Draft Day Trades

Several factors play into a team trading picks in an NFL Draft. They might trade up for a player that they decide that they can not live without. That's likely the most common. Or, a team likes a player but figures that they can get him a little later. They drop back and gather a pick or more and still get the player that they like. Nearly all draft day trades deal with either side of those two scenarios. I have always found it interesting to pick through the trades and find the reason why. Most are obvious like the Dallas Cowboys jumping up to #6 for Morris Claiborne on the first day of this draft. The Washington Redskins falling to the demands of the St. Louis Rams for a shot at Robert Griffin III was pretty obvious as well. The Cleveland Browns giving up three picks to the Minnesota Vikings to simply move up one spot is surprising at first glance. Obviously, the Browns desperately wanted Trent Richardson. To the Browns it was worth those three picks to insure that no other team leaps over them to get to Minnesota's spot in the draft. They were so desperate to insure the selection of Richardson that they didn't even wait for the draft to start. The clock can bring out knee jerk reactions from some teams. The Browns made the trade with the Vikings about an hour before it all started. In turn, the picks that Minnesota received from Cleveland provided the means to make a trade to move back into the end of the first round. The Vikings, much to my giddiness, were very interested in Notre Dame safety Harrison Smith. I'd been worried that Smith wouldn't make it to the Vikings #3 pick in the second round. The Vikings had the same worry. They had to move back into the first round to get their player. They found a landing spot with Baltimore at #29. It cost a fourth round pick but they had that pick covered with the earlier trade with Cleveland. Was the trade necessary? It's interesting to note that the Denver Broncos traded their pick at #31 as soon as the Vikings brought Harrison Smith to Minnesota. With the recent retirement of safety Brian Dawkins the Broncos might have been looking to fill that void. A connection? We'll likely never know for sure but it's fun to speculate.