The New York Giants were extremely motivated to trade down in Round 1 of the 2020 NFL Draft, and had set the phone lines on fire in recent days. However, when push came to shove, there wasn’t enough substance to get a deal done.
“We had conversations, but everyone was touchy-feely, maybe yes, maybe no. There were no firm offers anywhere,” Gettleman told reporters during a conference call. “There is nothing that made me look at John Mara and Joe (Judge) and say let’s trade back and get some more picks. There really wasn’t much there. You can see we haven’t had a trade in the first round yet, how often does that happen? There wasn’t a lot of action.”
The Giants weren’t alone. The Detroit Lions had feverishly tried to trade down from the No. 3 spot, but found absolutely no takers and ultimately settled on Ohio State cornerback Jeff Okudah.
Several other teams fared no better as the draft saw zero trades over the first 10 picks for the first time since 2015. In fact, the first trade didn’t even come until pick No. 13.
And as it turns out, contrary to some early Thursday reporting, the Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Chargers didn’t even make an attempt to swap spots with the Giants or Lions.
In the end, neither Miami nor the Chargers nor any other team ever made an offer to move up to Detroit’s or the New York Giants’ spots, per league sources. The Dolphins and Chargers were content to stay where they were and pick. And that helps explain why first trade at No. 13.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 24, 2020
That’s just the way the cookie crumbled here in 2020, extending Gettleman’s long track record of not trading down in Round 1.
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