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AJ McKenzie
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Series pilot
IG: aj_mckenzie416
Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
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00:00Bill Pullian made that trade. There were a lot of people who said, whoa, what are you doing?
00:05We have a trade to announce. Boom, we get Tony Dorsett.
00:09It was the last second in the draft, then they wanted a second and a fourth, and we settled for
00:14that, and the rest is history.
00:18Yes, sir.
00:19Welcome to NFL Network's Top 10 Draft Trades. If you like fantasy football or poker, this countdown is for you.
00:26Wheeling and dealing isn't that common in today's NFL. Free agency has made the blockbuster a rare occurrence.
00:32But the draft is the one place where general managers still play. Let's make a deal.
00:38The National Football League's 55th annual selection meeting is now in session.
00:44It takes guts to pull off a draft day trade.
00:47We also have a trade to announce.
00:50You can become the next Bill Walsh or the next Ray Perkins.
00:54Tapa selects on the first round. Quarterback, Vinny Testaverde.
00:59One man's blockbuster.
01:01Man has traded his choice to Indianapolis.
01:05Can be another man's walking papers.
01:07Mike Ditka announced that he would trade his whole draft for Ricky Williams, so we called him the next day
01:12and said, hey, put us in line.
01:13The New Orleans Saints are now on the clock.
01:15Whoa, what are you doing?
01:17Most general managers don't like to make trades because if you make trades, you can be wrong.
01:21And if you're wrong, you don't want to make a trade.
01:23So that limits the amount of trades that are going to happen.
01:26As the years go by, everybody takes credit for the good ones and nobody takes the blame for the bad
01:31ones.
01:32So it's kind of hard to separate fact from fiction after a while.
01:35At the time, usually the trade is good for both teams.
01:38But ultimately, somebody's going to win.
01:42The number 10 all-time draft trade, Eli Manning for Phillip Rivers.
01:47That was the ultimate game of cat and mouse.
01:50Ernie Accorsi, the general manager of the Giants, knew he wanted Eli Manning.
01:54But A.J. Smith, who was running the draft for the Chargers, also knew that if he held out for
01:59a long time, that he was going to get the best deal he could.
02:03Both of these teams won this trade, really.
02:05With the first choice in the 2004 NFL draft, the San Diego Chargers select Eli Manning, quarterback, Mississippi.
02:17The Chargers had one problem.
02:19Eli wasn't interested in playing for San Diego.
02:22So Giants GM Ernie Accorsi got his quarterback.
02:25It made no sense that he would opt to go to live in a colder conditions, more media, and skip
02:35out on Antonio Gates and Daniel Thomason.
02:39Very weird.
02:41Yeah, San Diego Chargers and the New York Giants have exchanged their draft picks, Eli Manning and Phillip Rivers.
02:49Eli Manning's become the most hated sports figure in San Diego since Ryan Leaf because of his stance before the
02:56draft and just saying that he wasn't going to play for the Chargers.
02:59That's a situation like the John Elway drafting in Baltimore where the player forced the issue.
03:06Of course, he pounced because as a general manager, he had been jilted after drafting a highly touted quarterback in
03:141983.
03:17Baltimore selects as the first choice in the draft, quarterback, John Elway of Stanford.
03:23Elway held out until the Colts traded him to the Broncos where he became a legend.
03:28John, you know, was not willing to sign with the Colts.
03:31And so we had a chance, you know, to get the best quarterback to come out in the draft in
03:35a long, long time.
03:37Touchdown! 98 and a half yard drive.
03:39But two decades after losing Elway, of course, he was determined to get Manning at all costs.
03:46OK, thanks.
03:48Bye-bye.
03:49All you have to do around Ernie is mention the John Elway deal, and he talks about how that could
03:54have changed the fortunes of that franchise.
03:56I wouldn't doubt at all if that wasn't in his mind when he made that trade.
04:00And then A.J. Smith was the one who made that trade work because he used those picks for Nate
04:05Kading, who has become a Pro Bowl kicker.
04:07He's going to fire it right up and through.
04:10And John Merriman, who's become one of the best defensive players in the league.
04:14And then he even traded the fifth round pick that they got for Roman Oban, who was a staple at
04:18left tackle for a year and a half and kind of helped stabilize their line.
04:22Now that Eli Manning has two Super Bowl rings, the question is, who got the best of our 10th all
04:28-time draft day trade?
04:30What a play by the quarterback.
04:33Easy to say now, Eli's 1-2.
04:35It's like the Chargers got robbed in this deal.
04:38But Rivers has been a great fit for what San Diego's doing.
04:41San Diego's been in contention every year.
04:43Towards the end zone, caught!
04:45Touchdown!
04:46San Diego!
04:48It's worked out really well for both sides still.
04:51Both guys are giving you a good return on your investment.
04:54It's probably a trade that both teams are probably happy with because they've both got a quarterback that they know
04:59they can win with.
05:00Every year, huh?
05:02They win.
05:04They win coming off of a 9-7 and 8-8 season.
05:10The number nine all-time draft trade, the Steelers get Jerome Bettis.
05:15Jerome Bettis is a perfect back for the way the Steelers want to play football.
05:18It just gave him a whole second career, which he took tremendous advantage of.
05:23And he gets to the goal line for that touchdown.
05:26Smash my football, baby.
05:28Pittsburgh style.
05:29On draft day in 1996, the Pittsburgh Steelers sent their second-round pick and a future selection to the Rams
05:37for Bettis.
