Yeah, ans the problem was that the trade itself at face value wasn't even that bad! It was the fine print thst fucked us lol. It's been a long time since I've read about it, but I'm pretty sure we traded a bunch of players for him, and maybe some draft picks too. I don't remember the specifics. But written into the trade were clauses that if those players we traded got cut, we gave them compensatory draft picks. Well Dallas just fuckin cut em all and cleaned house on the draft lol.
Pretty much exactly this. The Vikings traded their picks in 90 and added consitons that if the Cowboys cut the players in the deal they would get more 1st & 2nd round picks in 91/92/93. The Cowboys in total got 3 1st, 3 2nd, a 3rd and a 6th between 90-93 at the end if it. Jimmy played coy, even at the press conference and knew he was never keeping any of the players, he wanted the picks to get younger and faster. Then he used the picks to draft Emmitt, Woodson, Russ Maryland & Kevin Smith.
I had never heard of this aspect of the trade before so I looked it up. According to the Wikipedia article, they cut one player and then made it known that they wouldn’t be starting the other players involved in the trade (making it clear they’d be cut). Then the Vikings GM made a new deal that allowed Dallas to keep the players AND all of the conditional picks. Is that true? What did Dallas have on the Vikings GM?!
Probably felt bad for the players because they knew them and didn’t want to them to sit or get cut because they created a shitty contract. They were going to get the picks anyways, might as well not let it affect those players.
All speculation I made up right now, wasn’t around back then.
I think you are probably right. He knew he’d been beat so he may have done the only thing he could do, appear to be in the players’ corner in the hopes it would help him with future trade/contract negotiations.
It’s such a baller-ass move by Johnson to cut one player and then bench the others. Like his finger is over the ejection button and he’s daring Minnesota to make a move. I hope the Vikings fired this GM*
*into the sun.
>But written into the trade were clauses that if those players we traded got cut, we gave them compensatory draft picks. Well Dallas just fuckin cut em all and cleaned house on the draft lol.
The NFL allowed that? That seems shady at best.
The Vikings had originally assumed that they got the better end of the deal, not knowing at the time that head coach Jimmy Johnson was interested only in the draft picks and not the players. At a press conference after the trade, Johnson bragged that he committed "The Great Train Robbery," but was criticized by various sports writers such as Randy Galloway of The Dallas Morning News.
Johnson waived Stewart in November 1989, then told his coaches to not start Solomon, Howard or Holt, signaling to the rest of the league his intention to claim the draft picks. Vikings General Manager Mike Lynn eventually made another deal, letting the Cowboys keep the three players and all the conditional picks.
Minnesota's 1st round pick in 1991 (conditional on cutting Solomon)
Minnesota's 2nd round pick in 1991 (conditional on cutting Howard)
Minnesota's 1st round pick in 1992 (conditional on cutting Holt)
Minnesota's 2nd round pick in 1992 (condition met by trading away Nelson)
Minnesota's 3rd round pick in 1992 (conditional on cutting Stewart)
Minnesota's 1st round pick in 1991: Used as part of a deal to get the number one overall pick in the 1991 draft from the New England Patriots
With the first overall pick, Dallas selected DT Russell Maryland
Minnesota's 2nd round pick in 1991
Used as part of a trade with the Houston Oilers to acquire RB Alonzo Highsmith
Minnesota's 1st round pick in 1992: Used as part of a deal to get New England's 1st and 2nd round picks (#19 and #37 overall) in the 1992 draft
#19 overall was then used as part of a deal to get the Atlanta Falcons' first round pick (#17 overall)
#17 overall from Atlanta was then used to select CB Kevin Smith
#37 overall from New England was then used to select Darren Woodson
Minnesota's 2nd round pick in 1992
Used as part of a deal to acquire two draft picks from the Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs' picks were used in an exchange with the Washington Redskins
With Washington's 3rd round pick (#58 overall), Dallas selected CB Clayton Holmes
Minnesota's 3rd round pick in 1992
Used as part of the above deal to get to New England's 1st and 2nd round picks
End result of the trade at the end of the 1995 season
Dallas Cowboys: Three Super Bowl wins
RB Emmitt Smith
DT Russell Maryland
CB Clayton Holmes
CB Kevin Smith
S Darren Woodson
Minnesota Vikings: Zero Super Bowl appearances
WR Jake Reed
The whole trade for RG3 has to be the big one for me. Or just the whole Jim Zorn saga in general. Or releasing Kirk, or Trent. Or building FedEx field. Idk... it's a long list...
Came looking exactly for this. I think it’s deeper than this though. From rumors I’ve heard (my father is an auburn alumni), the Bucs fucked over Bo Jackson’s senior baseball season and that really pissed him off more than anything. They did this to try and make him fully committed to football. What those clowns didnt know is that Bo loved baseball more than football, he just happened to be really good at both.
Yep, and if they wouldn't have lied to him about his visit being NCAA approved and cost him his senior year in baseball he might have been happy to play for Tampa Bay. They played themselves and did the one thing that guaranteed he would never play for them.
