An NFL team can be made or broken for years to come if they make the wrong trade. It can set them back for any length of time.
That’s why they’re so hesitant to make bold moves. They’re too afraid of being wrong. Then again there are also those who tend to be too aggressive for their own good, giving up astronomical packages in the name of landing what they think is a star. No doubt the Oakland Raiders and their Khalil Mack trade will be heavily scrutinized for the next several years.
That brings up an interesting question. People always talk about the best trades teams ever made. What about the once they wish every day they could take back? The ones that burned the franchise both publicly and on the field. Trades that may have even cost them a chance at a Super Bowl. There are plenty such examples on this list.
Arizona Cardinals
Losing a Hall of Fame quarterback is always a big problem that isn’t easy to get over. The Arizona Cardinals felt it for the first time in their history when Kurt Warner chose to retire before the 2010 season after three great years with the team in which he led them to the playoffs twice and the Super Bowl in 2008. They soon learned what they were losing.
That year the Cardinals crumbled to 5-11 and had the second-worst passing offense in the league with Derek Anderson and John Skelton. Still feeling they had a window to compete, they had to find a quarterback going into 2011. Not wanting to start over with a rookie in the draft, they instead sought out trade options and eventually settled on Philadelphia Eagles backup Kevin Kolb.
The former 2nd round pick had spent most of his career behind Donovan McNabb but after the ascent of Michael Vick the year before, it became clear he’d never get his shot. So Arizona pounced, sending a 2nd rounder and Pro Bowl cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie to Philadelphia in exchange. What did they get?
Kolb managed to start just 14 games in two years, battling injuries and inconsistency the whole way. He did have four comebacks in the 4th quarter and an 83.2 quarterback rating. Yet after what they had with Warner it wasn’t good enough and wasn’t worth what they lost.
Atlanta Falcons
At first, it looked like the Atlanta Falcons did good business in 1992. They send former 2nd round pick Brett Favre, who’d wallowed on the depth chart at third string as a rookie, to the Green Bay Packers for a 1st round pick. They got more back than what they gave up. That’s football business at its best. Except shouldn’t a red flag have been raised that another team was willing to pay that price?
Yeah, it should’ve. Favre started out as a backup in Green Bay but an injury to Don Majkowski elevated him to the starting job. There he began his ascent into legend, making the Pro Bowl the first of what would be 11 times. Favre led the Packers to a 9-7 record and they wouldn’t look back, eventually going on to win the Super Bowl four years later, during which he claimed MVP honors three-straight times.
Favre would set the NFL record for most consecutive games started (298) and retired the all-time passing leader with 71,838 yards and 508 touchdowns. When he beat the Falcons in the playoffs in 1995, throwing three touchdowns in the effort, that must’ve been where it really sunk in that they’d made an enormous mistake.
Baltimore Ravens
Making big mistakes to try and cover up other mistakes is a common practice in the NFL. The Baltimore Ravens learned that the hard way. Here was a team that had just won the Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer at quarterback. While he wasn’t anything special, it was clear the team responded to him and he knew how to win with what they had.
Yet he was still allowed to leave in 2001. In his place, the team signed veteran Elvis Grbac. Though they made the playoffs, they didn’t even get back to the AFC championship. Grbac retired in 2002 and the Ravens had to make due with Jeff Blake and Chris Redman that year. They finished 7-9. It was apparent a big move was needed to arrest the deteriorating QB situation.
Having missed out on the man they wanted in the 2003 draft (Byron Leftwich) they gave up a 2nd and a future 1st round picks to jump into the 19th spot of the first round to grab Cal quarterback Kyle Boller. He certainly looked the part at 6’3 with a rocket right arm. He just wasn’t all that good. Boller hovered in and out of the starting lineup the next few years, going 20-22 as a starter with 45 touchdowns and 44 interceptions.
The worst part? The 1st round pick they gave up eventually became star nose tackle Vince Wilfork, who would return to haunt them for years in New England.
