The Truth About Trading Draft Picks

During the NFL Draft, when big trades happen, it bothers me when the media says “Oh man, they gave up two first-round picks and 5 picks overall to move up to get this player.” When you take a step back, in actuality, that’s not normally true.

For this article, I’m using the 2016 Eagles draft because it deals mainly with draft picks and does not include players like in the case of the Las Vegas Raiders and the Miami Dolphins.

In the 2016 NFL Draft, the Eagles traded up with the Cleveland Browns in the second trade of that draft. Philadelphia’s new pick was #2 overall and they drafted Quarterback Carson Wentz with the pick. To move up, Philadelphia flipped first-round picks with Cleveland and added a third-round and fourth-round pick in that 2016 draft. In addition to the 2016 draft picks, Philadelphia gave them a 2017 first-round pick and a 2018 second-round pick. The Eagles also received a 2017 fourth-round pick, so let’s look at what was actually given at the very end.

2016 Draft
The Eagles get:
* 2016 № 2 pick (scratch)
* 2017 fourth-round pick. (scratch)

The Browns get:
* 2016 № 8 pick 2016, (scratch)
* 2016 third-round pick
* 2016 fourth-round pick (scratch)
* 2017 first-round pick
* 2018 second-round pick

If you scratch the swap of first-round picks in 2016 (they both still got picks). If you scratch the 2016 fourth-round pick and a 2017 fourth-round pick that they basically flipped, the Cleveland Browns ended up with a 2016 third-round pick, a 2017 first-round pick, and a 2018 second-round pick. The Philadelphia Eagles technically only gave up three picks, instead of the five picks that the media made headlines about.

So next time we hear a team gave up five pics, let’s take a step back and look at what they really gave up.