05:38There were some people that thought that the Steelers paid too high a price.
05:41Because they thought they were getting a guy that was near the end of his career, if not at the
05:47end of his career.
05:48I think they really knew that he was in a system that didn't fit him.
05:54You could see the numbers kind of going down, not because he wasn't healthy.
05:57It was because the Rams at the time wanted to throw the ball more than run it.
06:02I think the biggest lesson that I learned was that I couldn't quit.
06:05Things are not going to always be great.
06:07And that you have to just pick your head up and give it another try.
06:11The Rams used the second-round pick to get tight end Ernie Conwell.
06:14Conwell touchdown!
06:15And ended up trading the fourth-round pick, which resulted in wide receiver Diedrich Ward.
06:21Touchdown!
06:22Diedrich Ward!
06:23They said I was done, over with, finished.
06:26Yeah.
06:27Where did they get a load of me?
06:28Bettis became a very perfect fit for what the Steelers wanted to do offensively, which is a big-back, pound
06:33-the-football, control-the-ball-on-the-ground kind of team.
06:36They asked for me!
06:37They wanted me!
06:38That's what I got!
06:40How is a guy that's like 270, 5'11", that light on his feet?
06:47He's on his feet at the 5!
06:49He's on a touchdown, Pittsburgh!
06:51He's on the bus!
06:53He's on the bus!
06:55The bus shakes him off like flies!
06:58He just fit this town, this franchise, this philosophy, the power philosophy like a glove.
07:04You know what?
07:05We're going to keep your ass here for a while, too.
07:07Hey, I got to.
07:08You got to keep me.
07:08I want to retire here, Coach.
07:10Jerome would smile at everybody, and people love him, and yet he goes out there and takes great linebackers into
07:15the end zone on his back.
07:17And he's still on his feet, and he gets to the goal line for a touchdown!
07:20The bus finished his career as the NFL's fifth all-time rusher, and in 2005, even as a backup, still
07:27had his eyes on the game's greatest prize.
07:31I want to get my team to the Super Bowl.
07:32You know, I want to play in the Super Bowl.
07:34I want to win the ring.
07:35I want to be a champion.
07:36Oh!
07:36He came on in the second half in a game against Chicago at home.
07:40He's now eighth, and that's still impressive.
07:44And he's about to be ninth after this season.
07:51And gained 100 yards in the second half alone, in the snow, running over Brian Urlacher for a touchdown.
07:59The bus drives, and the bus gets to the goal!
08:01Touchdown, Pittsburgh!
08:02And I think from that point on, he had them believing that they could actually get to Detroit.
08:08It was such a wonderful story.
08:10Ah!
08:12The bus helped the Steelers win three straight road games during the playoffs, and Pittsburgh earned one for the thumb.
08:19The game is over!
08:21The Pittsburgh Steelers did it the hard way!
08:25They cuffed the Detroit with a job well done.
08:29We're champions in a world, baby!
08:30They can't take this from us!
08:32We're champions forever!
08:36Our number eight all-time draft trade.
08:39The Dolphins deal for Paul Warfield.
08:42Joe Thomas is sort of the forgotten man of the Miami Dolphins.
08:46There's no sort of about it.
08:47Don Shuler eventually was the man who made all the pieces march.
08:52But Joe Thomas gave the pieces to Don Shuler.
08:55Without Thomas, they could never have been what they were.
08:59Before Don Shuler's arrival, Miami Director of Player Personnel Joe Thomas acquired 21 of the 22 starters on the 72
09:06Dolphins
09:07through shrewd drafting and clever trades.
09:11The clock attacker goes in for a touchdown!
09:13He played a big role in all of their draft choices.
09:16Bob Greasy, Larry Zonka, you know, Mercury Morris, and some of those great players that helped me win the Super
09:22Bowls.
09:23Thomas' biggest move was our number eight trade.
09:25Miami's first-round pick in 1970 for the NFL's best receiver, Paul Warfield.
09:32Warfield, touchdown!
09:34Affirmatively underrated.
09:37At the time, the Dolphins had never won more than five games in a season.
09:42He's dropped the ball on the staff, but it's been covered by Dallas.
09:46The guy...
09:48What does that...
09:49That doesn't line up with what you're saying.
09:51What does them playing in the Super Bowl after this trade went down in 71 have to do with 69
09:59and before?
10:05They were 3, 10, and 1 the year before I got here, and I think that's one of the reasons
10:09they made the change,
10:11because the coach was getting the job done with the talent that Joe Thomas had provided them.
10:16It really was Joe Thomas' brainstorm.
10:18He was very proud of the fact that he engineered that deal.
10:22Cleveland used the number three overall pick on highly touted quarterback Mike Phipps.
10:28Phipps was thought to be a franchise quarterback coming out.
10:31I mean, he had a great career at Purdue, tremendously accurate passer, had won,
10:35seemed to have the composure, the smarts, everything you look to be the kind of guy you're building team around.
10:40That was why they made the trade.
10:42In Cleveland, Phipps never threw for more than 2,000 yards in a season
10:47and threw almost twice as many interceptions as touchdowns.
10:51Asking me about Mike Phipps is like asking me about just a run-of-the-mill quarterback.
10:55That's what he was.
10:58Completely, completely wrong.
11:00He was actually a terrible quarterback for that area.
11:04He threw nearly twice as many touchdowns, interceptions as touchdowns.