Buffalo Bills
One of the principal things that can lead to a blockbuster trade is money. Players want big money. A lot of teams don’t want to give it to them. When the two sides fail to reach an agreement, trade discussions begin. This is what happened with the Buffalo Bills and left tackle, Jason Peters. He’d just reached his second Pro Bowl in 2008 and decided to hold out for a new contract.
The Bills weren’t wild about that idea and as the standoff continued, they grew fed up. They dealt Peters to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for 1st, 4th and 6th round picks between 2009 and 2010. Buffalo ended up drafting center Eric Wood that year and he went on to become a solid starter for the team over the next several years, even reaching a Pro Bowl in 2015.
However, they never were able to replace what Peters was. He remained a dominant left tackle for the next several years in Philadelphia, going to seven more Pro Bowls in that span. He helped them reached the playoffs three times and contributed seven games to their eventual Super Bowl championship season in 2017.
If they’d managed to keep him and were so desperate for a center? They could’ve just taken Alex Mack who was also available in the 2009 draft. Certainly would’ve been better than Aaron Maybin.
Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers haven’t had any true blockbuster trades but there are plenty they’d like to have back. Probably the biggest black eye they ever got came in 1999. The team was going with Steve Beuerlein as their starter that season but needed insurance in case he got hurt. The Denver Broncos appeared to offer their salvation, making backup Jeff Lewis available.
Lewis was coming out of that Mike Shanahan system, one that had seemed to elevate quarterbacks to show their true ability. Lewis was eagerly awaiting his shot to ascend so Carolina gave up 3rd and 4th round picks to get him. The move proved pointless though. Beuerlein went to the Pro Bowl that year and would be the starter again in 2000.
Lewis never started a single game for the team and was out of the league after that season. Those picks they gave up wound up helping Denver quickly retool and go on to further success in the AFC.
Chicago Bears
There were two notable trades that stood out for the Chicago Bears they likely wish they’d handled differently. The first, where they traded Bobby Layne after just one year seemed like the obvious choice but it’s easy to forget they already had a Pro Bowler at the position in Johnny Lujack. He seemed to have a long career ahead of him. So trading Layne made sense.
That’s why the Chuck Howley move gets the nod here. One of the hardest things to have in sports is patience. Sometimes players don’t get off to the fast start teams want them to. It takes an adjustment period for them to find their stride. Chicago spent three years waiting for Howley to get going but injuries continued to set him back.
Finally, head coach George Halas couldn’t wait any longer. He sent the linebacker to Dallas in exchange for 2nd and 9th round picks. It was there that Howley finally got things settled. He would become a starter on one of the best defenses of the era, helping the Cowboys reach their first two Super Bowls in 1970 and 1971, winning a championship during the latter.
Howley retired with six Pro Bowls and 25 career interceptions. It’s fair to wonder what might’ve happened if the Bears waited just one more year and ended up pairing him with Dick Butkus who arrived in 1965.
Cincinnati Bengals
It’s amazing to think that the Cincinnati Bengals had a Hall of Fame receiver in their midst and blew it. There may be a reason they did. The team traded for Charlie Joiner in 1972. Up to that point, he was a moderately decent former 4th round pick who never was able to find a niche in Houston. Things looked like they might turn around in Cincinnati.
A big reason for that was a hotshot offensive coordinator named Bill Walsh who was building a new offensive that required precision route runners, which Joiner was. Their third full season together in 1975, he had his best season yet with over 700 yards and five touchdowns. It looked like he was poised for a breakout. Then Walsh resigned.
Not seeing the value Joiner had, the Bengals shipped him to San Diego in exchange for 34-year old defensive end Coy Bacon. It was with the Chargers where people finally saw what he could do. Joiner played 11 more seasons, catching 586 passes for 9,203 yards and 47 touchdowns. No doubt Cincinnati fans have to wonder how different things might’ve been if they’d kept Joiner and promoted Walsh to head coach when Paul Brown retired.
Cleveland Browns
When you give out a star player for a high draft pick, everybody knows the situation. You better get that draft pick right or you’ll be hounded about it forever more. The Cleveland Browns learned this the hard way in 1970. The previous two years, wide receiver Paul Warfield had been one of their best players, going to two Pro Bowls and scoring 22 touchdowns.
