NFL Network Top 10 Draft Trades (1 Viewer)

[Saint Brees]

Is anyone watching this right now on NFL Network? Just saw that the Ricky Williams trade made #4. And they showed Paul Tagliabue reading his slip of the trade details and he could barely refrain himself from laughing as he was reading all the picks the Saints gave up. Man those were some hard times.

 

[SaintSeb]

I laugh about it too






but then i cry

 

[bornnraisedwhodat]

Don't know what ur talking about. Those years did not exist.

 

[SAINTSFAN]

We got 2 1st rounders out of RW and if we had not traded up for him, we would have draft Cade McNown per Ditka. So, it was not as bad as many want to make it.

 

[Glider]

Can't wait until they do the "Top 10 Free Agents Pickups" next year. At #1 two time Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees.

 

[rlmarine]

What's more amazing than the Saints trading 8 picks (incl two 1st's and two 3rd's) for one player is that the Redskins parlayed all those draft picks into only one playoff appearance (1999) in the next 6 years, and 3 total since (1999, 2005, 2007). By far the best player the Skins drafted from that deal was Lavar Arrington, all other picks were wasted on guys like Lloyd Harrison and Nate Stimson or traded to other teams so they could draft the likes of Cade McNown.

Everyone always talks about how the Redskins made out like a crook, when looking back on it, it's obvious that neither team won on that deal.

 

[21counterZ-trap]

I got so sick when I heard the news and what we gave up.

I'm not knocking RWilliams, as a matter of fact, I thought he was as close to a "can't miss" prospect as there is but, giving up that many draft choices for any one player is totally foolish. If Williams blows out a knee in the preseason then what you blockhead???????????

Even more incredible was that Ditka thought, and said publicly, that we made the move because he thought we were "one player away" coming into that season. My God, we have Jared Tomich, Chris Bordano, and Brady Smith penciled in as starters on defense, and Billy Joe with a last name to be determined later at QB. How in the hell are we one player away? How can someone be that delusional? and why is he coaching my favorite football team?

After the trade, he had the rest of the day off, and was bragging about being able to play golf on day 2 of the draft because his work was done. I was infuriated by this because, in addition to handcuffing the franchise for years to come, the whole thing started to reek of Ditka being too lazy to put the work in for the draft. This very thing had already crossed my mind the year before when we drafted 2 great college players (Troy Davis, Danny Weurful) who, even going INTO the draft, were NOT highly regarded NFL prospects by most. They were just easy big name picks that didn't have the game to translate in the NFL. One look at Weurful's release should have raised serious doubts, and as far as for Troy Davis, well, there was a reason he was still around in round 3 despite rushing for 2,000 yards in back to back seasons. He possessed that rare combination of NO power, and very little speed that every NFL scout drools about, all encased in a tighly wound physically unimposing 185lb frame. Come on Iron Mike.

Let's try not to get me started on Mike Ditka. That's 3 years of my life I can never get back.

 

[superchuck500]

We got 2 1st rounders out of RW and if we had not traded up for him, we would have draft Cade McNown per Ditka. So, it was not as bad as many want to make it.

You're right. Purely by itself, it's ridiculous.

But in the real world, based on what we would have done and what was done with our picks - it really wasn't that bad. Hindsight is hindsight, but it's also reality.

 

[GoldRush26]

I dunno, maybe I was too naive but the drafting of Ricky Williams was my greatest day as a Saints fan at the time, since surpassed by a number of events. A trade like that would never go down in today's NFL, and yeah I would flip out if we did that trade today. But back then we needed some hope. And our scouting of talent after the first round in those days was pretty horrible.

I think the older fans were disgusted, while the younger fans like me were pumped up about it.

 

[RichB]

21counterZ, you took the words right out of my mouth. I still remember begging and pleading (inside my head) with the Eagles to take him at number 5 as the rumors were swirling about us trading up. When the trade was announced, I was absolutely sick to my stomach.

A couple of days ago I was wearing my Saints gear and talking to some of my friends at my local Chick-fil-A here in Roswell about the Saints-Falcons rivalry. I told him that I stopped going to the games here in Atlanta when we were in the midst of losing something like 13 straight to the Birds because it was just too painful. He said, "Yeah, the late 90's weren't too good to you, with Ditka..." I stopped him there and told him that I was too nauseous to order anything and left.

