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NFL Draft Trade Chart: How NFL Teams Make Their Big Moves

By George Stockburger

Aug 7, 2015; Canton, OH, USA; General view of 2015 NFL draft selection cards of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Jameis Winston), Tennessee Titans (Marcus Mariota) and Jacksonville Jaguars (Dante Fowler). Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 7, 2015; Canton, OH, USA; General view of 2015 NFL draft selection cards of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Jameis Winston), Tennessee Titans (Marcus Mariota) and Jacksonville Jaguars (Dante Fowler). Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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How do NFL teams come up with these draft night trades? The NFL Draft trade chart, of course

Jimmy Johnson is known for many accomplishments over the course of his five decades in football, but the lesser known is how he revolutionized how the NFL trades draft picks.

The Super Bowl champion coach assigned each draft pick a number value to help ensure his team got the best deal possible.

While somewhat modified in recent years to accommodate fewer rounds, the chart is the universal system for making trades.

We’ll break down how the chart works, but first, take a look at how it lays out for the 2017 NFL Draft.

Let’s say the Buffalo Bills want a quarterback, but feel their guy won’t make it past the Jets at number six. Tennessee is always open to trading back and conveniently sits one pick ahead of New York.

The difference between Tennessee’s and Buffalo’s picks are 400 points. They could move their second round pick, valued at 460 points, but may feel they’ll lose out value wise.

Pressure coming from other teams trying to move up may force the Bills to pay that, but they would likely give up their third round pick this year and next.

Last year when the Rams traded from the 15th overall slot to number one for Jared Goff they needed to accumulate 2,050 points to make up the difference. Their two second round picks and a third in 2016 added up to 1,130 points, and the future first and third round picks were worth approximately 1,175 points.

Los Angeles would have had no idea where they could be picking in future drafts, and took a major gamble they felt was worth a potential franchise quarterback.

So with draft picks accumulated to 2,305 the Rams were exactly 300 points over what the chart determined to be fair value. Tennessee sent back two picks worth 80.2 points, meaning the Rams technically overpaid.

Next: 2017 NFL mock draft: FanSided experts picks

As mentioned earlier, you can not base trade value solely on these numbers. Competing teams raise the price, and Los Angeles would have never guessed they’d only win four games.

The chart has, can, and will be used by NFL general managers as they make franchise-changing decisions on draft night.

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