Recent Blockbuster Trades in the NFL

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Sep 19, 2013

Recent Blockbuster Trades in the NFL

2015: Jimmy Graham, Max Unger

Fred Vuich/SI; Orlando Ramirez/Icon Sportswire

The New Orleans Saints and Seattle Seahawks sent shockwaves on the opening day of free agency in 2015 with the trade of center Max Unger and a first-round pick for tight end Jimmy Graham and a fourth-round pick. The Seahawks, coming off back-to-back appearances in the Super Bowl, sorely needed to improve their receiving corps and seem to have gotten the job done in grand fashion.

2015: Nick Foles, Sam Bradford

A pair of injury-plagued starters, Nick Foles and Sam Bradford traded places on the opening day of free agency in 2015 . The Philadelphia Eagles surprisingly shipped Foles and a fourth-round pick and conditional second-rounder to the St. Louis Rams for Sam Bradford and a fifth-round pick. Bradford missed all of the 2014 season with a torn ACL, while Foles sat out eight games that season with a broken collarbone.

2015: LeSean McCoy

The Philadelphia Eagles stunned the NFL world by trading 2013 NFL rushing champion LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills for linebacker Kiko Alonso in early March 2015. The move was yet another signal that third-year Eagles coach Chip Kelly intended to build a team his way, whether or not it made sense to pundits. For New Bills coach Rex Ryan it was a bold acquisition, especially in exchange for a linebacker who missed all of the 2014 season with a torn ACL

2013: Darrelle Revis

The New York Jets refused to meet Darrelle Revis’ contract demands and traded him to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in April 2013 for a first-round pick in 2014 (Sheldon Richardson) and a fourth-rounder in 2015. Revis, the top corner in the league but also coming off ACL surgery, lasted a year in Tampa; then signed with the Patriots and won a Super Bowl before leaving after one season to rejoin the Jets.

2013: Percy Harvin

Percy Harvin to the Seattle Seahawks from the Minnesota Vikings for first- and seventh-round picks in 2013 and a third-round pick in 2014 looked like a horrible move by the Vikings at the time of the deal. In hindsight, not so bad. And though the Seahawks won a Super Bowl with Harvin on the field in February 2014, he wore out his welcome and was traded to the New York Jets the following season.

2013: Trent Richardson

Only two games into the 2013 season, the Cleveland Browns shocked the NFL by trading their first round pick from the year before, Trent Richardson, to the Indianapolis Colts for a first round pick in 2014. The Colts were seeking a replacement for the injured Vick Ballard, while new Cleveland management were rumored not to be terribly fond of either of Cleveland's 2012 first round picks (Trent Richardson and Brandon Weeden). Richardson underperformed with the Colts in his two years with the team.

2012: Robert Griffin III

After surviving a full year with Rex Grossman at the helm, the Washington Redskins decided to make one of the largest draft-day trades in NFL history in an attempt to draft a franchise quarterback. The Redskins acquired the second overall pick in the 2012 draft, with the intention of picking Robert Griffin III, from the St. Louis Rams for three first round picks and a second round selection. Griffin would go on to win Rookie of the Year in 2012 and lead the Redskins to the playoffs, but his season would end with a torn ACL in the divisional game against the Seahawks. RGIII has struggled with both his play and injuries ever since.

2012: Brandon Marshall

Shortly after firing their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, the Bears traded two third-round picks to acquire Brandon Marshall from the Miami Dolphins. Why? To please Jay Cutler. A combo that had been wildly successful as teammates in Denver, the Bears brought in the volatile star receiver for a fairly modest price. After three prosperous seasons with Chicago, during which he scored 31 touchdowns, Marshall was sent to the Jets for a fifth-round pick.

2009: Jay Cutler

After requesting a trade because of the hiring of Josh McDaniels, Jay Cutler found himself out of Denver and in Chicago in a three-team trade that changed the course of the Pro Bowler's career and energized the Bears. Only 25 at the time of the trade, Cutler would take the Bears as far as the NFC Championship Game two years later.

2009: Tony Gonzalez

One of the most beloved players in Kansas City Chiefs' history, Tony Gonzalez said his final goodbyes to the only pro team he'd ever played for on April 24, 2009, when the Chiefs shipped the 10-time Pro Bowl tight end to the Falcons for a second-round pick. Gonzalez remained one of the league's elite tight ends, earning four more Pro Bowl appearances in five seasons in Atlanta, before retiring.