There was a problem though. The team desperately needed a quarterback. Bill Nelsen had been solid the previous two years but a lot of that was thanks to Warfield. They felt they could do better. Unfortunately, they might have to sacrifice Warfield to get it. That’s what happened when they sent the 28-year old to Miami in exchange for #3 overall pick Mike Phipps.
Phipps had been a star in college at Purdue. As a senior, he scored 31 touchdowns in 10 games. There was just one tiny issue. He was a bad passer. He threw 37 TDs to 34 interceptions in college. Cleveland clearly hadn’t done their homework on that when they gave up Warfield for him. The receiver joined the Dolphins, reached five more Pro Bowls, won two Super Bowls and ended up in the Hall of Fame.
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys have a history of making ill-advised trades for wide receivers. Most will declare the Roy Williams one was the absolute worst. There’s no question it was bad, but it doesn’t compare to what they gave up for Joey Galloway in 2000. This was really the first trade the team made that indicated the team had lost its magic from the Jimmy Johnson years.
Going into that season, Galloway was 29-year old. He wasn’t old but his prime years were waning. Even more baffling was he’d missed eight games the previous season over a contract dispute. Did that stop Jones from getting his fancy new toy? Of course not. Dallas handed the Seattle Seahawks not one but two 1st round draft picks for the receiver.
What happens? He tears his ACL in the first game and misses the year. Galloway would play just four years with the Cowboys, amassing 2,341 yards and 12 touchdowns. The two picks they gave up to get him? They would turn into running back Shaun Alexander (future MVP) and edge rusher Andre Carter (future Pro Bowler). That’s a bad trade.
Denver Broncos
Was it really that bad? Yes. There’s no getting around the facts. The Denver Broncos thought they were getting a future star when they traded up in the 2016 draft for Paxton Lynch. They gave up a 1st round pick and 3rd round pick to make the deal happen. This while Dak Prescott, a future Pro Bowler fell all the way to the 4th round. Why? He didn’t look like Lynch.
There’s no doubt the Memphis product was the spitting image of what NFL teams ultimately seek in the quarterback prototype. He was 6’6, mobile for his size and featured a strong arm that could strike anywhere on the field. What nobody could predict though was how he might adjust to modern defenses. He’d lived off weaklings in the AAC for years.
Sure enough, it became clear that Lynch was in over his head. He just couldn’t read coverages fast enough or deliver consistently accurate balls to challenge for the starting job. He started four games and threw 128 total passes in three seasons. The Broncos gave up two valuable draft choices for that.
Detroit Lions
Anytime a trade happens where it creates an entire mythos around a franchise being cursed, that has to go down as one of the worst ever. The Detroit Lions were riding high in the 1950s as one of the best teams in football. Their quarterback Bobby Layne was a brash gunslinger from Texas who brought that swagger to the organization they’d never had before.
With his help, they won two NFL championships. Things started great in 1957 but he broke his leg midseason. His backup Tobin Rote kept the team on course and they won a third title that year. The Lions became convinced at that point they didn’t actually need Layne anymore. So they traded him to the Pittsburgh Steelers for quarterback Earl Morrall, a 2nd round pick, and a 4th round pick.
On his way out of town, Layne thought Detroit was making a huge mistake and declared they wouldn’t win anything without him for 50 years. The Lions have not won a title or even reached a championship game since that trade went down. It remains fixed in pro football lore as the Bobby Layne Curse.
Green Bay Packers
Believe it or not, there was a time when the Green Bay Packers didn’t have a magic touch at the quarterback position. The 1970s were a dark period for the franchise. The Vince Lombardi era, led by the great Bart Starr was over. The team was desperately trying to recapture the glory days and knew they needed a QB to get it jumpstarted.