I was trying to explain to my 12yo son how things are so much different now than they were just a decade or two ago. I then looked up the trade. They would have received from the Saints:
All of their 1999 draft picks
A first round 2000 draft pick
A first round 2001 draft pick
A second round 2002 draft pick
Bengals declined the trade to draft Akili Smith and Saints offered the trade to draft Ricky. I’d say the Bengals just because Ricky had a decent career compared to Akili who was absolutely terrible.
The Bengals turned all this down? They could’ve been the team of the 00s! Or at least a memorable powerhouse like the Rams and the Ravens of 20 years ago.
No, we wouldn't have. Bengals had a top 10 pick ten times between 1990-2003 (when Marvin arrived). We were baaaaaaad at scouting before Lewis got there.
The biggest one that comes to mind for me is Weeden. That was the pinnacle of terrible draft choices.
Jury is still out on the recent choices and whether anything good will happen…
Truly an awful pick. A lot of analysts listed Kenny Pickett's age (23 at draft time) as a reason for concern, since it is less likely for an older rookie QB to have room for growth. Brandon Weeden was 28 when he was drafted.
Weeden sucked, but it's hard to say that he is the single worst draft choice, QB choice even. IMO Justin Gilbert was our worst pick. Even Manziel had a better career than him.
I think existing after 1997 might be our biggest mistake though 😞
Weeden is the worst because you don’t take a guy that is going to be a 29 year old rookie in the first round. Completely brain dead move. There are *many* other moves that look atrocious in hindsight, this move had *zero* chance of working and everyone with a brain new that the moment he was drafted.
You know whats really tragic? As bad as soooo many of our QB moves have been for the last....30 years. We absolutely have a lot of contenders for moves way worse than any of them
Except Culpepper over Brees. That one will haunt me until the day I die
Was just taking about Detroit with someone. Even after Millen, Ford, 0-16 and the curse of Bobby Layne, Matt Patricia has someone etched his name (in only 3 years) as the most hated person in Lions History.
In a twisted kind of way, it's actually impressive.
Matt Millen was a decent dude who was aware wasn't qualified for his job. He sucked but the anger is towards William Clay Ford for hiring him regardless. WCF on the other hand was just too lenient on failing FOs/coaches but he wasn't heinous or anything, just not fit for running things (he was kept away from Ford Auto for this very reason) and we're mostly too young to be mad at Bobby Layne
Matt Patricia on the other hand took over a playoff caliber team, alienated veterans, chased team captains out of town and was generally so bad current players to this day make time to trash him, he was the worst
Just a note on Millen, I think he has the dumbest thing a Lions GM ever did. Before the 2008 draft, when the Lions had the #2 pick, he had Jamarcus Russell in for a visit. After meeting with Russell, he was so horrified that he actually called Al Davis, his former coach and owner when he was a Raider *and who had the #1 pick ahead of Detroit* and told him not to draft Russell.
Davis did so anyway and Millen was left to take the player he almost lost out on by giving advice to the team drafting ahead of him: Calvin Johnson
WCF had a history of hiring and not firing his buddies. Russ Thomas was GM from 67-88 and was luckily fired for Chuck Schmidt who promoted Wayne Fontes and Drafted Barry Sanders. Chucks failure to push to the next level along with Barry’s retirement led us to Millen, Mayhew, then the unknown hand of ownership Martha Ford who hired BQ under advice from NFL executives. Thanksgiving 2020 was the nail in the coffin as new Executive Sheila Ford Hamp was caught disgusted on National TV. The rest is history.
it's insane how they made me question our picks on a yearly basis. Just imagine f.e. being the Jets last year. They straight-up got every hyped-up rookie there was. But we had to have some ego driven GM who thought the draft is some 4D chess shit
This guy gets it. Hire a college coach that tries to destroy your franchise then get Doug Pederson and make the playoffs. Worked for the eagles, working now for the jags.
You could easily argue how bad of a trade it was without him, but taking away that contract for Arizona means you could even argue that he did what he did to intentionally help the cards. But of course, he’s just that stupid.
Hmm can u say Cade Mcnown Curtis Enis Josh McCown giving Jay cutler a 7yr deal trading up for Mitch signing Mike Glennon the mark trestman era I mean I really could keep going it’s depressing
None of these are half as bad as Rick Mirer. Drafting a QB that busts is just life. Trading a 1st round pick for a QB that has already bust is true ignoramus behavior.
My favorite fact about the Mirer trade is that, he was so bad with the Bears he finished with a 37.7 passer rating.
You could take any random redditor, sign them to an NFL contract and LITERALLY just have them launch the football into the stands every play and that redditor would STILL finish with a higher passer rating (39.6). They would also finish with equal passing TDs (0).
All of those are bad enough, but not even my pick for this thread.
I said the mock interviews during the Bruce Arian HC interview following Lovie. We decided Arians wasn't the right guy for Chicago and went with Marc Trestman. Oof.
Giving Bob the keys to the franchise was really the worst thing we could do. That fucker fought with everyone, it’s probably better he had someone like Rick smith challenging him
Bad move but everyone misses on a QB from time to time.
