Trade record set … Personally it didn’t seem that there were all that many trades this weekend – maybe they were just spread out relatively evenly over the three days – but when the smoked had cleared we actually had a new record for trades. Indeed, there were a total of 43 trades this weekend which broke the old mark of 40. That included the first three picks on the third day which were swapped before we actually got going on Saturday. Heck, we even had a trade in which a team (New England) moved up to get a kicker (PK Chad Ryland). Not sure, I’ve ever seen that before. At least, the Patriots were consistent as the also picked a punter (P Bryce Baringer) in the 6th, (but somehow they appear to have forgotten about LS; they are people too!)
In one of those pre-start deals, Philadelphia moved up to the third pick of the day to take Georgia CB Kelee Ringo to give themselves a trifecta of former Bulldog defenders after they got DT Jalen Carter and ER Nolan smith in the first. It didn’t come cheap for the Eagles, though, as it cost them their 3rd round pick in 2024. The Eagles also gave up their 4th round pick next year as part of the package they sent to Detroit for veteran RB D’Andre Swift; the Eagles though did get a future pick back when they got Tampa Bay’s 2024 5th rounder during the 3rd day. In fact, a total of 14 2024 picks were moved this weekend including one first rounder which Arizona got from Houston in the deal in which the Texans moved up to get DE Will Anderson with the 3rd pick overall. (Note we’ll have more on an early look at who’s got what at the 2024 draft later today.)
Of course, trades have always been an integral part of draft day, although sometimes we wonder if it gets overdone a tad at times. Indeed, more than once this weekend we quietly remarked to ourselves ‘they moved up for that guy!’ And we don’t really want to rag on the home-town defending Super Bowl champs, but did Kansas City really need to give up a 6th round pick to Cincinnati to move up three spots to select former Oklahoma OT Wanya Morris. It does seem like there are a lot of trades like that. Then you look at the player the trading team got after they moved down and you really wonder if that guy wasn’t just as good as the traded-up-for player.
At the same time, though, there were a number of terrific trades this weekend. Not sure it was necessarily genius, but Tennessee got QB Will Levis, who they thought seriously about with their first round pick, when they moved up in the second round. The Giants also made a great move when they traded up 16 spots in the third round and got the explosive deep threat in Tennessee WR Jalin Hyatt. They were both transformative type players that likely weren’t going to be available at their selecting team’s original spot. Best trade of the weekend, though, may have been made by Baltimore in the 7th round when they sent Cleveland a 2024 6th rounder in order to take Southern California OG Andrew Vorhees, who likely would have been a mid-second day pick if he hadn’t torn an ACL. That’s what makes the Ravens so good on draft day.
