Noteworthy Moves Up and Down the NFL Draft Board
Some draft-day pick swaps drew a lot of attention, but a few involved players you may not have remembered were taken in pick swaps.
I previously talked about whether it's better to trade up or down in the NFL Draft, in which a glance at such moves up and down the board suggested it was better to trade up.
But as I noted, the moves down the board require further research because, for example, teams that move down the board often utilize acquired picks in other moves up or down the board.
What tends to get people to push for one move over the other, though, is when a team gets a "hit" in the draft. Move up the board and find an impact player and some people will point to that as a reason to move up. Move down the board and still get a quality player and some people will see it as a reason to move down.
There are theories that come into play with moving up or moving down. For moving up the board, it's usually about getting a quarterback and good quarterbacks are hard to find. For moving down the board, it may be about getting more picks because drafted players aren't guaranteed to succeed, but if you have more picks, you have more chances at finding a quality player.
And that brings us to the more notable draft day moves up and down the board, in which one team or the other — and in a few cases, both teams — found a player who turned out to be pretty good.
Let's start with the biggest argument to move up the draft board: To get a franchise quarterback.
If you're going to talk about moves up the board in which the team drafted a QB, you certainly start with Patrick Mahomes. In the 2017 NFL Draft, the Chiefs got the 10th overall pick for the 27th overall pick, a third-round pick and a 2018 first-round pick. The Chiefs' trade with the Bills to move up the board is, by far, the best draft day move up the board since the inception of the rookie pay scale in 2011.
Speaking of the Bills, you follow Mahomes with Josh Allen. The Bills twice traded up the 2017 draft board to get him. The first swap was with the Bengals, in which the Bills got the 12th overall pick and a sixth-round pick for the 21st overall pick, a fifth-round pick and offensive tackle Cordy Glenn. The second swap was with the Buccaneers, with the Bills getting the seventh overall pick for the 12th overall pick and two second rounders. While the Bills have yet to reach the Super Bowl, few would argue that the move failed for that reason. After all, without a quality QB, reaching the playoffs is difficult.
And in that same draft, the Ravens moved back into the first round to select Lamar Jackson. They got the 32nd overall pick from the Eagles, along with a 2018 fourth-round pick, for the 52nd overall pick (second round), a fourth rounder and a 2019 second-round pick. Like the Bills, the Ravens haven't reached a Super Bowl with Jackson, but it's clear they are a better team with Jackson at QB.
A move up the board for a QB doesn't have to be in the first round, either. Consider the Niners, who moved up in the second round in 2011 to select Colin Kaepernick. In that trade, the Niners got the 36th overall pick for the 45th overall pick and 2011 fourth- and fifth-round picks. They reached the Super Bowl in 2012, so that was a pretty good return on the trade up.
Of course, we can also look at the moves up the board for a QB that failed. The Broncos have failed twice at this, with a move up the first round for Paxton Lynch (26th overall pick in 2016 for 31st overall and 2016 third-round pick) and a move up the second round for Drew Lock (42nd overall pick in 2019 for 52nd overall pick and 2019 fourth- and sixth-round picks).
The Bears may have the most infamous move up the board, in which they swapped multiple picks to move one spot up and select Mitchell Trubisky (No. 2 overall for No. 3 overall, 2017 third rounder, 2017 fourth rounder and 2018 third rounder).
But those trades paled in comparison to the bigger swings taken by other teams to get QBs. There's the Commanders trading up for Robert Griffin III in 2012 (No. 2 overall pick for sixth overall pick, 2012 second, 2013 first and 2014 first), the Rams trading up in 2016 for Jared Goff (No. 1 overall, 2016 fourth and 2016 sixth for No. 15 overall, two 2016 seconds, 2016 third, 2017 first and 2017 third) and the Eagles trading up that same year for Carson Wentz (No. 2 overall and 2017 forth for No. 8 overall, 2016 third, 2016 fourth, 2017 first and 2018 second). In each case, the teams did get some quality play from the QB in question, but over time, the teams determined the QB wasn't the one to build around.
There's also the trades for QBs that people don't remember because they happened late in the draft. For example, the Eagles traded up with the Jaguars for Matt Barkley in 2013 (98th overall in fourth round for 101st overall in fourth round and 210th overall in seventh) and the Giants did the same with the Cardinals that year for Ryan Nassib (110th overall in fourth for 116th overall in fourth and 187th overall in sixth).
Of course, teams don't just trade up for quarterbacks. Go back to 2011 in which we had the first trade up the board of the "rookie pay scale era." The Falcons made a bold trade up the board to select Julio Jones No. 6 overall, sending back the 26th overall pick, a 2011 second, two 2011 fourths and a 2012 first. That trade turned out to be pretty good, in terms of the player they selected.
But let's look at these trades in question and ask ourselves this question: What happened with the teams who traded down?