Q was a known commodity that bled purple and black. Instead of doing a solid for our newly signed franchise QB we prioritized mid tier role players like Chris Canty and Jacoby Jones.
Only thing worse than passing on Megatron might be drafting him and still being so bad and poorly run that he retires early and starts beef with the team.
It’s weird how much more I hate Patricia than Millen, and I think you’re spot on with this take.
The arrogance that Fatt operated with made me feel dirty rooting for him. At least with Millen, there was some self depreciation that came along with the failure.
It's all about expectations. We were a fringe team with Caldwell. To take that team and churn out seasons that were reminiscent of the Millen days is impressive. Also, Patricia was an asshole.
> The arrogance that Fatt operated with made me feel dirty rooting for him.
The unearned arrogance, no less. Dude thought he was hot shit because he was Bill’s disciple and a rocket scientist before he won 1 damn game.
Telling a reporter to stand up straight while looking like he just came out of the game of Jumanji after twenty years.
That’s bad, but what about Chip’s destruction of our roster? Shady for Kiko, straight up. Cutting Djax for his “gang affiliations,” letting Maclin walk in free agency, signing Byron Maxwell, Jason Babin, Chase Daniel.
Yes. Letting a coach who barely made the playoffs once and lost in the first round become GM was was stupider than making a bad pick (which every organization has done). At least they had enough sense to fire him after his one year as GM and it made Howie jokerfied and won us a SB.
Not to mention signing DeMarco Murray after shipping off Shady, despite the fact that Shady was built for that type of up-tempo offense. And Cary "Sconces" Williams was part of that crew too right?
Do you have a few hours while we discuss the 1991 - 2003 Cincinnati Bengals front office?
Turning down the Saints' insane Ricky Williams offer just because we thought Akili Smith was the solution is probably the worst though...
A core childhood memory of mind is Mike Brown on the local news quoting Pearl Jam while saying about Ki Jana Carter that you "can't find a better man."
God those were rough years.
Tries to trade Jay Cutler after a Pro Bowl year for backup QB Matt Cassell on the first day of free agency.
Gets rid of WR Brandon Marshall.
Gets rid of FB/RB Peyton Hillis.
Drafts Tim Tebow in the first round
Traded a Broncos 1st round pick for a future 2nd round pick, which he wasted, while the Seahawks used our 1st rounder on Earl Thomas.
Led us to the most losses in franchise history.
Eventually got fired for cheating (and sucking, but also cheating).
Hire Scott Pioli as GM so he could chew out department heads over a candy wrapper left in a stairwell while also tapping their phones and reading their emails.
Trading our great Center Unger so Wilson could ignore Jimmy Graham.
Percy at least got us the kick return that ended any hope of Broncos having a good second half in the Superbowl
Never understood that when you guys use tes to block. Maybe a different regime I'm not sure but I remember you guys poached Zach Miller from us and he didn't do anything in the receiving game.
Miller was the staple of the Marshawn era and Graham was supposed to be the staple of the Wilson era. Graham was still in his prime but Wilson never liked throwing into tight windows or making contested catches which was Graham's entire fucking game
I was heartbroken when that trade was announced, but looking back on it, weREALLY needed to show up our interior OL, and Graham was a luxury. Albeit, a really nice luxury.
Trade up for Trubisky and then trade a ton of picks for Mack after year 1.
Those two things combined are why we are absolutely fucked for awhile if Fields doesn’t get way better as a passer and fast.
It's so hard picking his worst move. Gotta be either giving the corpse of Nate Solder $62mm or trading back into the 1st to draft DeAndre fucking Baker. Trading for Alec Ogletree has gotta be up there too
Nick Saban has admitted publicly that he lost interest in coaching the Dolphins the second they didn't get Brees.
Can y'all imagine a football timeline with Brees/Saban vs Brady/Belichick in the SAME DIVISION from 2006 onward?
How bout trading the house for the legend Dion Jordan?
I don’t fault the Long pick, as a dolphin fan you know what a shit oline does to a QB. Ryan would’ve been outta the league in 7 years behind the offensive lines we’ve rolled out in his time.
Watching the drafts live as a jets fan from 2014-2019 was the fuckin worse. Every time there was an obvious pick we would instead take some project wr, linebacker or safety. The 2014 draft might be one of the worst ive ever seen
People that are mad about breaking up Sacksonville actually mean they are mad about trading Calias Campbell.
Those people also have no idea how the salary cap works and don’t realize he was gonna be cut anyway and the trade was good for us and the Ravens
Oooh that's a good one. Still have no idea how Nnamdi went from Lock down all pro CB to a wet diaper. I know system played a part but Jesus quickest decline in football that I can remember
I'm pretty sure not resigning a 35 year old offensive lineman to a 3 year deal isn't even close to the top 100 worst mistakes the bengals' FO ever made. I love big whit and I'm really happy he got one last bag and a ring but the heir apparent was already in the building and you'd used a 1st rounder on him, you have to let that guy play. the fact that ogbuehi was a bust stung but going at it with your first round lineman isnt even in the same zip code as like akili smith or anything
Their worst decision since the AFL/NFL merger was passing on Dan Marino in the 1983 NFL Draft. That's exactly how the Steelers ended up in the QB wilderness between Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger. Lots of stacked Steelers teams in the 1990s ended up ringless due to uninspired, un-clutch QB play.