Each of their attempts to do so wasn’t working though. Finally, by 1974 they’d had enough of playing the patient approach. They were going all out to find an instant fix. In a blockbuster move, they had two 1st, two 2nd, and 3rd round picks to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for quarterback John Hadl. It seemed like a decent idea at the time.
Hadl was a six-time Pro Bowler who’d been All-Pro in 1973. He might be able to elevate the team to playoff contention again. There was a problem though. The Packers lacked a solid foundation on offense and Hadl was 34-year olds. Anybody with common sense should’ve seen it was doomed from the start. That trade set the franchise back for years.
Houston Texans
The Houston Texans haven’t been around too long. So there weren’t many opportunities for them to make a gigantic mistake on the trade market. Still, nobody escapes it forever and even they’ve made a major blunder in the past 16 years. Their worst had to come during the 2005 season when they traded for cornerback Phillip Buchanon.
The team was desperate for more help on defense. Buchanon was a former 1st round pick who’d flashed playmaking ability in Oakland. He had six interceptions in 2003. So why were the Raiders willing to part with him? He was undersized at 5’10 and also battled injury problems. That didn’t stop the Texans from shipping 2nd and 3rd round picks out west for him.
Buchanon played a mere 14 games in two seasons for Houston with a paltry two interceptions to show for it. They ended up cutting him in the middle of the 2006 season. The final kick to the gut came when he signed with Tampa Bay and played injury free during the next two years during which he had five interceptions.
Indianapolis Colts
The logic behind the trade for Trent Richardson wasn’t flawed. That at least we can be fair about. Indianapolis desperately needed a feature running back who could take heat off Andrew Luck who’d been taking too many hits when trying to pass. Richardson was a beast at Alabama and had a decent rookie year in Cleveland. It seemed too good to be true.
It was. In hindsight, a huge red flag should’ve been raised that Cleveland was willing to part with a player after just one year despite spending a #3 overall pick on him. A pick they actually traded up to get. That didn’t stop GM Ryan Grigson who gave Cleveland a 1st round pick to secure the running back he thought would solve all the Colts’ problems.
Richardson lasted less than two seasons in Indianapolis. He rushed for 977 yards and six touchdowns while averaging a gag-inducing 3.1 yards per carry. The power and authority he ran with in college weren’t there, and his vision for finding the hole was non-existent. It’s hard to say what the problem was, but it cost the Colts dearly in the long run.
Jacksonville Jaguars
The problem with a lot of front offices is they automatically think a player struggling means the player is the problem. They don’t stop to reason that maybe the coaching might be the issue. Reggie Nelson got off to a great start in Jacksonville. He had five interceptions his rookie season. Soon though his play started to regress and by Year 3 he had zero interceptions.
Rather than explore the root of the problem, the Jaguars gave up and shipped him off to the Cincinnati Bengals in exchange for defensive back David Jones and a 7th round pick. Jones lasted two years in Jacksonville and had one interception. Nelson? He started for the Bengals over the next six years, grabbing 23 interceptions and making the Pro Bowl in 2015.
Oh, but he wasn’t done. Next, he went to Oakland in 2016 and made another Pro Bowl while grabbing six interceptions the past two years. He’s been one of the more underappreciated safeties in the NFL. Maybe the Jaguars would’ve remembered that if they hadn’t kept switching defensive coordinators through his first three years, the undoubted reason for his struggles.
Kansas City Chiefs
Do you recall the lesson mentioned earlier? If you’re going to give up a superstar in his prime for draft picks, you better make sure you hit on those picks. The Kansas City Chiefs felt they could when they sent star pass rusher Jared Allen and a 6th round pick to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for a 1st, two 3rds and a 6th round pick.
It was the biggest haul ever for a defensive player at the time. All things considered? It wasn’t enough. The Chiefs did end up getting Jamaal Charles out of the deal. He became an electric running back for a number of years. The other three picks? They didn’t amount to much. Allen went to four Pro Bowls in Minnesota and surpassed at least 11 sacks six-straight years.
