1997 Saints Trade down from #2 to #10 (1 Viewer)

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With all this trade talk about us moving up to #2 with the lambs to select possibly Dorsey, I thought back to the 1997 draft when we were holders of th 2 pick.

Oakland wanted a DT (Darrell Russell from USC) and made the move with us.

They got #2 overall

We got #10, #39, and a 1998 fourth rounder.

We drafted Chris Naeole with our first rounder (Thanks Ditka!)

I just thought that this was ironic that this happened just over 10 years ago. Look at what it took to move up then (and that was with the old chart). We should be able to swing something with the rams.
 
Hobbs got in trouble for calling out Danny Abramowitz high school offense he was trying to install...

Russell got in trouble with drugs and was suspended/out of the league shortly thereafter.

Naeole, although he was a reach at #10, had a solid 10 year career with the Saints and Jags.

Had someone other than Ditka been in charge of making these choices, the Saints would have been in great shape.
 
Naole turned out to be a good pick but the front office didn't resign him.
 
Naole is widely regarded as one of the better OG's in the NFL. Darrell Russell played two seasons before getting constant drug suspensions, accused of video taping a rape and eventually dying in a car accident. Hard to blame Ditka on that trade.

As for the trade, if we can land Dorsey for a 2nd round pick this year and a 4th in 09 then I would be ok with it.

I love Dorsey but if there is any truth to the Eagles wanting to swap with us for Lito then we could use the same picks to get Lito, Shockey and draft a DT in either the late first or 2nd plus we wouldn't lose our 4th round pick next year. We would address our three biggest holes with two Pro Bowl players and a high rated rookie.
 
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Naole is widely regarded as one of the better OG's in the NFL.

I wouldn't go that far.

Naeole played in the NFL for awhile though and I think even made a Pro Bowl in Jacksonville. #10 was way to high for Naeole but he wasn't a "bust".
 
I wouldn't go that far.

Naeole played in the NFL for awhile though and I think even made a Pro Bowl in Jacksonville. #10 was way to high for Naeole but he wasn't a "bust".

Yeah, he wasn't superman but from 2002 to the middle of 2007 he was a top 10-15 guard in the NFL. In 2006 and the first part of 2007 he was playing up there with just about any guard in the league before suffering a quadricep injury that ultimately ended his career.
 
I hope 10 years from now we are talking about how great the moves by Loomis and Payton were just like we talk about how bad the moves by Ditka were. ;)
 
I looked through that draft and surprisingly Naeole ended up being one of the better picks of that first round (although we may have been able to get him in the second round). He was a reach, but it paid off.
 
Naeole wasn't such a bad pick as the other draft choices we made in the second and third rounds -- Jared Tomich, Rob Kelly, et al. Missed a golden opp.
 

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