FOR USE AS DESIRED
NFL-55 10/6/00
ON 13TH ANNIVERSARY OF DICKERSON/THREE-WAY TRADE,
GIL BRANDT RATES TOP 10 ALL-TIME TRADES
NFL Trading Deadline Next Tuesday, Oct. 10
One is still playing – 13 years later. Another is on the sidelines – literally, reporting for ABC’s NFL Monday Night Football.
The two key players in one of the NFL’s largest trades ever – Indianapolis Colts linebacker CORNELIUS BENNETT and ABC field reporter ERIC DICKERSON – are still very much involved in the game. Thirteen years ago this month – on October 31, 1987 – they were part of one of the NFL’s largest trades ever – 10 players – a transaction believed to be the only three-team, in-season trade ever.
It is a trade that, to this day, GIL BRANDT, former vice president of personnel development of the Dallas Cowboys and now NFL.com’s draft analyst, rates as one of the top 10 trades ever (see chart below).
While no one expects a trade of that magnitude to transpire this year, an increase in trading might be expected in the next few days due to the end of the 2000 trading deadline next Tuesday, October 10, at 4:00 PM ET.
"What clubs do at this point in the season," says Brandt, "is get that legal pad out and start dialing the other clubs asking if there’s somebody they’re interested in trading, or somebody they’re interesting in trading for."
If anyone knows about personnel and how player movement works, it’s Brandt. In his 29 years with the Cowboys (1960-88), he helped direct the team to 20 winning seasons through shrewd player acquisition.
Whether by trading for players (MIKE RENFRO), drafting them (TONY DORSETT), or signing them as free agents (CLIFF HARRIS), Brandt was constantly evaluating players, and the best way to acquire them.
So with the trading deadline approaching, the NFL asked Brandt to rate the top 10 trades in NFL history. He listed them chronologically – with commentary:
GIL BRANDT’S TOP 10 NFL TRADES
| 1957 – Packers Get Nitschke | 9/18/57: Green Bay trades DE John Martinkovic and T Dalton Truax to NY Giants for third-round selection. Packers choose future Hall of Fame LB Ray Nitschke. |
| 1960 – 49ers Get Jimmy Johnson | 4/11/60: San Francisco trades DB Dick Moegle to Pittsburgh for Steelers first-round selection. 49ers choose future Hall of Fame CB Jimmy Johnson. |
| 1964 – QBs
Traded Between Rivals |
3/31/64: Philadelphia trades QB Sonny Jurgensen (and DB Jimmy Carr) to Eastern Conference-rival Washington for QB Norm Snead (and DB Claude Crabb). "It may be the only time in history two quarterbacks were traded between division rivals," says Brandt. "Both teams benefited. Philadelphia went from 2-10 in ’63 to 6-8. Washington went from 3-11 to 6-8." |
| 1967 – Raiders
Trade for Willie Brown |
1/21/67: Oakland trades DE Rex Mirich to Denver for future Hall of Fame CB Willie Brown (and QB Mickey Slaughter). |
| 1977 – Cowboys Get Dorsett * | 5/3/77: Dallas trades WR Duke Fergerson, a first-round and three second-round choices to Seattle. Cowboys choose RB Tony Dorsett. |
| 1987 – 49ers Trade for Young | 4/27/87: San Francisco trades second- and fourth-round choices to Tampa Bay for QB Steve Young. "That’s why you make trades, hoping to get somebody who takes you to the Super Bowl," says Brandt. "That’s what the 49ers did." |
| 1987 – Dickerson/3-Way Trade | 10/31/87: Tied as fifth-largest trade in NFL history (10 players), LA Rams, Indianapolis and Buffalo partake in three-way trade. Believed to be the only three-way, in-season trade in history. Key players are future Hall of Fame RB Eric Dickerson going from the Rams to the Colts, and LB Cornelius Bennett from the Colts to the Bills. "Indianapolis wanted to go to the playoffs and they did (winning the division)," says Brandt. "Bennett paid long-term dividends to the Bills, helping them to four consecutive Super Bowls." |
| 1990 – Cowboys
Maneuver for Smith |
4/22/90: Dallas trades first-round selection it obtained in 1989 Herschel Walker trade (and a third-round choice from San Francisco) to Pittsburgh to move up to 17th overall pick. Cowboys choose RB Emmitt Smith. |
| 1992 – Packers Trade for Favre * | 2/10/92: Green Bay trades first-round selection to Atlanta for QB Brett Favre. "He threw five passes the year before and completed none," says Brandt. Favre played college ball at Southern Mississippi. Ironically, the player the Falcons took with the choice they got for Favre – RB Tony Smith – was also from Southern Miss. |
| 1995 – Jaguars Trade For Brunell | 4/22/95: Jacksonville trades third- and fifth-round selections to Green Bay for QB Mark Brunell. "He’s taken them to four playoffs," says Brandt. |
* Brandt rates as one of two best trades in NFL history.
BRANDT COMMENTS ON TWO UNIQUE NFL TRADES
| 1967 – Tarkenton Traded | 3/21/67: Minnesota trades
future Hall of Fame QB Fran Tarkenton to NY Giants for four draft choices. "The
Giants’ motive was to get the guy who would put them over the top, get them to the
playoffs," says Brandt. New York went from 1-12 in ’66 to two 7-7 seasons, but
did not make the playoffs. An aside to the trade: With one of their selections for Tarkenton, the Vikings chose WR Bob Grim, who was traded to the Giants in 1972 when Tarkenton was traded back to the Vikings. |
| 1974 – QBs
Traded in Season On Same Day |
10/22/74: Dallas trades QB
Craig Morton to NY Giants for first-round selection. Cowboys choose future Hall of Fame DT
Randy White. Morton’s first start for the Giants is against the Cowboys. New York
loses 21-7. 10/22/74: LA Rams trade QB John Hadl to Green Bay for five draft choices. "It may be the only time that two starting quarterbacks were traded on the same day in the middle of a season," says Brandt. |
THE ERIC DICKERSON/CORNELIUS BENNETT/THREE-TEAM TRADE
(Tied for fifth-largest trade in NFL history based on combination of 10 players and/or draft choices)
October 31, 1987 – The Los Angeles Rams trade RB ERIC DICKERSON to the Indianapolis Colts for Colts RB OWEN GILL and Indianapolis’ first- and-second-round draft choices in 1988, and the Colts’ second-round choice in 1989, plus Buffalo Bills RB GREG BELL and Buffalo’s first-round choice in 1988 and first- and second-round choices in 1989. The Colts obtained Bell and the Buffalo draft choices from the Bills in exchange for LB CORNELIUS BENNETT.
(Note: A list of the largest trades and other significant trades in NFL history is contained on page 257 of the 2000 NFL Record & Fact Book.)