11:09He was a terrible quarterback even for that era.
11:16He was like 20 below league average passer rating or something, 15.
11:22Warfield proved to be the final piece in the Dolphins' championship puzzle.
11:30Warfield was just an amazing athlete.
11:33He had tremendous speed.
11:34He had great moves.
11:35Nobody could defend him.
11:36I mean, nobody could defend him.
11:38In 1971, the Dolphins reached the Super Bowl.
11:42Warfield's got a touchdown!
11:44And with their perfect wide receiver, the 1972 Dolphins became the perfect team.
11:50The Dolphins have completed the greatest season in NFL history.
11:54And Mike's career was marred by injuries and inconsistency.
11:58And Paul Warfield was a Hall of Fame receiver.
12:01So, you know, what more could you ask for?
12:03Firing deep downfield.
12:05Warfield, great kick!
12:06And he's in for the touchdown!
12:10The number seven all-time draft trade, the Jeff George Blockbuster.
12:14When people saw his arm for the first time in a workout setting, there was awe.
12:21I mean, that ball was, whew!
12:23It was like throwing it through a car wash and not getting a wet.
12:26Threw 50 balls.
12:27Not one of those balls hit the ground.
12:29Everything was perfect right on line.
12:31The hype machine was there.
12:33And I think that the Falcons did a good job of kind of fueling that hype machine as well.
12:39In 1990, Ron Myers...
12:41He could have broken Superman's fingers by hitting him in the hands with the football.
12:53Indianapolis Colts thought they were just one player away from being a Super Bowl contender.
12:57They already had the NFL's best running back.
13:01Touches himself to the goal line.
13:02Touchdown, Eric Eekerson!
13:04Come on, Bunch!
13:04Come on, Bunch!
13:05Let's go!
13:06Shake it up!
13:06Shake it up!
13:07After the combine, the Colts were determined to get Jeff George.
13:10But Atlanta had the number one pick in the draft.
13:13And they were ready to make Indianapolis pay a hefty price.
13:16I said, okay, stop this workout.
13:18That's it.
13:19I said, we're not going any further.
13:21This is the guy we're kicking.
13:23I've seen enough.
13:24Taylor Smith was the owner who was with me.
13:26So we walk off the field.
13:27He says, what are you doing?
13:28I said, we've got to get them to know that we really want this guy.
13:31And we want to make sure that they're going to pay the right price.
13:34With its choice obtained by trade from Atlanta, Indianapolis selects Jeff George, quarterback from Illinois.
13:42We did make the trade because I just felt the quarterback is the key in the NFL.
13:48Sets up, looks, looks.
13:49Throws to the end zone.
13:51Take care!
13:52If you don't have one, you're 88 and out the gate.
13:56The Colts got George's big arm and big hair, but at a big price.
14:02Four players, including star lineman Chris Hinton, wide receiver Andre Risen, and the Colts' first round pick the next season.
14:10Now, obviously, we lost a couple good players in Risen and in Chris Hinton, but I felt we could replace
14:17those.
14:17You cannot replace a quarterback.
14:20Take a step forward to get Jeff George.
14:22They took some quantum leaps back because they gave up some of the talent around him.
14:25We got the deal of the century.
14:28Even if Jeff George had panned out to be close to Peyton Manning, I really think that we got a
14:33great deal.
14:34One of these days, it's going to be really sweet, and Jeff George is going to lead the team to
14:37the Super Bowl.
14:38And being from his hometown, it's going to be really nice.
14:44Drafted a guy who refers to himself in the third person, very smart, very, he's not a complete narcissist in
14:56D.Va.
15:03Born in Indianapolis, George was buried there by opposing defenses.
15:07Are you on top of everything?
15:10George rapidly deteriorating.
15:12I would say everything's on top of you, Jeff.
15:17Throwing more interceptions than touchdowns and posting only one winning season in four years.
15:23His problem early in his career is that he was a selfish guy, and that was a tag that he
15:28could never shake the rest of his career.
15:30You know everything?
15:31Yeah.
15:33Strong is intercepted by James Johnson to 10.
15:37Touchdown, Browns!
15:39In Atlanta, head coach Jerry Glanville used the best players to take the Falcons into the playoffs for the first
15:46time in more than a decade.
15:47There's a man open.
15:48Touchdown!
15:50Showtime!
15:50Number one.
15:52Showtime!
15:52We thought we needed a lot of players.
15:55We didn't need a player.
15:56We thought we got one of the top guards in all of football.
15:59And really, Andre Risen's strength was what he did inside the 12-yard line.
16:04Andre Risen wanted a touchdown.
16:07That's all he lived for.
16:09Right down the middle.
16:10Touchdown, Andre Risen!
16:11Mark it down!
16:13The Falcons win!
16:17This was huge.
16:18This was one of the best things, if not the best thing, that the Falcons have ever done in their
16:24life.
16:24Even though the Falcons outdid the Colts on this horse trade, they undid almost everything by trading for George in
16:311994.
16:33Hey, these guys are going at it.
16:35Yep.
16:36Watch.
16:37He knew sooner or later that Jeff George was going to become Jeff George.
16:42And to see that scene on the sidelines, where you got Jeff George screaming at June Jones, it was just
16:49beyond anything that you could possibly imagine.
16:51Over the next 10 years, George suited up for five different teams and never met the high expectations.
16:58The intangibles that go into a quarterback.
17:00Peyton Manning has it.