If that weren’t bad enough, remember that 6th round pick the Chiefs sent along with him? The Vikings turned that into center John Sullivan. He would go on to become a reliable starter for six seasons and helping Adrian Peterson to win MVP in 2012. Kansas City only made the playoffs once in the first five years after Allen was gone. The Vikings made it three times, including a trip to the NFC championship.
Los Angeles Chargers
The 1981 San Diego Chargers were arguably the best team in franchise history. That includes the 1994 Super Bowl team and the 1961 AFL champions. They were loaded with talent, especially on the offensive side and could score at will with Dan Fouts, Charlie Joiner, Wes Chandler, James Brooks, and Chuck Muncy.
In the end, it wasn’t their opponents but mother nature that got in the way, having to play in the coldest game in NFL history in the AFC championship one week after playing one of the hottest in Miami. Well, that and the fact they had no defense. The Chargers had the worst pass defense in the NFL that season, and it was spurred by their catastrophic decision to trade Fred Dean.
By that point, the defensive end was one of the best in football. A dominant pass rusher with freakish gifts, he’d made All-Pro the year before and was the focal point of their defense. However, he became embroiled in a contract dispute with ownership. Rather than pay up, the Chargers chose to simply deal the problem away instead.
Dean went to San Francisco where he made All-Pro again and helped the 49ers win the Super Bowl. San Diego got the option to swap 1st round picks in 1983 and an additional 2nd round pick. They ended up with Bill Ray Smith Jr. and Mike Wilcher.
Los Angeles Rams
The Los Angeles Rams, who’d moved back to St. Louis in 1995 proceeded to hit rock bottom the next year. Not only were they rough to watch on the field, they began to make staggeringly bad roster decisions. The epitome of this nightmare came when they sent star running back Jerome Bettis and a 3rd round pick to the Pittsburgh Steeler for 2nd and 4th round picks.
The perception was Bettis was a bigger back and wouldn’t play at peak form for as long as other top backs would. That and the fact he struggled a bit in 1995. Once again the team got caught making way too many assumptions and ended up paying a huge price. Bettis became an icon in Pittsburgh, earned the nickname “the Bus” and rushing for 10,571 yards and 78 touchdowns.
He ended his career with a Super Bowl title in 2005. The Rams got lucky. They only had to endure his painful loss for three seasons before swing another trade to get Marshall Faulk. That does not diminish how bad the Bettis move was. They gave up a future Hall of Famer AND a pick for what turned out to be little in return.
Miami Dolphins
No trade ever proved that the Miami Dolphins had fallen far behind the times than when they willingly sent wide receiver Wes Welker to the New England Patriots, a division rival no less, for 2nd and 7th round picks. They should’ve known something was up from the start when the Patriots, a championship organization was pushing so hard for the deal.
Did common sense kick in? Nope. They jumped at the opportunity, thinking they’d figured out the maximum value of what Welker could do. They could’ve have been more wrong. In the Patriots offense under Josh McDaniels, he became a focal point as the best slot receiver in football. Teams didn’t know how to match up with him because of his quickness and route running skill.
Over the next six seasons, he would reach five Pro Bowls while topping 100 catches and 1,000 yards receiving five times. The fact he did it twice a year to the Dolphins during that span only made it sting even more. What they got back in return, Samson Satele and Abraham Wright weren’t remotely worth it.
Minnesota Vikings
Still to this day, it’s considered the trade by which all others are measured. It was the blockbuster of blockbusters. The time the Minnesota Vikings gave away a legendary haul of veteran players and high draft picks to secure what they felt was the final piece to their championship puzzle but turned out to be the foundation of a dynasty for another team.
Why the Vikings traded for Herschel Walker was easy to understand. In 1988, their running game was atrocious as no player on the roster managed to top 400 yards on the ground. Yet the team went 11-5 anyway. It was felt that if they could add a genuine star in the backfield, coupled with Wade Wilson and Anthony Carter on offense? They’d be set for a Super Bowl run.
When the Dallas Cowboys made Walker available, it seemed like fate. The two-time Pro Bowler had just rushed for over 1,500 yards that season. He was everything they were looking for and they’d do whatever it took to get him. Boy did they ever. In addition to five veteran players, they sent three 1st, three 2nd, a third and sixth round picks. In return they got Walker and four mid-to-late round picks.