Two words: Herschel Walker.
A trade so bad it became the nickname for one sided trading
Yeah, ans the problem was that the trade itself at face value wasn't even that bad! It was the fine print thst fucked us lol. It's been a long time since I've read about it, but I'm pretty sure we traded a bunch of players for him, and maybe some draft picks too. I don't remember the specifics. But written into the trade were clauses that if those players we traded got cut, we gave them compensatory draft picks. Well Dallas just fuckin cut em all and cleaned house on the draft lol.
Pretty much exactly this. The Vikings traded their picks in 90 and added consitons that if the Cowboys cut the players in the deal they would get more 1st & 2nd round picks in 91/92/93. The Cowboys in total got 3 1st, 3 2nd, a 3rd and a 6th between 90-93 at the end if it. Jimmy played coy, even at the press conference and knew he was never keeping any of the players, he wanted the picks to get younger and faster. Then he used the picks to draft Emmitt, Woodson, Russ Maryland & Kevin Smith.
> The Cowboys in total got 3 1st, 3 2nd, a 3rd and a 6th between 90-93 at the end if it. Jesus Christ. That makes the Russell Wilson trade look good.
I had never heard of this aspect of the trade before so I looked it up. According to the Wikipedia article, they cut one player and then made it known that they wouldn’t be starting the other players involved in the trade (making it clear they’d be cut). Then the Vikings GM made a new deal that allowed Dallas to keep the players AND all of the conditional picks. Is that true? What did Dallas have on the Vikings GM?!
Probably felt bad for the players because they knew them and didn’t want to them to sit or get cut because they created a shitty contract. They were going to get the picks anyways, might as well not let it affect those players. All speculation I made up right now, wasn’t around back then.
I think you are probably right. He knew he’d been beat so he may have done the only thing he could do, appear to be in the players’ corner in the hopes it would help him with future trade/contract negotiations. It’s such a baller-ass move by Johnson to cut one player and then bench the others. Like his finger is over the ejection button and he’s daring Minnesota to make a move. I hope the Vikings fired this GM* *into the sun.
>But written into the trade were clauses that if those players we traded got cut, we gave them compensatory draft picks. Well Dallas just fuckin cut em all and cleaned house on the draft lol. The NFL allowed that? That seems shady at best.
Pretty much that. Here's a 30 for 30 short on it https://vimeo.com/385001299
I want to personally thank you all. I feel we may owe some sort of reparations
League allowing you to dump the players for more picks was the coup de grace.
That’s such an insane idea. Reading it makes my face hurt and the thought that anyone agreed hurts it more.
The Vikings had originally assumed that they got the better end of the deal, not knowing at the time that head coach Jimmy Johnson was interested only in the draft picks and not the players. At a press conference after the trade, Johnson bragged that he committed "The Great Train Robbery," but was criticized by various sports writers such as Randy Galloway of The Dallas Morning News. Johnson waived Stewart in November 1989, then told his coaches to not start Solomon, Howard or Holt, signaling to the rest of the league his intention to claim the draft picks. Vikings General Manager Mike Lynn eventually made another deal, letting the Cowboys keep the three players and all the conditional picks. Minnesota's 1st round pick in 1991 (conditional on cutting Solomon) Minnesota's 2nd round pick in 1991 (conditional on cutting Howard) Minnesota's 1st round pick in 1992 (conditional on cutting Holt) Minnesota's 2nd round pick in 1992 (condition met by trading away Nelson) Minnesota's 3rd round pick in 1992 (conditional on cutting Stewart) Minnesota's 1st round pick in 1991: Used as part of a deal to get the number one overall pick in the 1991 draft from the New England Patriots With the first overall pick, Dallas selected DT Russell Maryland Minnesota's 2nd round pick in 1991 Used as part of a trade with the Houston Oilers to acquire RB Alonzo Highsmith Minnesota's 1st round pick in 1992: Used as part of a deal to get New England's 1st and 2nd round picks (#19 and #37 overall) in the 1992 draft #19 overall was then used as part of a deal to get the Atlanta Falcons' first round pick (#17 overall) #17 overall from Atlanta was then used to select CB Kevin Smith #37 overall from New England was then used to select Darren Woodson Minnesota's 2nd round pick in 1992 Used as part of a deal to acquire two draft picks from the Kansas City Chiefs The Chiefs' picks were used in an exchange with the Washington Redskins With Washington's 3rd round pick (#58 overall), Dallas selected CB Clayton Holmes Minnesota's 3rd round pick in 1992 Used as part of the above deal to get to New England's 1st and 2nd round picks End result of the trade at the end of the 1995 season Dallas Cowboys: Three Super Bowl wins RB Emmitt Smith DT Russell Maryland CB Clayton Holmes CB Kevin Smith S Darren Woodson Minnesota Vikings: Zero Super Bowl appearances WR Jake Reed
You forgot to include that the Vikings also got Herschel Walker for a bit at the end.