17:01Tom Brady has it.
17:02Jeff George lacked something.
17:03I don't know what it was.
17:04It certainly wasn't talent.
17:05I just don't see that type of competitiveness, that type of damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead, whatever it takes
17:13to win.
17:13I didn't always see that with Jeff.
17:16And I think that was the difference on what elevates one from this level up to the other.
17:22The number six all-time draft.
17:25Why did you draft him then?
17:27Draft trade.
17:28Michael Vick or LaDainian Tomlinson?
17:30That was the draft that set the Chargers on the course they are on now, which has made them the
17:37most talented team in all of football.
17:39The Michael Vick, LaDainian Tomlinson trade will be, without any question, the most interesting trade of the decade that we
17:48currently live in.
17:49Charger fans are witnesses to history!
17:56Michael Vick entered the 2001 draft as the most exciting player in college football.
18:02Lightning in the bottle.
18:03That's what he is.
18:04But the Chargers needed a quarterback and a running back.
18:08And general manager John Butler was determined to get both.
18:12I'm going to give them all this, baby.
18:14I'm going to give them all that.
18:15So what happened is the Chargers decided that there's a quarterback who they really liked out of Purdue they thought
18:21they could get down the line, Drew Brees.
18:24When San Diego started shopping around the number one pick, buyers were hard to find.
18:30Teams basically are sort of setting their ways with what they want to do, except the Atlanta Falcons.
18:35When it came to us, if you really looked at it, we were the most legitimate possibility to get a
18:41good trade for them.
18:43We were looking because Chris Chandler was getting it at the end of his career.
18:47Chris Chandler is hurt.
18:48I felt it would be ideal to bring in a quarterback like Mike Vick.
18:51But the Chargers think that there's one player who they really want.
18:56They tell Dan Reeves of the Falcons, look, we really want Tim Dwight.
19:00Dwight with one to beat. Touchdown!
19:0294 yards!
19:03One of the tough ones in it for us was Tim Dwight, who had been a really good player.
19:08But when we looked at it, Tim Dwight...
19:10Crap! It's Michael Vick's birthday today.
19:12What are the odds of that?
19:14I just did a thing covering Vladenian Thomason, and it was his birthday that day.
19:22Dwight was going to be a free agent.
19:23So therefore, we felt like that this was an opportunity that we could use Tim Dwight and help us, you
19:29know, make the trade with Mike Vick.
19:31Tim Dwight, when they made that trade, was the player that they insisted that they had to have.
19:36So actually, there was about a 36-hour Tim Dwight roadblock to the biggest trade in the last 10 years.
19:44In addition to Tim Dwight and Atlanta's top pick, the Falcons gave the Chargers cornerback Tay Cody and a second
19:51-round pick in 2002.
19:53The San Diego Chargers select Vladenian Tomlinson.
19:57At the time, scouts warned that Tomlinson had, quote, bust written all over him.
20:02Whoever said it...
20:03Oh, really?
20:04Should hope that it got lost in the internet or somewhere because it didn't pan out.
20:09L.T. quickly established himself as football's premier running back.
20:14Vladenian, let's go!
20:16Vladenian Tomlinson, the special one, the gifted one.
20:20A cut that only few have ever been able to make.
20:25The Chargers used their first pick in the second round to get Drew Brees,
20:29who combined with Tomlinson helped spark San Diego's recent success.
20:34Pump it and throw.
20:35Touchdown!
20:37At first, Atlanta benefited the most.
20:40I don't know of anybody that ever played the game that at the quarterback position was the fastest player on
20:46the field.
20:47And Mike Vick has been in that situation a lot.
20:50Did you see that smoke coming off of Mike Vick's suit?
20:54Vick, with his exciting brand of football, engineered a fast turnaround in Atlanta.
20:59It's hard by Quentin McCoy.
21:01That's what you call a hard.
21:03Hell, that's what we got him for.
21:04Atlanta's last gasp.
21:06Down four.
21:07Touchdown to win.
21:08Michael looking to the left.
21:10Throws!
21:11Caught!
21:13Touchdown, Atlanta!
21:14I don't think they realize the S that's on this guy's chest underneath his uniform.
21:22Our number six deal turned the football world upside down.
21:26But who won?
21:28Week in and week out, he's worth the ticket price.
21:31Just so special, number 21.
21:35I think the best part of the trade is, I think both teams walk away with very good players.
21:39Initially, I thought the Atlanta Falcons got the best in that because you saw how good he was early in
21:44his career, able to carry the Falcons to a fact where they can go to Green Bay.
21:51First, prior to the Vic dog incident, the Falcons easily had won with the trade because you can put up
21:59all the nice stats.
22:00That doesn't just apply to quarterbacks.
22:02You can put up all the nice stats you want.
22:04Teams drive you to win them games and win them playoff games.
22:08Vic had won two charges with Tomlinson, had not won any yet, but in 2007 on, the Chargers won the
22:19trade and Vic was in jail.
22:26Win a playoff game.
22:28The Falcons have won the wild card game.
22:30It really is astonishing.
22:32And then go to a championship game.
22:33You know, that's how good I thought he was.
22:35Here comes the blitz.
22:36Vic, deep drop, in trouble.
22:38He'll keep the football looking.
22:39Humps once.
22:40Watch him go.
22:4135-30.
22:4225-20.
22:4315-10-5.
22:45Touchdown, Mike Vick!