All things considered, Walker wasn’t terrible in Minnesota, but he wasn’t the Golden Goose they’d hoped for either. He lasted less than three seasons. Dallas used that haul of picks in further trades that helped them acquire a slew of talent in the next couple years, catapulting them to three Super Bowl championships from 1992 to 1995.
New England Patriots
Bill Belichick has a system he operates by. It’s one that is hard to argue with since it’s resulted in five Super Bowl titles. Still, that cannot and should not free the man from criticism. Even he is prone to making bad decisions. Probably the one he’d like to have back is sending Chandler Jones to the Arizona Cardinals for Jonathan Cooper and a 2nd round pick.
Cooper came to nothing in his short time in New England. The 2nd rounder the Patriots traded which eventually resulted in getting guard Joe Thuney and receiver Malcolm Mitchell. In the two seasons since leaving the Patriots? Jones has 28 sacks including a league-high 17 in 2017. If you think that’s inconsequential because New England made it to the Super Bowl without him, remember this.
The Patriots defense gave up a combined 69 points in each of their appearances the past two years. In their loss to the Eagles, they failed to sack quarterback Nick Foles even once. How different might the game have gone had they chosen to keep Jones around? It’s a question they’ll have to ponder for a long time.
New Orleans Saints
Trading an entire draft for one player is never advisable. The NFL is a team sport and it takes a team to win. Trading an entire draft for a running back? That screams PR move more than true desire to win. The New Orleans Saints were desperate for a spark after some tough years in the 1990s. They decided to close out the decade in 1999 with a bang.
Head coach Mike Ditka felt the team needed a bell-cow running back similar to Walter Payton like he had in Chicago. Williams was a superstar at Texas and seemed to fit the description, but the Saints weren’t picking high enough. So they made it known to the rest of the NFL that they wanted a top 5 pick and would give up their entire draft if necessary for it.
The Washington Redskins came calling with the #5 pick. Not only did they get the entire ’99 crop of picks (1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th) but they also secured a 1st and 3rd in 2000 as well. It was an astronomical price to pay and instantly put way too much pressure on Williams. Pressure nobody could ever hope to survive. He tried. He played three good years with over 1,000 yards from scrimmage each season.
It just wasn’t anywhere near worth what New Orleans gave up to get him. By 2002, he was gone.
New York Giants
Traditionally, the New York Giants have been good about finding quarterbacks who fit what they do. Yet even they have had their misfires from time to time. Easily the biggest from a trade standpoint was when they tried to collect the table scraps of the Dallas Cowboys, giving up a 1st round pick and future 2nd round pick for the guy who lost the job to Roger Staubach.
In fairness, Morton had a solid run in Dallas, even getting the team to the Super Bowl. There was always something a little off with him though. He tended to struggle in big games and was not mobile in the slightest. If things weren’t the most ideal conditions, he was not the sort of quarterback who could improvise and make it work.
He spent three years in New York trying and failing miserably. Morton finished with just 29 touchdown passes and 49 interceptions. The Giants went 8-25 with him as a starter. The Cowboys took that 1st rounder they got in the trade and turned it into defensive tackle Randy White, who would become one of the best ever at his position.
New York Jets
The New York Jets have a peppered history when it comes to trades. Some good. Some bad. Nothing overly horrific like other franchises, which is a minor victory for an otherwise tortured franchise. One they would probably like to have back though is their sending defensive captain and Pro Bowl middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma to New Orleans in 2008.
Vilma was a stud for the team in 2005, going to his first Pro Bowl. Two years later though he missed nine games with an injury. Since his contract would be coming up soon, the Jets had to make a decision. Do they let it play out or see if they can get something for him while the value was still high? They chose the latter course.
The Saints sent 3rd and 4th round picks to New York in the deal. They got one of the final pieces to a defense that helped them win the Super Bowl in 2009. The Jets got Dwight Lowery and Shonn Greene back in the deal. Not exactly what they were hoping for. Vilma reached two more Pro Bowls during his time in New Orleans.
