One heavy trend from Saturday’s draft action was the high number of trades that occurred. It was also interesting to note how rich some of those trades were, with teams surrendering two and sometimes even three picks to get a player they targeted.
It started last week when the Vikings traded their first-round pick and two third-rounders for defensive end Jared Allen. The Vikings clearly coveted Allen, and in order to obtain the 2007 sack leader, the Vikings had to hand over three picks to Kansas City.
But a handful of other teams exchanged multiple picks to acquire the player they desired.
“I think you saw today (Saturday) teams that wanted to go up and get someone they coveted did what it took to go get him and to make sure they had their guy,” Vikings Vice President of Player Personnel Rick Spielman said. “We felt Jared Allen; we had to do what we had to do to go get a Jared Allen, to get that deal done. What you can see there has been a lot of some pretty rich deals as far as trades and stuff going but again, it’s all going to come down to did you get the player that you coveted and is that player going to help you get to where you need to go?”
To further prove the point and to echo Spielman’s comments, here’s a brief breakdown of some of the other trades that went down on Saturday…
Jacksonville traded the No. 26 pick, two third-round selections and a fourth-rounder to Baltimore in order to move up and select Derrick Harvey with the ninth overall choice.
Later in the first round, Baltimoremoved back up in the first round to select quarterback Joe Flacco. In order to do so, they handed pick No. 26, a third-round and sixth-round pick to the Houston Texans.
Atlanta, who selected quarterback Matt Ryan with the third overall pick, and then they moved up into the first round again to select offensive lineman Sam Baker. In order to do so, the Falcons traded two first-round picks and a third-round selection to the Washington Redskins.