22:49I give the checkmark to San Diego.
22:51They got a future MVP in this league in that deal.
22:54And they got a guy who I believe will be right there with Jim Brown as the greatest two running
23:00backs in NFL history when he's all done.
23:04The number five all-time...
23:05This must have been filmed like a year earlier because he did win MVP in 2006.
23:13Draft trade.
23:13That's the deal with Tony Dorsett.
23:16Number five.
23:17We really didn't think there was any way we were going to get Tony Dorsett.
23:21Then all of a sudden, we've made a deal with Seattle, and we've got a chance now to get Tony
23:25Dorsett.
23:26In 1977, the University of Pittsburgh's Tony Dorsett entered the NFL draft after winning the National Championship and winning the
23:35Heisman Trophy as college football's all-time leading rusher.
23:38He had a gear that very few people possess.
23:43Somebody said to Tony once, how fast are you?
23:45He said it depends on who's chasing you.
23:47Nobody ever caught him.
23:49The Seattle Seahawks trade.
23:54Their first-round selection to the Dallas Cowboys.
24:00Boom, we get Tony Dorsett.
24:02Tony Dorsett, touchdown!
24:04About two weeks before the draft even came about, I was talking with one of the vice presidents for the
24:08Dallas Cowboys, Gil Brent, and I was telling him how I really didn't want to go to an expansion team.
24:14He said, oh, don't worry about TV.
24:15You'll probably end up with a great team.
24:16I'm like, yeah, sure, Gil.
24:18And come draft day, I get that call from only but Gil Brent, and he's telling me, I've been drafted
24:23by the Dallas Cowboys.
24:24You're talking about somebody like a little kid in a toy store.
24:27I mean, I was tickled pink.
24:28Believe me, I became a much better running back coach awful quick.
24:32And a five, touchdown, Tony Dorsett.
24:34When we got Tony Dorsett, he was that type of back.
24:37He could take something that was, you know, planned to go one place and just go completely opposite direction, take
24:43it in for, you know, six points.
24:45To the 30, to the 40, to the 30, to the 10.
24:48Tony Dorsett is in the record books, 99 yards.
24:54In Dallas, the original TD led the Cowboys to the Vince Lombardi Trophy as a rookie.
24:59Hands it off to Dorsett, drive, touchdown!
25:02That was one of the great deals the Dallas Cowboys ever made.
25:06It was the worst trade the Seahawks have ever made, exchanging a future Hall of Famer for four draft picks.
25:14So they had the opportunity to trade away a high draft choice and pick up three or four or five
25:19what they thought would be quality players.
25:21Well, the deal happened because certainly the Seahawks wanted to try to get volume and Tony Dorsett didn't want to
25:27go to Seattle.
25:28Why do we want to go with a guy who has publicly said he doesn't want to be here?
25:31Let's get four players or however many we can trade for that we know will be happy to be here
25:36and can contribute.
25:37Had the Seahawks stayed there and taken Tony Dorsett, they have Tony Dorsett to go along with Jim Zorm and
25:45Steve Largent.
25:46Wow, no telling what Seattle might have turned into.
25:49Touchdown!
25:51Probably a Super Bowl team.
25:54Three Hawks on the run by...
25:56With Dallas' pick, Seattle got guard Steve August, tackle Tom Lynch, and linebacker Terry Beeson.
26:03The Seahawks traded the final Cowboy pick and in the end wound up with three more role players.
26:10All were out of the NFL by the mid-80s.
26:13So they got enough guys to fill out their starting lineup, but not enough guys to put them over the
26:17top.
26:18I think there's a lot of people that would second-guess that decision.
26:22And frankly, I'm one of them.
26:24One more thing.
26:27That last pick Seattle traded away went to San Francisco.
26:31Bill Walsh used it to draft Joe Montana.
26:39The number four all-time draft trade.
26:41The Ricky Williams blockbuster.
26:44Well, at the league meeting that year, Mike Ditka announced that he would trade his whole draft for Ricky Williams.
26:50So we called him the next day and said, hey, put us in line.
26:54Going into the 1999 draft, Texas running back Ricky Williams was billed as the second coming of Earl Campbell.
27:02I like, you know, his size.
27:03I mean, I like this.
27:03He's like, almost like an Earl Campbell type, but I think he's faster.
27:07Impressed by the young Longhorn, Saints coach Mike Ditka was willing to hawk his entire draft to rope in Williams.
27:15The Saints were willing to make a deal.
27:17So we said, well, your whole draft's not enough.
27:19We had to have more.
27:20So we asked for a first and a third the following year.
27:23There has been a trade involving this fifth pick in the draft.
27:30The New Orleans Saints are now on the clock.
27:33In exchange for moving up from 12 to five, Ditka gave Washington every one of his picks.
27:40New Orleans first, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh round picks in this draft and New Orleans first and third
27:51round picks in next year's draft.
27:53Classic example of where the coach seizes the day and is thinking only about that season and next season.
27:59At first, it was a public relations bonanza for the floundering Saints.
28:04Chopping on a cigar, Ditka left team headquarters after the trade, pronouncing his day over, which it was.
28:11There is no player in the National Football League that is worth an entire draft.
28:15I understand giving up a few picks, a first and a second.
28:19Maybe.
28:20You could argue maybe.
28:22Maybe.
28:23It was still probably a stretch, but maybe.
28:26No, I can't even do a thing.
28:27A first and a second for Ricky Wade.