In the Chiefs-Bills trade, the Bills selected Tre'Davious White 27th overall in 2017, traded away the third-round pick and used the 2018 first-round pick in their first move up the 2018 draft board. In the Bills' moves up the board, the Bengals got Billy Price and Andrew Brown (not good) and the Buccaneers got Vita Vea and M.J. Stewart (Vea has been a good player).
In the Ravens' move up the board, the Eagles traded that second-round pick to move back up the board for Dallas Goedert (the trade was with the Colts, who got Kemoko Turay and Jordan Wilkins in the move down). The Eagles also selected Avonte Maddox (fourth round) and Miles Sanders (2019 second round) with the other picks they got from the Ravens.
In the Niners' 2011 trade with the Broncos, the Broncos got Rahim Moore and Quinton Carter. What about the Broncos' trades up for QBs? In the Seahawks trade in 2016, they used their picks on Germain Infedi and Nick Vannett. In the Bengals trade in 2019, they used their picks on Drew Sample, Renell Wren and Trayveon Williams.
When the Bears traded up with the Niners, the Niners took Solomon Thomas No. 3 overall, traded away the other two 2017 picks and used the 2018 third-round pick on Fred Warner. Thomas never worked out but Warner clearly did.
As for the Commanders' dealing with the Rams, the Rams traded away two of those picks. They traded down in 2012 with the Cowboys (who took Morris Claiborne) and then selected Michael Brockers. For picks they didn't trade away, the Rams got Janoris Jenkins and Greg Robinson. While Robinson didn't pan out, the Rams got contributions out of Brockers and Jenkins.
The Titans, following their trade down with the Rams, would then trade up to draft Jack Conklin in a trade with the Browns (who used their picks on Corey Coleman, Shon Coleman and Deshone Kizer). Other picks the Titans received were used on Austin Johnson, Derrick Henry, Corey Davis and Jonnu Smith. The Titans did pretty well for themselves with their trade down.
The Browns, following their trade down with the Eagles, would trade all five picks they received. In most cases, it was another trade down, with one of them being the previously mentioned pick swap with the Titans. The 2017 first rounder they got from the Eagles was moved in a trade down (the Texans' trade up for DeShaun Watson) and the Browns turned those picks into Jabril Peppers and Denzel Ward.
And going back to the Browns and their trade down with the Falcons, the Browns traded two of those picks in other moves along the board. One was a trade up with the Chiefs in which the Browns selected Phil Taylor (with the Chiefs getting Jonathan Baldwin and Justin Houston in the trade down). For picks they didn't trade away, they selected Greg Little (2011 second), Owen Marecic (2011 fourth) and Brandon Weeden (2012 first). That didn't exactly work out for the Browns.
We'll even include those 2013 late-round trades. When the Eagles moved up, the Jaguars got Ace Sanders and Demetrius McCray. When the Giants moved up, the Cardinals got Earl Watford and Andre Ellington.
And since we're on the subject of late-round trades, there's a few notable ones that resulted in one team, the other or even both getting a good player. Here are those draft trades you may not remember but were notable for the player in question.
2011: The Ravens traded up with the Eagles in the third round (85th overall for 90th overall and 2011 sixth). The Ravens selected Jah Reid, while the Eagles used the third on Curtis Marsh and the sixth on a player you probably know: center Jason Kelce.
2014: The Bears traded up with the Broncos in the fourth round (131st overall and 2014 seventh for 156th overall in fifth and 2015 fifth). The Broncos used the 2014 pick on Lamin Barrow and traded the 2015 pick away. The Bears moved up for Brock Vereen, but the seventh rounder turned out to be a good player: offensive tackle Charles Leno Jr.
2015: The Falcons traded up with the Vikings in the fifth round (137th overall for 146th overall and 2015 sixth). This late-round move up the board paid off the Falcons, who took interior defender Grady Jarrett. But the Vikings did pretty well, too -- sixth-round pick Tyrus Thompson might not have worked out, but the fifth-round pick, wide receiver Stefon Diggs, contributed a lot in his time with the team.
2017: The Bears traded up with the Rams in the fourth round (112th overall for 117th overall and 2017 sixth). The Rams selected Josh Reynolds, who did gain notoriety, though it was the past couple of seasons with the Lions. The Bears, though, got a lot of contributions from the player they selected: safety Eddie Jackson.
2018: The Chiefs traded up with the Ravens in the third round (75th overall for 86th overall and 2018 fourth). The Chiefs got a solid player in interior defender Derrick Nnadi in the move up the board. When the Ravens moved down, the fourth was used on linebacker Kenny Young, who was later traded to the Rams. But the player they took in the third has contributed a lot: tight end Mark Andrews.
Next time, I'll talk about the teams who, going into the draft, may want to think about moving up the board in the first round and which teams may want to think about moving down in that round.