NFL trades had only been lifted the previous week and the deal was conditional on San Francisco being able to agree on contract terms with Plunkett, who signed for three years. It was something of a homecoming for the 28-year-old quarterback as he was from San Jose and went to college at Stanford, but he had failed to live up to his promise in New England and the 49ers paid a steep price, giving up three number one draft picks, two in 1976 and the top choice for ‘77, plus a 1977 second-round choice in addition to QB Tom Owen, a two-year veteran.
The Patriots thus came away with three of the top 22 picks in the ’76 draft that was just days away. They used the choices to take C Pete Brock from Colorado twelfth overall and Ohio State DB Tim Fox 21st (with their own choice, the fifth overall, they grabbed Arizona State DB Mike Haynes). The 1977 first-round pick was used for Texas DB Raymond Clayborn and RB Horace Ivory from Oklahoma was chosen in the second round.
“Jim didn’t feel he had accomplished what he had set out to do individually or for the team as a whole,” explained New England Head Coach Chuck Fairbanks. “He told me that in some respects, ‘I’m leaving the job unfinished’. He found that distasteful. But in our judgment, it was the best possible trade we could make, as opposed to Jim playing out his option year and us not getting anything in return.”
The 1970 Heisman Trophy winner was at the top of a highly-regarded quarterback draft class in ‘71. Plunkett was the first overall pick and moved quickly into the starting lineup for the rebuilding Patriots. The results were very favorable that first year as Plunkett passed for 2158 yards and 19 touchdowns, giving up 16 interceptions, and the team improved to 6-8.
The 1972 season was far less successful. With the offensive line doing a poor job of pass protection, Plunkett led the league in yardage lost to being sacked (385) and was often flushed out of the pocket. When he did get the ball away, it was often into coverage, the result being 25 interceptions, as opposed to only eight TDs. The team dropped to 3-11 and Fairbanks arrived as head coach in ’73.
Plunkett’s performance improved, helped by the addition of better receivers and the presence of rookies John Hannah at guard, bolstering a still-shaky line, and FB Sam Cunningham, a solid blocker in the backfield. New England still had a losing record, but in 1974 broke out to a 6-1 start, although the defense received most of the credit for the improvement. Nevertheless, the offense played its part as Cunningham added solid running in addition to blocking, and diminutive (5’5”, 170) all-purpose HB Mack Herron was highly productive. The attack was far better balanced and scored 348 points, which ranked second in the NFL, but injuries to Cunningham and the receivers were part of an overall drop that saw the Patriots lose six of their last seven games and finish at 7-7. Plunkett, who was bothered by a thigh injury, was sacked only 21 times and matched his rookie total with 19 touchdown passes, although he also led the league by giving up 22 interceptions.
The situation deteriorated in 1975 as Plunkett was troubled by knee and shoulder injuries for much of the season, appearing in five games and throwing only 92 passes. In his place, rookie Steve Grogan struggled but also flashed enough potential to gain the favor of Coach Fairbanks. With Plunkett expressing a desire to return to the West Coast and threatening to play out his option, the stage was set for the trade to San Francisco. Overall, in five years with the Patriots, Plunkett completed 48.5 percent of his passes for 9932 yards and 62 TDs while giving up 87 interceptions.
As for the players the Patriots obtained in the trade for Plunkett, Pete Brock, despite taking longer than anticipated to develop into a starting lineman, spent his entire 12-year career in New England, playing in 154 games and starting 88 of them. More successful was Tim Fox, who moved directly into the starting lineup at free safety and stayed there through the 1981 season. He was chosen to the Pro Bowl in 1980 and intercepted a total of 17 passes before moving on to the Chargers in 1982. Raymond Clayborn was used primarily as a kickoff returner in his first two years, leading the league with a 31.0 average as a rookie, before becoming an outstanding cornerback who tallied 36 interceptions and three Pro Bowl selections before departing after the 1989 season. Horace Ivory became part of a good group of running backs and had his most productive seasons in 1978 and ’79, gaining a high of 693 rushing yards in ’78. As for Tom Owen, he threw a total of five passes in 1976 as the backup to Steve Grogan and remained in that role through 1981. The team as a whole posted five consecutive winning records from 1976 to ’80 and reached the postseason twice.