28:29But you don't give up the entire draft.
28:30It kills you.
28:31When you're in a mess, you're stuck in a mess.
28:33You can't.
28:33One player is not getting you out.
28:35It's a team game.
28:36There's about 53 players on your team, and you better have a plan for the whole team.
28:41Injuries from the game.
28:43Talk to the trainer.
28:44Next.
28:45All right.
28:46Mike, why are you in such a bad mood?
28:47What do you care?
28:50Okay.
28:51You were 2-7.
28:52You'd be in a bad mood, too.
28:54New Orleans went 3-13.
28:56And Iron Mike was fired.
28:59The look on Mike Ditka's face now says it all.
29:02I tend to regard Mike as a knee-jerk kind of thinker.
29:07And a guy who's impulsive and makes rash decisions.
29:10I think we became a team today.
29:12We became a team.
29:14And this would appear to be a knee-jerk, rash decision to give away a whole draft for one guy.
29:19Conventional wisdom has it that Ditka was taken.
29:22But the truth is a little more murky.
29:27How did the Redskins...
29:29And lo and behold, as soon as Ditka was gone, to the Saints credit, they did win a playoff game
29:38over the defending champions in 2000.
29:44Now take those picks and turn themselves into a dynasty.
29:47That's what I want to know.
29:48There was no move that they've ever made that should have been any more effective than that single one.
29:54And yet, they don't have any championships to show for them.
29:58Because they're Washington.
30:06Bill Walsh saw something in Steve Young that literally no one in the NFL saw.
30:11I mean, I didn't talk to one person on any other team who saw Steve Young as an NFL starting
30:17quarterback.
30:20One week before the 1987 draft, Bill Walsh fleeced the Tampa Bay Buccaneers out of a Hall of Fame quarterback.
30:28Touchdown 49ers!
30:30New Bucs coach Ray Perkins wanted to draft Miami's Vinny Testaverde with the number one overall pick.
30:36And was looking to dump his athletic, but erratic quarterback.
30:40The perception was, you didn't know exactly.
30:44It was this wild, maverick, young horse that they didn't know how to tame.
30:49Only one coach saw something in Young.
30:52And that's when I stepped into the picture and said, we're going to go for him.
30:56He had a good arm.
30:57He was accurate.
30:59He was quick.
31:01He had a great attitude about playing football.
31:04Then I made up my mind, we really want him.
31:07Then they wanted a second and a fourth, and we settled for that.
31:10It was the last second in the draft and the last fourth in the draft.
31:13So those were late picks.
31:14They were willing to part with him, even though he had been their most outstanding player.
31:19In fact, when we went back there to play against Tampa, Steve got the award from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
31:25as their outstanding player from the previous year.
31:28Tampa selects on the first round, quarterback, Vinny Testaver.
31:33Vinny, we have your jersey, number 14, your college number.
31:40And we want you to score at least 14 points for every game.
31:47Hey, two touchdowns a game.
31:51He threw about two interceptions a game.
31:58Testaver's performance was almost as ugly as the Bucs' old uniforms.
32:01In his first two seasons as a starter, he threw 57 interceptions.
32:07Number 37.
32:09You take Vinny Testaverde, and all of a sudden what you've done is you've taken a guy that's 21, 22
32:14years old, and you said,
32:15Hey, by the way, there's a franchise on your back.
32:17It's not any good.
32:19There's no real good players here, but you go ahead and drive it out of this desert.
32:22It's not going to happen.
32:27So, James Wilder and Mark Carrier, who's still the all-time leading Bucs rusher,
32:35and Mark Carrier, who's third all-time leading Bucs receiver, and was still first when this came out,
32:42weren't any good?
32:44That's interesting.
32:47This goes picks on linebacker Winston Moss, number 57, and wide receiver Bruce Hill.
32:55B. Perkins was fired.
32:57Testaverde has played for six different teams, but the results have been largely the same.
33:02He fires left.
33:03It is picked off by Yacate Samuel.
33:06In San Francisco, Steve Young helped the 49ers dynasty endure into the 90s.
33:13He's got Rice again.
33:14Touchdown, 49ers.
33:16He went to the perfect situation.
33:17He got to sit under Bill Walsh, play behind Joe Montana.
33:21Young's arrival had Joe Montana looking over his shoulder.
33:26Phil Walsh was great at establishing, I think the phrase was, creative tension within his team.
33:31He liked keeping everybody on their toes, including Joe Montana.
33:35At that time, people were saying, geez, maybe Montana's a little bit fragile.
33:39You know, 86, 87, he's getting hurt.
33:41The Giants knocked him out of the playoff game.
33:44They got him.
33:45They got him back to the 15-yard line.
33:47I think what Walsh saw, if you were going to stand up and tell your team, we are going
33:54to get the best players on this team, and nobody's position is ever going to be safe.
33:58Well, no, why would your quarterback's position ever be safe?
34:01Everyone wants to play.
34:03I want to play desperately, and I'm going to try to drive everyone nuts until they give
34:05me a shot.
34:06Well, Joe Montana now, he's got a challenge for his job.
34:10And everybody in any walk of life, if they bring in somebody to yip at your heels, you're
34:15going to be a lot better.
34:17Joe Kuhl responded with the best play of his career, leading the 49ers to two more Super
34:23Bowl titles.
34:26Oh, what a catch by Rice.
34:28Touchdown.
34:29And the 49ers have won the Super Bowl.
