The Greatest Trade For Every NFL Team In History

Oakland Raiders:  The Willie Brown trade

By the late 1960s, the Oakland Raiders were becoming one of the top franchises in the old American Football League (AFL). Their owner, Al Davis had by that point established a blueprint for what he wanted his teams to do from a schematic standpoint. Chief among them was playing tight man coverage on the outside. To do that though they would need the proper cornerbacks with the speed and physicality for it. So Davis and his staff made the bold move to send defensive lineman Rex Mirich and a 3rd round pick to the Denver Broncos in exchange for quarterback Mickey Slaughter and cornerback Willie Brown.

By that point Brown was an established star who’d already made two All-Star games. The Raiders knew exactly how to employ him and soon his uncanny knack for playing bump-and-run press coverage made him one of the most feared in the game. Any time teams tried to throw quick outs against him, he always seemed to intercept and return it for a touchdown. By the time he retired at age 39, Brown had 46 career interceptions. Five of them he returned for scores, including the iconic dagger in Super Bowl XI that clinched the Raiders’ first championship.

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