The spiciest thing that can happen during the NFL draft is a trade, and when that trade happens during the first round? Woo buddy. That gets the blood pumping.
The problem is that not every general manager (GM) makes trades. On one side of the spectrum, you have Howie Roseman, who needs to make trades like he needs air to breathe. On the other side, you have Duke Tobin, who might not know you’re physically able to pick up a telephone until the second day of the draft.
There’s an art to this stuff, and because it’s an art, it’s subjective. Some of these guys trade picks to get more picks and have huge draft classes, and some of these guys want to make sure they get the guys they want. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t… But that’s the draft in a nutshell.
For this we’re talking explicitly about trades that involved first-round draft picks during the first round of the draft. The Bears and Panthers making the trade for the first-round pick in 2023? That one doesn’t count because it happened before the draft.
Monti Ossenfort, Cardinals (2023)
2023 Draft:
- Traded the third overall pick to the Texans. Received the 2023 12th and 33rd overall picks and 2024 first and third-round picks.
Monti Ossenfort came in hot. He got hired in January of 2023 and immediately turned his first round pick into Paris Johnson (OT), BJ Ojulari (DE), Garrett Williams (DB), Darius Robinson (DL), Isaiah Adams (OG), and Elijah Jones (DB).
The draft is a crapshoot, and no matter how much work you put into the pre-draft process, there is no way that you’ll ever know how players will pan out. So, trading a first-round pick and getting six players in return is almost always a smart move.
Not all of those guys have played out, but it was only three years ago, so there is time for players like BJ Ojulari to live up to his first-round draft grade.
Eric DeCosta, Ravens (2019)
2019 Draft:
- Traded the 22nd overall pick to the Eagles. Received the 2019 25th, 127th, and 197th picks.
Eric DeCosta also made a move in his first year as a GM. He turned his first first-round pick into Hollywood Brown (WR), Iman Marshall (CB), and Trace McSorley (QB).
Brown was good but not great, and the other two guys never turned into anything. This was a rough trade… but if it’s any consolation, the Eagles used the pick they got to draft Andre Dillard. He ended up stinking.
Spin Zone: Was Howie Roseman the genesis for the Ravens to back out of the Maxx Crosby trade? People (not me) are asking.
2022 Draft:
- Traded the 23rd overall pick to the Bills. Received 25th and 130th overall picks.
The Ravens traded Marquise Brown to the Cardinals for the 2022 23rd overall pick. Then they sent that bad boy to Buffalo and turned it into Tyler Linderbaum (C) and Jordan Stout (P).
That ended up being a great move for Baltimore. Linderbaum has been an absolute stalwart of a center, and Stout is an amazing punter. So much so that both of them set records during free agency for being the highest-paid players at their positions… They just didn’t get paid by the Ravens.
Brandon Beane, Bills (2017)
2017 Draft:
- Traded the 10th overall pick to the Chiefs. Received the 2017 27th and 91st overall pick, and the 2018 first round pick.
This is complicated because the pick that the Bills traded to the Chiefs ended up being the pick that Kansas City used to get Patrick Mahomes, who has famously (or infamously) ended the Bills’ seasons four out of the last six seasons…
However, since the Bills had two first-round picks in 2018, they had the freedom/leniency to draft Josh Allen.
2018 Draft:
- Traded the 12th, 53rd, and 56th overall picks to Tampa Bay. Received the 7th and 255th overall picks.
- Traded the 22nd and 65th overall picks to Baltimore. Received the 16th and 154th overall picks
The obvious trade here is what I alluded to: the Bills were able to get the most-loved man in Buffalo with the 7th overall pick that they got from the Buccaneers. No one can knock that. It did overshadow their pick of Tremaine Edmunds (LB) with the 16th pick that they got from the Ravens. He ended up being an absolute killer for Buffalo during his first four seasons.
Some general managers make sure they get their guy. Maybe Brandon Beane is a corporate shill and a shell of himself now, but he made some pretty killer moves back in 2017 and 2018.
Beane also traded his first-round pick in 2022 to the Ravens (we just talked about this) and picked Kaiir Elam (CB) at 23 overall.
2023 Draft:
- Traded the 27th and 130th overall picks to the Jaguars. Received the 25th overall pick.
The Bills decided that they wanted to move up two spots and make sure they were able to get their tight end of the future in Dalton Kincaid (TE). He’s had problems staying healthy, but he’s still been a top-three pass catcher for Josh Allen over the last three seasons. Getting a guy like that is perfectly fine for a pretty minuscule trade package.
2024 Draft:
- Traded the 28th overall pick to the Chiefs. Received the 32nd, 95th, and 221st overall picks
- Traded the 32nd overall pick to the Panthers. Received the 33rd and 141st overall picks
It was weird when the Bills traded their first-round pick to the Chiefs because the Chiefs took no time to turn their draft card in and pick Xavier Worthy (WR). The Bills needed a wide receiver, and it really seemed like Worthy would be a pretty sick receiver for Allen to throw the ball to.
Luckily, they only moved down a couple of spots…which was a draft pick they then traded to the Panthers, who picked Xavier Legette (WR).
The Bills took Keon Coleman (WR) with the 33rd pick, so they finally got a guy for Allen to throw to, but everything about this ended up being a nothing burger. Worthy is nothing more than a gadget player, Legette is silly and nothing more, and Coleman is hated by the organization. It was all a bunch of hubbub that turned into nothing.
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