34:32In 1991, Young finally took over for Montana and took the 49ers to four NFC championship games.
34:39He caught it!
34:40He caught it!
34:41And a victory in Super Bowl XXIX.
34:44And a play fake.
34:45Young goes deep middle.
34:46He's got Jerry Wright.
34:4849ers!
34:49The most ever!
34:50Ever!
34:50Take it away from us!
34:52Ever!
34:53And there's no way that the 49ers would have extended their greatness unless they went out
34:59and made the gutsy trade for Steve Young.
35:01Steve Young, one of the courageous games I've ever seen.
35:05It's the stuff of legend.
35:06Steve Young owes the 49ers forever more for his career because coming out of Tampa Bay
35:12to anywhere else, he might have gone on to bend just a blip on the NFL scene instead
35:18of a Hall of Fame quarterback.
35:21Yeah, I heavily doubt that.
35:31Marshall's name was mentioned, and I didn't in my wildest dreams feel like that was a possibility.
35:37I was stunned by it.
35:39In 1999, Rams head coach Dick Vermeule entered the draft hoping to save his job and avoid an ugly exit
35:48from the NFL.
35:49I am emotionally burnt out and therefore a feel that I need to break.
35:58After a 14-year layoff, Vermeule had returned to football with high hopes.
36:04Here we go!
36:0514 years ago, I left coaching, okay?
36:07I left coaching because I had to, and I'm not embarrassed to say it.
36:11Today I'm back because I have to.
36:13But back-to-back losing seasons had Vermeule on the hot seat.
36:18The game is over.
36:19The Vikings stop him at the 6-inch line.
36:22This is in the variety of devastating.
36:26I mean, where do you go from here now?
36:27I spoke to him after year two, and he was concerned he would be fired.
36:31He was thinking of resigning.
36:33I mean, everything was up in the air.
36:34He was about as low as I have ever seen Dick Vermeule.
36:37Lawrence Phillips had been a bust at running back, and Vermeule needed a focal point for the offense.
36:44With his job on the line, Vermeule traded second and fifth-round picks to the Colts for Marshall Falk.
36:53Another trade that both teams won eventually.
36:57It happened primarily because Marshall Falk was entering the final year of his contract,
37:01and he wanted an extension, and basically made it known that without an extension, he would hold out.
37:05Touchdown! Yes, Marshall Falk!
37:08At that stage of our development, coming off a 3-13 season,
37:11we thought that a holdout, which we felt we were going to face with Marshall, was counterproductive.
37:17The Colts were intent on drafting Edgeron James to team him with Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison.
37:23Sets looks, fires it deep down the sideline, intended for Harrison.
37:26He's got a touchdown!
37:27Falk, they figured, was running out of gas.
37:30In five NFL seasons, he'd put together 4,000-yard campaigns and was ready to hit the wall.
37:38Touchdown, Marshall Falk!
37:39When Bill Pullian made that trade, there were a lot of people who said,
37:43Whoa, what are you doing?
37:44He makes the trade, and it's one of those where you're thinking,
37:46Well, we assume you know what you're doing,
37:49because this is a guy who was a quality player, a Pro Bowl running back.
37:52You just wonder, well, what's going to happen here?
37:54It was a second-round pick. It was a fifth-round pick to St. Louis.
37:57Falk at the five, still driving down, and in, touchdown!
38:00And then the conventional wisdom is, well, they're going to take Ricky Williams.
38:04Well, they didn't. They took Edgeron James.
38:05And while they took some criticism at the time,
38:08history's going to show that he made the right call.
38:10While you hate to lose a Marshall Falk, he got Edgeron James,
38:14who, if not on Marshall Falk's level, he's a half a notch below,
38:18because he had a great career here.
38:20Edgeron James pounds!
38:21Solid.
38:23Maybe a tear below.
38:25Polian used the St. Louis picks to select linebacker Mike Peterson
38:29and defensive end Brad Schioli,
38:31and the Colts went from worst to first in just one season.
38:35If I'm not mistaken, we were 13-3 that year.
38:38The Colts have won the AFC East for the first time in 12 years.
38:42And lost in the divisional round of the playoffs
38:45to the eventual Super Bowl participant, the Tennessee Titans.
38:49The Titans lost the Super Bowl to the Rams,
38:53who were reborn behind Marshall Falk.
38:57Absolutely remarkable.
38:58Wow!
39:00Well, I think Marshall basically redefined that position.
39:06He really did.
39:07I think that expanded the spectrum of all the things
39:10that you can ask or expect a running back to do.
39:12Pitch to Marshall Falk on the misdirection.
39:14Sweets across the 50, to the 40, to the 30.
39:17He's got that Marshall-esque stride to him, you know,
39:20where, I mean, he is really moldering,
39:21but he's just so smooth, he's so effortless.
39:24And all of a sudden, he comes to a complete stop
39:26and the entire game passes by,
39:29and then he turns and goes in the opposite direction.
39:32Forget the big red S.
39:33Superman wears a 2-8 on his chest.
39:36Let's keep being happy!
39:40The Rams' anemic offense became the greatest show on turf,
39:44and Marshall was in the center room.
39:47To the 10, to the 5, touchdown, Rams!
39:5133 yards!
39:52That was just in the distance.
39:54Hey, Marshall, we didn't block anybody.
39:57We didn't block anybody.
39:59That was a hell of a run.