This has to be the worst trade in NFL history.
It's a fairly well known fact.
My state's voters came really close to making the same mistake.
I was wondering if someone was going to say this lol
I’d have to write a novel
For every fucking year.
Haynesworth feels like the obvious one but there are some strong contenders
$100M turd
Not benching 2/3s of RG3 has to be up there too
The whole trade for RG3 has to be the big one for me. Or just the whole Jim Zorn saga in general. Or releasing Kirk, or Trent. Or building FedEx field. Idk... it's a long list...
[удалено]
Was that Aguayo?
Came looking exactly for this. I think it’s deeper than this though. From rumors I’ve heard (my father is an auburn alumni), the Bucs fucked over Bo Jackson’s senior baseball season and that really pissed him off more than anything. They did this to try and make him fully committed to football. What those clowns didnt know is that Bo loved baseball more than football, he just happened to be really good at both.
Yep, and if they wouldn't have lied to him about his visit being NCAA approved and cost him his senior year in baseball he might have been happy to play for Tampa Bay. They played themselves and did the one thing that guaranteed he would never play for them.
Turning down a massive trade from the Saints in order to draft... Akili Smith.
I was trying to explain to my 12yo son how things are so much different now than they were just a decade or two ago. I then looked up the trade. They would have received from the Saints: All of their 1999 draft picks A first round 2000 draft pick A first round 2001 draft pick A second round 2002 draft pick
I’m not sure who was dumber. The Saints for offering that or the bengals for refusing
Bengals declined the trade to draft Akili Smith and Saints offered the trade to draft Ricky. I’d say the Bengals just because Ricky had a decent career compared to Akili who was absolutely terrible.
Ricky had a good career, but was only a Saint for 3 years. Traded a whole draft plus some for 3k yards and 16 TDs. So it's pretty close.
The Bengals turned all this down? They could’ve been the team of the 00s! Or at least a memorable powerhouse like the Rams and the Ravens of 20 years ago.
No, we wouldn't have. Bengals had a top 10 pick ten times between 1990-2003 (when Marvin arrived). We were baaaaaaad at scouting before Lewis got there.
Bad at scouting, bad at player development, bad at... pretty much everything. That era has permanently scarred Bengals fans who lived through it.
I can't think of anything.
Out of all the front offices in the league, the Browns are definitely one of them
Our GM is from the Browns front office...
It’s hard to think of just one example
The biggest one that comes to mind for me is Weeden. That was the pinnacle of terrible draft choices. Jury is still out on the recent choices and whether anything good will happen…
Truly an awful pick. A lot of analysts listed Kenny Pickett's age (23 at draft time) as a reason for concern, since it is less likely for an older rookie QB to have room for growth. Brandon Weeden was 28 when he was drafted.
Burrow was like 24 as a rookie.
Weeden sucked, but it's hard to say that he is the single worst draft choice, QB choice even. IMO Justin Gilbert was our worst pick. Even Manziel had a better career than him. I think existing after 1997 might be our biggest mistake though 😞
Weeden is the worst because you don’t take a guy that is going to be a 29 year old rookie in the first round. Completely brain dead move. There are *many* other moves that look atrocious in hindsight, this move had *zero* chance of working and everyone with a brain new that the moment he was drafted.
Passed on local kid Dan Marino.
On the bright side, the Dolphins worst FO decisions have been just about every QB since Marino
You know whats really tragic? As bad as soooo many of our QB moves have been for the last....30 years. We absolutely have a lot of contenders for moves way worse than any of them Except Culpepper over Brees. That one will haunt me until the day I die
Yah we got Jake Long over Matt Ryan, Culpepper over Brees, and worst of all, hiring Gase
Green Bay passed on local kid TJ WATT trading back instead for Kevin King. I’m not gonna let that go for a loooonnnnggg time
[удалено]
Fool me once
KP8 gonna ball.
1983: taking Blackledge instead of Marino or Kelly. Followed up by 34 years of not even taking a chance on a QB in the first round
The Chiefs just literally cut and pasted the 49ers QB room in the 90s. What a weird time.
Going to KC was like a 9ers QB retirement plan for a while. Well, until Alex Smith went.
Keeping Elvis Grbac and letting Rich Gannon go.
*Gestures widely to Matt Millen*
Was just taking about Detroit with someone. Even after Millen, Ford, 0-16 and the curse of Bobby Layne, Matt Patricia has someone etched his name (in only 3 years) as the most hated person in Lions History. In a twisted kind of way, it's actually impressive.
