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On Sunday, the Atlanta Falcons agreed to trade wide receiver Julio Jones and a 2023 sixth-round pick to the Tennessee Titans in exchange for a 2022 second-round draft pick and a 2023 fourth-round selection.
The return is not what the Falcons had been hoping for. Some reports suggested they wanted as many as two first-round picks with some projecting at least one first-rounder. But that’s not how the cookie crumbled.
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Similarly, the Houston Texans were unable to land a first-round pick for wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins last year, sending him to the Arizona Cardinals along with a 2020 fourth-round pick in exchange for running back David Johnson, a 2020 second-round pick and a 2021 fourth-round pick.
The Minnesota Vikings did fare a bit better, acquiring a 2020 first-round pick, a 2020 fifth-round pick, a 2020 sixth-round pick and a 2021 fourth-round pick from the Buffalo Bills in exchange for wide receiver Stefon Diggs and a 2020 seventh-round pick around the same time as the Hopkins trade.
But all of these trades pale in comparison to what New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman was able to acquire in the 2019 trade of wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
In that deal, which also included a second trade that was eventually combined by the league, the Giants sent Beckham and edge rusher Olivier Vernon to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for safety Jabrill Peppers, offensive lineman Kevin Zeitler, a 2019 first-round pick and a 2019 third-round pick.
Considering the Giants intended to release Vernon anyway, the return haul was and remains significant.
Peppers has taken over as the team’s starter at strong safety and played at a Pro Bowl level in 2020, while Zeitler was the team’s top offensive lineman until being released earlier this year in a cap cutting measure. Meanwhile, the picks ended up being used on defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence, a rock on Patrick Graham’s defense, and edge rusher Oshane Ximines, who has flashed but struggled to stay on the field.
The trade wasn’t viewed as a win for the Giants at the time, but perception has since changed. Beckham has dealt with injuries and hasn’t produced at nearly the same level he did early in his career, while Vernon is currently an unsigned free agent.
Although Beckham was a young superstar at the time of the trade, it’s still somewhat surprising to see what the Giants were able to get in return when compared to the other wide receiver trades. Diggs has been nothing short of game-changing in Buffalo, while Jones and Hopkins are arguably the two best wideouts in football.
Age (32) certainly factored into things when it came to Jones, but Diggs (27) and Hopkins (29) were each in their prime at the time of their respective deals. Ditto Beckham (28).
No matter where you line up on the Giants-Browns trade and no matter who you think won the deal in the end, Gettleman deserves a pat on the back for landing the haul he did in comparison to these other teams. He may not make a ton of moves, but when he does, “Trader Dave” gets his value.
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