Oakland Raiders
The funny thing about this trade is that the player targeted and the decision to go get him actually weren’t wrong. The Oakland Raiders were later proven right that Palmer had plenty left in the tank, but only after they traded him to Arizona where he rebounded to near-MVP status under Bruce Arians. The problem was they did have the support structure needed to maximize him.
Also? Their timing was bad. They traded 1st and 2nd round picks to the Cincinnati Bengals for his rights. At that point in time, the team was 4-3 going into the bye week and playing some inspired football following the death of owner Al Davis. Quarterback Jason Campbell wasn’t setting the world on fire but he managing games well enough.
Still, head coach Hue Jackson felt the team needed to try for more, so they went after Palmer and thrust him right into the starting job. It became clear he was rusty and couldn’t quite mesh with the system, throwing a lot of interceptions. Oakland felt to 8-8 and Jackson was unceremoniously fired after just one season. He threw for over 4,000 yards in 2012 but the new coaching staff wanted to go in a different direction and he was traded to Arizona the next year.
Philadelphia Eagles
A divide began to form between Philadelphia Eagles fans and team ownership at some point in the mid-1960s and this was probably the move that got the ball rolling. The Eagles had been NFL champions in 1960 and seemed set at quarterback. Norm Van Brocklin retired but they had a promising youngster named Sonny Jurgensen ready to replace him.
Sonny made All-Pro his first season as a starter, throwing 32 touchdown passes, which was unheard of in those days. However, the team began to deteriorate the next couple seasons and then Jurgensen got hurt in 1964. Believing he’d never be what Van Brocklin was, the team shipping him off to Washington in exchange for quarterback Norm Snead and corner Claude Crabb.
Snead played seven seasons in Philadelphia and did make a Pro Bowl, but he never produced a winning record. Crabb survived just two years on the roster. Sonny? He went to four more Pro Bowls in Washington, set several passing records, and played until the ripe old age of 40.
Pittsburgh Steelers
One of the reasons the Pittsburgh Steelers have been successful for so many years is they’ve been run by good management. They don’t make bad trades. Or at least not bad ones that are so big they could be catastrophic. Still, even they’ve had their bad moments. One of them came in the 1990s when they sent wide receiver Jeff Graham to Chicago for a 5th round pick.
He’d had a couple decent years in 1992 and 1993 but they felt they had enough at the position to not wait any longer for the 2nd round pick to emerge. So they cut their losses. They should’ve been more patient. Graham had a career-best 944 yards his first year with the Bears and then exploded for 1,301 in 1995.
Why is this significant? That was the same year the Steelers made it to the Super Bowl. In that game, Neil O’Donnell couldn’t get enough going through the air with 239 yards, a touchdown and three costly interceptions. It’s fair to wonder how different it might’ve been had Graham been on the field with that trademark speed.
San Francisco 49ers
Ever hear the phrase ‘grasping at straws’? That is the perfect description of what happened when the San Francisco 49ers gave away the farm to go get O.J. Simpson. Few trades taught the lesson better to trade for value rather than the big name. Simpson was a superstar in the NFL. One of the greatest running backs of all-time. By 1978 though, he was a shadow of his former self.
He was 31-years old, which is ancient for a runner, especially one as extensively used as he was. He’d already spent nine games of the previous season injured. Did that stop San Francisco? Of course not. They gave up a 1st, two 2nds, a 3rd and 4th round picks to secure his rights. What did they get? Nothing. Simpson managed barely over 1,000 yards in 23 total games.
He retired at the end of the 1979 season. It took another few years for the franchise to recover from that disaster. Only with the help of new head coach Bill Walsh were they able to shake it off. Part of that was thanks to his ability to make the most out of later picks, including a little 3rd rounder that same year named Joe Montana.