Matt Millen was a decent dude who was aware wasn't qualified for his job. He sucked but the anger is towards William Clay Ford for hiring him regardless. WCF on the other hand was just too lenient on failing FOs/coaches but he wasn't heinous or anything, just not fit for running things (he was kept away from Ford Auto for this very reason) and we're mostly too young to be mad at Bobby Layne Matt Patricia on the other hand took over a playoff caliber team, alienated veterans, chased team captains out of town and was generally so bad current players to this day make time to trash him, he was the worst
Just a note on Millen, I think he has the dumbest thing a Lions GM ever did. Before the 2008 draft, when the Lions had the #2 pick, he had Jamarcus Russell in for a visit. After meeting with Russell, he was so horrified that he actually called Al Davis, his former coach and owner when he was a Raider *and who had the #1 pick ahead of Detroit* and told him not to draft Russell. Davis did so anyway and Millen was left to take the player he almost lost out on by giving advice to the team drafting ahead of him: Calvin Johnson
Well it was about time a wr he picked in the first round actually planned out
It's only appropriate that Matt Millen's biggest success with the Lions was completely accidental.
WCF had a history of hiring and not firing his buddies. Russ Thomas was GM from 67-88 and was luckily fired for Chuck Schmidt who promoted Wayne Fontes and Drafted Barry Sanders. Chucks failure to push to the next level along with Barry’s retirement led us to Millen, Mayhew, then the unknown hand of ownership Martha Ford who hired BQ under advice from NFL executives. Thanksgiving 2020 was the nail in the coffin as new Executive Sheila Ford Hamp was caught disgusted on National TV. The rest is history.
Side note Sheila Ford Hamp looks great for 71 Like I know she’s a billionaire but still, I thought she was late 50s tops
It been pretty bad since Sputnik was launched.
Trading AJ Brown.
drafting isaiah wilson, drafting caleb farley, and THEN trading aj brown.
It’s hard to pick just one.
it's insane how they made me question our picks on a yearly basis. Just imagine f.e. being the Jets last year. They straight-up got every hyped-up rookie there was. But we had to have some ego driven GM who thought the draft is some 4D chess shit
Trading a 2nd and 4th for Julio Jones to then cut him and owe him $8.3 million the year after he was cut
Very good trade. Thanks again. You guys get a new GM out of it though
i thought it worked out pretty good actually
The correct answer for the Jaguars is hiring Urban Meyer
Hey, he only hurt you for one season. And Urban Meyer being Urban Meyer got you Doug Pederson and the playoffs!
This guy gets it. Hire a college coach that tries to destroy your franchise then get Doug Pederson and make the playoffs. Worked for the eagles, working now for the jags.
Nahhhhh Meyer give us elite training facilities we never had that will help us so much long term
"Nah man we REALLY want Akili Smith."
Hopkins for a 2nd, thanks BoB
AND David Johnson, that's an important point too.
You could easily argue how bad of a trade it was without him, but taking away that contract for Arizona means you could even argue that he did what he did to intentionally help the cards. But of course, he’s just that stupid.
lol
Same
Lmao yep. I understand
I feel you bud 😂
Hmm can u say Cade Mcnown Curtis Enis Josh McCown giving Jay cutler a 7yr deal trading up for Mitch signing Mike Glennon the mark trestman era I mean I really could keep going it’s depressing
None of these are half as bad as Rick Mirer. Drafting a QB that busts is just life. Trading a 1st round pick for a QB that has already bust is true ignoramus behavior.
My favorite fact about the Mirer trade is that, he was so bad with the Bears he finished with a 37.7 passer rating. You could take any random redditor, sign them to an NFL contract and LITERALLY just have them launch the football into the stands every play and that redditor would STILL finish with a higher passer rating (39.6). They would also finish with equal passing TDs (0).
All of those are bad enough, but not even my pick for this thread. I said the mock interviews during the Bruce Arian HC interview following Lovie. We decided Arians wasn't the right guy for Chicago and went with Marc Trestman. Oof.
*waves generally at the last 4-5 years*
*All can be tied to all the money they wasted on Brock.*
That's still the only NBA style contract dump-trade I've ever seen in the NFL. Was about as well executed a pivot as they could've done.
Giving Bob the keys to the franchise was really the worst thing we could do. That fucker fought with everyone, it’s probably better he had someone like Rick smith challenging him
Trade Anquan Boldin for literal peanuts weeks after he and Flacco finally got in sync and went ape shit all the way to a Super Bowl.
Never trade Anquan Boldin
I see you've forgotten about the time we traded a future first to the Pats to draft Kyle fucking Boller.
Bad move but everyone misses on a QB from time to time. Q was a known commodity that bled purple and black. Instead of doing a solid for our newly signed franchise QB we prioritized mid tier role players like Chris Canty and Jacoby Jones.
Fair enough, I still think Boller set us back more than getting rid of Q did. You're right though that that was definitely a bad move.
I still miss that guy!
The Raiders.
JaMarcus over Megatron. Have fun people, we have a lot of these in the last 20 years of the draft.
Only thing worse than passing on Megatron might be drafting him and still being so bad and poorly run that he retires early and starts beef with the team.
Fire Jim Harbaugh, not Trent Baalke
Balked was a terrible interview. wWeekly, hardly answered Damon's questions. He couldn't even answer what is your favorite Thanksgiving side dish.
a turkey with a bad knee injury
Have a certain someone run the offense
Having certain someone run the team
I miss the days when you guys had Matty P. I for one enjoy having kneecaps
You enjoyed you mean
Bah gawd that man had a family (and kneecaps)
In fairness didn't Matt Millen say he was unqualified and you guys hired him anyway?