All kidding aside (I did stay and get me a Southwestern Chargrilled Salad w/ Spicy dressing and a big ol' sweet tea... yum!!), I look back on the Ditka years with more disdain and disgust for my team than at any other point in their 43+ year history. We had a caricature of a coach who IMO put forth as little effort as any coach we've had. His reaction to the Ricky trade was unbearable (no pun intended.) I think I could have abided it all until his "Saints suck" remark on SNL. I thought that was about as low as you could sink as a coach.

Ugh! Now I'm gonna have nightmares.

 

[superchuck500]

21counterZ, you took the words right out of my mouth. I still remember begging and pleading (inside my head) with the Eagles to take him at number 5 as the rumors were swirling about us trading up. When the trade was announced, I was absolutely sick to my stomach.

A couple of days ago I was wearing my Saints gear and talking to some of my friends at my local Chick-fil-A here in Roswell about the Saints-Falcons rivalry. I told him that I stopped going to the games here in Atlanta when we were in the midst of losing something like 13 straight to the Birds because it was just too painful. He said, "Yeah, the late 90's weren't too good to you, with Ditka..." I stopped him there and told him that I was too nauseous to order anything and left.

All kidding aside (I did stay and get me a Southwestern Chargrilled Salad w/ Spicy dressing and a big ol' sweet tea... yum!!), I look back on the Ditka years with more disdain and disgust for my team than at any other point in their 43+ year history. We had a caricature of a coach who IMO put forth as little effort as any coach we've had. His reaction to the Ricky trade was unbearable (no pun intended.) I think I could have abided it all until his "Saints suck" remark on SNL. I thought that was about as low as you could sink as a coach.

Ugh! Now I'm gonna have nightmares.

Tonight I was talking to a friend (Redskins fan) about the "low years" of being a fan. We started talking about the Saints in the late 90s. I said "Man, there were two guys in the whole league named 'Billie Joe' - and they were our starting QB and our backup QB."

It was bad in those years. But we still believed, every year. You just gotta keep diggin.

 

[nolaswede]

This might not have that much to do with Ditka's coaching skills, but my friend played golf with him when he first took the job. He said that Ditka was extremely rude and a horrible personality. Guess he wasn't happy on the golf course either.

 

[rickyjones]

What's more amazing than the Saints trading 8 picks (incl two 1st's and two 3rd's) for one player is that the Redskins parlayed all those draft picks into only one playoff appearance (1999) in the next 6 years, and 3 total since (1999, 2005, 2007). By far the best player the Skins drafted from that deal was Lavar Arrington, all other picks were wasted on guys like Lloyd Harrison and Nate Stimson or traded to other teams so they could draft the likes of Cade McNown.

Everyone always talks about how the Redskins made out like a crook, when looking back on it, it's obvious that neither team won on that deal.

Actually the Redskins took Champ Bailey with the Saints actual pick that year and the next year had #2 and #3 overall and took Chris Samuels and Lavar Arrington. If we would have had 2 of those 3, (Champ and Samuels) who knows what may have happend.

Fast forward 10 years, we won the super Bowl last year and now have Drew Brees. Other than still paying interest on my season tix for the 1999 year (I used my school loan to buy them) I have no regrets.

 

[Vermont Saint]

We got 2 1st rounders out of RW and if we had not traded up for him, we would have draft Cade McNown per Ditka. So, it was not as bad as many want to make it.

Indeed-the fall off of impact players in later rounds reduces the draft in later rounds to a crap shoot, just ask the (geniu s) Patriots to bear witness. I think trading a full draft for a "sure thing" at a skill position can work to a team's advantage. I know it seems a little counter intuitive, but I'd happily trade a full draft for the next Drew Brees, if the Saints scouting dept. could finger him. And RW, btw, nearly kicked our *** last year.

 

[ShahulX]

I dunno, maybe I was too naive but the drafting of Ricky Williams was my greatest day as a Saints fan at the time, since surpassed by a number of events. A trade like that would never go down in today's NFL, and yeah I would flip out if we did that trade today. But back then we needed some hope. And our scouting of talent after the first round in those days was pretty horrible.

I think the older fans were disgusted, while the younger fans like me were pumped up about it.

Yea, I would never have done it knowing what I know today, but back them I was so happy... I thought he was the next great rb... Back then the 1rb system ruled and I looked up to the emmitts and Barry sanders ... Thought Ricky was the next...