Brett Favre

Brett Favre from the Packers to the Jets for a conditional draft pick. After 16 record-breaking seasons with Green Bay, Favre changed his mind on retiring and landed in New York. The three-time MVP and the Jets started out well but faded down the stretch; they missed the playoffs at 9-7 and he threw the same number of interceptions (a league-high 22) as touchdowns.

2007: Randy Moss

Randy Moss to the Patriots from the Raiders for a fourth-round pick. On draft weekend, the team-minded Patriots shocked the NFL by dealing for Moss, whose talent as a game-changing receiver had supposedly atrophied during his two mostly desultory seasons in Oakland. But Moss, as it turns out, was merely disinterested in losing, and his reemergence in New England coincided with the team's perfect regular season. Moss caught 98 passes for 1,493 yards and had a single-season NFL record 23 touchdowns. Not bad production in exchange for a fourth-round pick that Oakland used to select little-known University of Cincinnati cornerback John Bowie.

2004: Eli Manning, Philip Rivers

Eli Manning to the Giants for Philip Rivers and first-, third- and fifth-round picks. The draft-day deal saw Manning (taken first overall) and Rivers (No. 4) traded for one another shortly after being selected by the Chargers and Giants, respectively. It's difficult to pinpoint a bigger win-win trade in NFL history. The Giants landed the franchise quarterback who led them to two Super Bowl titles, including that memorable upset of the undefeated Patriots four years later, and the Chargers eventually reaped a windfall that included three future Pro Bowl players -- Rivers, linebacker Shawne Merriman and kicker Nate Kaeding -- and a veteran starting left offensive tackle in Roman Oben.

2004: Champ Bailey, Clinton Portis

Champ Bailey and a second-round pick to the Broncos from the Redskins for Clinton Portis. One of the most intriguing and fair deals in NFL history saw the top cover cornerback in the game, Bailey (plus a draft pick that became running back Tatum Bell), go west while one of the league's top runners, Portis, headed to D.C.

2004: Terrell Owens

Terrell Owens to the Eagles from the Niners. You might forget that Owens blocked San Francisco's original deal with Baltimore, balking at the idea of joining the Ravens. Owens wanted to become an Eagle and play with Donovan McNabb, and he eventually got his wish when the three teams worked out a compromise that the NFL helped broker. (The Eagles sent a fifth-round pick to Baltimore and defensive end Brandon Whiting to S.F. The Ravens also recovered a second-rounder sent to the Niners for Owens.) The deal was a bonanza for Philadelphia that season, as Owens' big-play impact got the Eagles finally over their NFC title game hump and into the Super Bowl. But by '05, T.O. and McNabb were at war, and the Eagles' season was a casualty of the conflict.

2003: Drew Bledsoe

Drew Bledsoe to the Buffalo Bills for a first-round draft pick in 2003. The April 2002 trade of Bledsoe, a former first-round pick himself (1993), was fueled by the success Tom Brady had in replacing the injured Bledsoe in 2002. New England won a Super Bowl that season and obviously made the right move in shifting to Brady. Bledsoe spent three seasons in Buffalo and two in Dallas, where he was replaced by Tony Romo.

2002: Jon Gruden

Jon Gruden to the Bucs from the Raiders for two first-round picks, two second-round picks and $8 million. Not content to field a perennial playoff team that habitually came up short once January arrived, Bucs owners Bryan and Joel Glazer fired beloved coach Tony Dungy and went looking for a replacement in January 2002. After fits and starts lasting almost two months, the Tampa Bay coaching search eventually turned toward Gruden, who had led Oakland to three straight playoff trips in four seasons. The Bucs sent a pirate's treasure to the Raiders in exchange for Gruden, but the move quickly paid off big time when he led the team Dungy had built to the franchise's only Super Bowl title, in January 2003.

2001: Michael Vick, LaDainian Tomlinson

Chargers trade the first pick in the draft to the Falcons for the fifth pick in the first round, the fifth pick in the third, a future second-round pick and receiver Tim Dwight In what turned out to be a stroke of brilliance, the Chargers dealt the top pick that Atlanta used to take Michael Vick and wound up with the greatest runner of his era, LaDainian Tomlinson (at No. 5), along with cornerback Tay Cody and wide receivers Reche Caldwell and Dwight. The cherry on top for the Chargers came with the first pick in the second round when another QB, Purdue's Drew Brees, came into the fold.

Recent Blockbuster Trades in the NFL