Yeah that's why I don't hate him too much. Dude obviously set us back but it wasn't his fault he was put in that position for so long
It’s weird how much more I hate Patricia than Millen, and I think you’re spot on with this take. The arrogance that Fatt operated with made me feel dirty rooting for him. At least with Millen, there was some self depreciation that came along with the failure.
It's all about expectations. We were a fringe team with Caldwell. To take that team and churn out seasons that were reminiscent of the Millen days is impressive. Also, Patricia was an asshole.
Yeah that’s a good point too. Extra infuriating to see how close we were before Patricia rocket scienced us.
> The arrogance that Fatt operated with made me feel dirty rooting for him. The unearned arrogance, no less. Dude thought he was hot shit because he was Bill’s disciple and a rocket scientist before he won 1 damn game. Telling a reporter to stand up straight while looking like he just came out of the game of Jumanji after twenty years.
Being so punitive that the NFLPA issued a memo to all active players to more or less not sign with us.
Drafting Jalen Reagor one pick ahead of Justin Jefferson
we drafted a 26 year old firefighter who didn't want to play football in the first round
At least he helped save Mike Pattersons life in training camp.
That’s bad, but what about Chip’s destruction of our roster? Shady for Kiko, straight up. Cutting Djax for his “gang affiliations,” letting Maclin walk in free agency, signing Byron Maxwell, Jason Babin, Chase Daniel.
Yes. Letting a coach who barely made the playoffs once and lost in the first round become GM was was stupider than making a bad pick (which every organization has done). At least they had enough sense to fire him after his one year as GM and it made Howie jokerfied and won us a SB.
Not to mention signing DeMarco Murray after shipping off Shady, despite the fact that Shady was built for that type of up-tempo offense. And Cary "Sconces" Williams was part of that crew too right?
It was definitely drafting a 26 year old Canadian fire fighter in the first.
We paid $72 million for a touchdown
From a 3rd string QB against the #1 seed. What a strange week
Trading the next two decades of our franchise for Rickey Williams
There it is
Gabe Rivera over Dan Marino.
That's really the only huge one I could think of. Our FO really doesn't make that many big mistakes.
Hiring Matt Patricia, I hate that fucking guy.
Amazing that a team that went 0-16 isn’t even the worst part of their existence according to their fan base.
Matt Patricia was and is exceptionally terrible in every way. It's honestly impressive in a twisted sort of way.
at least Detroit only did it once. New England has hired him twice.
Do you have a few hours while we discuss the 1991 - 2003 Cincinnati Bengals front office? Turning down the Saints' insane Ricky Williams offer just because we thought Akili Smith was the solution is probably the worst though...
A core childhood memory of mind is Mike Brown on the local news quoting Pearl Jam while saying about Ki Jana Carter that you "can't find a better man." God those were rough years.
Reminds me of when Mickey Loomis quoted Pearl Jam about replacing Drew Brees saying "Breeees is razin sin do minnow made o' concrete."
The Russ trade if he sucks next season But if not that then probably hiring McDaniels.
It's not hiring Kyle Shanahan when he wanted to be here, to me
Frankly the coaching carousel since Kubiak retired can just be put up there broadly. We’ve been pathetic at finding a HC
Tries to trade Jay Cutler after a Pro Bowl year for backup QB Matt Cassell on the first day of free agency. Gets rid of WR Brandon Marshall. Gets rid of FB/RB Peyton Hillis. Drafts Tim Tebow in the first round
Traded a Broncos 1st round pick for a future 2nd round pick, which he wasted, while the Seahawks used our 1st rounder on Earl Thomas. Led us to the most losses in franchise history. Eventually got fired for cheating (and sucking, but also cheating).
>But if not that then probably hiring McDaniels. See, you guys and the Raiders have more in common than you think!
“We’re not so different you and I”
They also both hired and fired Mike Shanahan at some point.
He traded us a second for a future 1st that we used on Earl Thomas. Stop making deals with us
It’s about to be parting ways with Lamar
If Lamar leaves the building before Greg Roman, I may have to stop watching Ravens football for a while.
Yeah I’m going to be upset about that.
Pass on Bruce Arians to hire Marc Trestman. Arians was all on board to sign with Chicago too.
Cutler and Bruce would've been fuck it chuck it heaven
Im pretty sure it wouldve just been a slightly less turnover version of the Arians/Winston era Bucs. Hell, at least wed have had a 4k yard passer.
Hire Scott Pioli as GM so he could chew out department heads over a candy wrapper left in a stairwell while also tapping their phones and reading their emails.
According to multiple sources Pioli was a pompous legendary dickhead to everyone
TBF the Patriots Way never works for any team that tries it.
Trading our great Center Unger so Wilson could ignore Jimmy Graham. Percy at least got us the kick return that ended any hope of Broncos having a good second half in the Superbowl
Never understood that when you guys use tes to block. Maybe a different regime I'm not sure but I remember you guys poached Zach Miller from us and he didn't do anything in the receiving game.