Seattle Seahawks
Teams always run into that dilemma at some point. That dilemma of “this is good, but I wonder if I can do better.” Despite getting a good year from Dave Krieg in 1987, the team decided to go after a bigger prize, trading a 1st and two 5th round picks to the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for their former top pick Kelly Stouffer, who had thrived at Colorado State.
Stouffer had sat out his entire rookie year in a contract dispute with the Cardinals. That right there probably should’ve been a red flag that maybe football wasn’t his top priority. Sure enough, he arrived in Seattle in 1988 and was immediately beset by injuries whenever he got on the field. He went 5-11 in four seasons, throwing seven touchdowns to 19 interceptions.
Krieg? He went to the Pro Bowl the first two years Stouffer was in town, a sharp rebuke to the Seahawks that they’d made a mistake thinking it would be easy to replace him. He’d remain the starter without any further challenges until 1991, finishing with a 70-49 record. Stouffer was out of the league after the 1992 season.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Anytime you give up a Hall of Fame quarterback, it’s going to go down in history as the worst trade ever. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a disastrous track record of handling great quarterbacks since their inception. They dumped Doug Williams in 1983 despite three playoff appearances over a contract dispute. Yet that paled in comparison to their blunder four years later.
They were fortunate to land former BYU star and USFL standout Steve Young when the latter folded in 1985. He became their starter during that season. Many thought big things were ahead. There was one problem. The team was terrible. They had no true weapons and a pourous offensive line. Young took a beating for two years and had 11 touchdowns with 21 interceptions.
Did the Buccaneers work diligently to change that? Did they replace the coaching staff, add more weapons and improve the blocking as teams would do today? Nope. They just scrapped the plan and started over. They traded Young to the San Francisco 49ers for 2nd and 4th round picks and replaced him with Vinny Testaverde.
Young went on to greatness in San Francisco, winning two MVPs and a Super Bowl in 1994.
Tennessee Titans
How often do you find Hall of Fame players who were traded before playing a single down for the team that drafted them? It’s a rare case headlined by wide receiver Steve Largent, who was traded by the Houston Oilers, now the Tennessee Titans, in 1976 to the Seattle Seahawks for an eighth round pick.
A star at Tulsa, Largent went to Seattle and earned his first Pro Bowl selection in his third season after racking up over 1,000 yards. It was the first of eight 1,000 yard seasons for Largent, who could have had nine consecutive if not for a players strike in 1982 that cut the season in half.
Largent led the league in receiving yards twice over a 14-year career, all of which were in Seattle after Houston traded him. He’d earn seven Pro Bowls and the 1988 Walter Payton Man of the Year award en route to Canton.
Inducted on the first ballot in 1995, Largent was the NFL’s all-time receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns leader upon induction. He became the first of 10 players to have 100 receiving touchdowns and the first Seahawks to have his number retired.
Regarded as one of the greatest receivers of all-time, Largent was named to the NFL’s 1980’s All-Decade team.
Largent went on to serve in the United States House of Representatives serving for the Oklahoma 1st District for eight years. He lost the Governor race by 6,866 votes, or about .66% of the vote after a third-party candidate took more than 14% of the vote.
Washington Redskins
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A lot of people will be shocked that the Robert Griffin III trade isn’t the choice here. Yes, the Redskins gave up a lot to get him including three 1st and two 2nd round picks. However, Griffin III was Rookie of the Year and went to the Pro Bowl his first season, getting Washington to the playoffs. It may have been less than they’d hoped for, but that at least was something.
To give up what would be the #6 overall pick in 1996 for Sean Gilbert has to be considered even worse. For starters, the defensive tackle wasn’t even that good. He’d had one good year with the Rams and was rather average the rest of the time. Why Washington felt he was worth a 1st rounder is puzzling. What made it even worse? He played just one season for the team, collecting a paltry three sacks.
If they were so desperate for defensive tackle help, they could’ve gotten La’Roi Glover on the cheap in the draft and reserved that #6 pick to get somebody like Eddie George, Marvin Harrison or Ray Lewis. All of whom were still available when that choice went on the clock. Alas that’s the drawback of taking miscalculated gambles on one-year wonders.