40:00In just one season, Falk took the Rams all the way to Super Bowl 34
40:04and their first world championship in a half century.
40:08St. Louis, the gateway to the West,
40:10is now the gateway to the best.
40:16The number one all-time draft trade.
40:19Bill Walsh trades up for Jerry Rice.
40:21Number one.
40:25I would like to be the all-time receiver.
40:29They have some great receivers here,
40:31and I'm trying to follow in their footsteps.
40:32Going into the 1985 draft,
40:35the greatest wide receiver of all time
40:37was regarded by almost everyone as an overrated commodity.
40:42Touchdown again, Jerry Rice!
40:44Scouts dismissed Jerry Rice's numbers at Mississippi Valley State
40:47as the product of a wide-open offense.
40:53I saw Jerry Rice's highlight tape when I was in Houston
40:57the night before a game we had there,
40:59and this phenom was catching the ball all over the field,
41:02and I was saying to myself,
41:03this is an unbelievable player,
41:05and he was just flying through everybody,
41:08and his beautiful strides and his quick strides,
41:11there wasn't anybody that was going to catch him in the NFL.
41:13I know when we were going to read just how fast he was.
41:17Like, on television, on film, on real time, super fast.
41:23Going into that draft, that was with the Raiders.
41:25He wasn't our type of receiver at that time
41:27because he just wasn't fast enough.
41:29You know, we were always looking for the 4-3s, 4-4s.
41:32He didn't have what they considered a fast time in the 40.
41:36I think he ran a 4-5-9, but all you had to do was see him play.
41:40He was not a 4-5-9 runner.
41:42He must have had that competitive speed
41:44that whenever he lined up against somebody,
41:46he's going to beat you no matter how fast you are.
41:48That was, to me, one of the key things about Walsh
41:53in that it really wouldn't matter if he went to Mississippi Valley,
41:56University of Mississippi, Mississippi School for the Deaf.
42:00You know, if you were a player,
42:02you weren't going to hide from Bill Walsh.
42:05Only one other team showed interest in Rice, America's team.
42:09The Cowboys thought Jerry Rice could be a player.
42:14At that time, they needed wide receivers.
42:17Early in the draft, Rice was completely ignored by other teams.
42:22Bill Fraley, Dwayne Bickett, Ken Rutgers, Ron Holmes.
42:28The eighth straight lineman or linebacker selected.
42:31The Cowboys were confident they could get him with the 17th pick.
42:35The 10th choice in the first round, Al Toon from Wisconsin.
42:41The first team to take a wide receiver was the New York Jets.
42:45The second, the Cincinnati Bengals.
42:48Cincinnati, wide receiver, Eddie Brown.
42:52Dallas was poised to draft Rice at 17,
42:55but was stunned when Walsh engineered a trade with the Patriots.
42:59San Francisco trades their first, second, and third round picks
43:04in this draft to New England Patriots
43:07for New England's first and third choices.
43:10San Francisco, therefore, moves up to the 16th spot
43:14in the first round.
43:16The San Francisco 49ers select wide receiver
43:21Jerry Rice of Mississippi Valley.
43:25New England used the picks to draft Ben Thomas,
43:28Audrey McMillan, and Trevor Maddich.
43:31And the 49ers traded a pick that wound up as Trevor Maddich
43:35for Jerry Rice.
43:36I mean, that's like Babe Ruth for whatever he was traded for.
43:39For the end zone, all alone, Jerry Rice!
43:41Having failed to draft Rice,
43:43the Cowboys descended into mediocrity,
43:45and Tom Landry eventually lost his job.
43:48The Bengals drafted Eddie Brown ahead of Jerry Rice,
43:52and Brown had been the top receiver.
43:54There wasn't a bad pick.
43:56Eddie Brown!
43:57Held on!
43:58But when the two teams met in the Super Bowl,
44:02Rice had the best game of any receiver ever in the Super Bowl.
44:06And I think the Bengals might have looked back and said,
44:09well, maybe we made a mistake there.
44:11And the 49ers have won the Super Bowl!
44:16Rice won two more Super Bowls with the 49ers.
44:19Touchdown, 49ers!
44:21The boy is going to play it in the game!
44:24Getting Jerry Rice,
44:25even though we only had one player from that draft class,
44:29and that was Jerry Rice,
44:30it was well worth it.
44:31And Rice is there!
44:32And he's into the end zone!
44:34He's done it!
44:35Jerry Rice,
44:36in the 75-year history of the National Football League,
44:40is the touchdown scorer of the century.
44:42Jerry was just the ultimate pass receiver.
44:46And I owe everything to Bill Walsh,
44:48because he took a chance.
44:50He saw this guy from Mississippi Valley State University,
44:52and he believed in me.
44:54What Bill Walsh always a step ahead at,
44:57was seeing the player what he could be in the NFL level,
45:00with a couple years of coaching,
45:02as opposed to a lot of coaches,
45:03who are looking for finished products right now,
45:06and really the draft is not about that.
45:08There's no one particular catch to describe...
45:10That's what he takes time to develop.
45:12Jerry Rice,
45:13whether it's a one-handed miracle,
45:15whether it's two hands over the top of the defender,
45:18the greatest touchdown scorer
45:20in the entire history of professional football.
45:24Our number one trade only shows that on draft day,
45:28history can turn on every deal.
45:30You can debate the list,
45:31but there's no debating this.
45:32While hindsight is 20-20,
45:34nothing is crystal clear in the fog of the war.
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