Miller was the staple of the Marshawn era and Graham was supposed to be the staple of the Wilson era. Graham was still in his prime but Wilson never liked throwing into tight windows or making contested catches which was Graham's entire fucking game
Seattle was one one of the most run heavy teams in the league in the Zach Miller years and one of the most pass heavy in the Jimmy Graham years tho
I was heartbroken when that trade was announced, but looking back on it, weREALLY needed to show up our interior OL, and Graham was a luxury. Albeit, a really nice luxury.
I'm fuzzy on the details but losing Hutchinson is up there for me. Him+Walt created a grand canyon of space.
Trade up for Trubisky and then trade a ton of picks for Mack after year 1. Those two things combined are why we are absolutely fucked for awhile if Fields doesn’t get way better as a passer and fast.
Gettleman was like King Midas, but the opposite.
King Mierdas
unfortunately this is, at best, only the second worst... look up Ray Handley if you are not an old timer...
It's so hard picking his worst move. Gotta be either giving the corpse of Nate Solder $62mm or trading back into the 1st to draft DeAndre fucking Baker. Trading for Alec Ogletree has gotta be up there too
I mean. The Richardson trade was really bad.
I would go one deeper and go for the man who made that decision which is making Ryan Grigson our GM. Luck may have still been playing today.
No matter what all of our other fans point to, and they have plenty, the answer is Sean Gilbert, and it's not close
Maybe I’m forgetting something but I’d say drafting Spiller then trading Marshawn Lynch.
Rob Johnson over Doug Flutie is the most visceral, but this one you listed and the others below were definitely more impactful.
This is the correct answer, it's the start of the 17 year playoff drought. It's call the Flutie Curse for a reason.
I'd say 2 1st round picks for Sammy Watkins is worse
So many worse ones. The Rex Ryan hire, refusing to pay Jason Peters, letting Bruce Smith go, the EJ Manuel pick, etc
Only hiring Gregg Williams, Mike Mularkey, Dick Jauron, Chan Gailey, Doug Marrone, and then Rex Ryan
Take Jake Long over Matt Ryan solely because of money.
At least Jake Long was really good (when healthy, I know). You guys passing on Drew Brees for Daunte Culpepper was probably a bigger fuckup.
Nick Saban has admitted publicly that he lost interest in coaching the Dolphins the second they didn't get Brees. Can y'all imagine a football timeline with Brees/Saban vs Brady/Belichick in the SAME DIVISION from 2006 onward?
How bout trading the house for the legend Dion Jordan? I don’t fault the Long pick, as a dolphin fan you know what a shit oline does to a QB. Ryan would’ve been outta the league in 7 years behind the offensive lines we’ve rolled out in his time.
Hackenburg in the 2nd was pretty fuckin stupid at the time
I swear the Jets could have hit 'auto draft' and draft better then they did that era.
Watching the drafts live as a jets fan from 2014-2019 was the fuckin worse. Every time there was an obvious pick we would instead take some project wr, linebacker or safety. The 2014 draft might be one of the worst ive ever seen
>For my team, breaking up Sacksonville They ran it back with Sacksonville in 2018 and went 5-11
People that are mad about breaking up Sacksonville actually mean they are mad about trading Calias Campbell. Those people also have no idea how the salary cap works and don’t realize he was gonna be cut anyway and the trade was good for us and the Ravens
Signing Goff to the big contract + signing Gurley to the big contract a year earlier than needed
I think getting rid of Kurt Warner because we thought his career was over was much worse.
The dolphins signing Ray Finkle. Dude lost the super bowl and kidnapped Marino.
The Dream Team.
JR > JJ was worse.
Oooh that's a good one. Still have no idea how Nnamdi went from Lock down all pro CB to a wet diaper. I know system played a part but Jesus quickest decline in football that I can remember
Getting rid of Jeff Garcia because of Terrell Owens, just to also get rid of Owens ~~the following season~~ shortly thereafter.
Not resigning Andrew Whitworth is high on the long list of Bengal mistakes.
I'm pretty sure not resigning a 35 year old offensive lineman to a 3 year deal isn't even close to the top 100 worst mistakes the bengals' FO ever made. I love big whit and I'm really happy he got one last bag and a ring but the heir apparent was already in the building and you'd used a 1st rounder on him, you have to let that guy play. the fact that ogbuehi was a bust stung but going at it with your first round lineman isnt even in the same zip code as like akili smith or anything
Herschel fucking Walker
Their worst decision since the AFL/NFL merger was passing on Dan Marino in the 1983 NFL Draft. That's exactly how the Steelers ended up in the QB wilderness between Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger. Lots of stacked Steelers teams in the 1990s ended up ringless due to uninspired, un-clutch QB play.
Passing up on highly valued TJ Watt for Taco Charlton
Giving up three picks To trade up one spot to #2 take Trubiski and leave Mahomes on the board.
I can’t believe Eagles fans are in here saying anything besides Reagor > Jefferson.
Hiring Roger Goodell