Looking back at the Jared Goff and Carson Wentz trades ahead of 2017 NFL Draft

Looking back at the Jared Goff and Carson Wentz trades ahead of 2017 NFL Draft

Taking a look at the Rams-Titans and Eagles-Browns trades from the 2016 NFL Draft a year later

By Will Brinson

It's April 18, 2017, which means your taxes are due (no, wait, don't stop reading, they'll do themselves, I promise). It also means a year ago, the Eagles and Browns consummated the second of what would be two top-five draft trades for quarterbacks. The Rams and Eagles wouldn't say it at the time , but everyone knew who they were taking in the 2016 NFL Draft.

This is a good reminder that all the draft-day intrigue has yet to fully realize itself (the draft was 10 days away when those trades happened, and the 2017 NFL Draft is just over a week away) and that it's always smart to periodically check back in and see how the teams involved in these blockbuster trades ended up doing.

We knew the compensation involved when the deals occurred, and we had a good idea about how the compensation played out during last year's draft, but heading into this year's draft it's worth another look.
Let's see how the four teams involved fared almost exactly a year later, taking into account the players they drafted last year and the production those players gave them (we'll use Approximate Value, Pro-Football-Reference's catch-all statistic to measure the value of individual players) as well as looking at any future picks.

Los Angeles Rams

The price to move up to No. 1 overall last year was not cheap . With the Rams moving to Los Angeles, general manager Les Snead and then-coach Jeff Fisher decided to make a bold play up the board and get a franchise quarterback in California native Jared Goff. They ignored the very history they wrote in doing so , but if you want a quarterback and don't have the top pick, you have to pay a steep price.

At the time, the Rams lost when it came to any trade value chart you looked at -- Tennessee just held them hostage.

We'll get to the selections the Titans received soon, but the Rams got No. 1 overall, No. 113 and No. 177. They would eventually spin the 113th pick into the 117th and 206th overall picks.
We're giving them credit for utilizing that fourth-round pick to nab an extra player, but if you want to limit it to three that's fine too.

Players they got:
Player
Position
Round
Overall Pick
Approx. Value
Jared Goff
QB
1
1st
-2
Pharoah Cooper WR 4 117th 1
Temarrick Hemingway
TE
4
177th
0
Mike Thomas
WR
7
206th
0
Not great, Bob. It's not entirely fair to judge the Rams' draft yet, though, because we need to see how Goff looks when he's given some protection (the Rams did a good job in bringing in Andrew Whitworth this offseason), some weapons (they added Robert Woods to Tavon Austin so that's something?) and a full season of snaps in new head coach Sean McVay's offense. Firing Fisher was a good move long term to help out Goff's development. The Rams didn't even use him for the first half of last season.

The haul looks bad now but if Goff becomes a franchise quarterback then the Rams made a smart decision. Snead is still very much willing to defend the trade . It's too early to tell. There will be plenty of scrutiny on the Rams this season however.

Everyone eventually lost in the RG3 trade . Hopefully that won't be the case here.

Tennessee Titans
It's hard to imagine the Titans losing in the deal, too. Again, if Goff is a franchise quarterback, it's a good move for the Rams, but the Titans absolutely fleeced them in terms of the picks exchanged.

Tennessee got No. 15, No. 43, No. 45 and No. 76 overall as well as the Rams' first pick in 2017, which ended up being No. 5 overall. They gave up last year's No. 1 overall for three top-50 picks/four top-100 picks. Heck of a job by Jon Robinson -- if he hits on the pick (and his other first-round pick in this draft) the Titans could be morphing into a contender in front of our eyes.

Player
Position
Round
Overall
Approx. Value
Jack Conklin
OL
1st
6th
15
Austin Johnson
DT
2nd
43rd
1
Derrick Henry RB 2nd 45th 4
TBD (2017)
TBD
1st
5th
N/A

The Titans actually traded in reverse, utilizing No. 76 overall (which they received from the Rams), coupled with No. 15 overall (from the Rams) to move up to No. 6 overall, where they drafted Jack Conklin, who turned out to be a jackpot as a top-10 pick.

Conklin was part of a dominant, quickly rebuilt offensive line that set the stage for Mike Mularkey's "exotic smashmouth" offense, which at times also featured second-round pick Derrick Henry, who is the heir apparent to DeMarco Murray and some very nice insurance should something happen to Murray. At times last season Henry looked like he might already be the better running back.

Tennessee can either grab a stud offensive play-maker (O.J. Howard?) at No. 5 this year or go defense early and look to grab a wide receiver (Mike Williams or John Ross) with their second first-round pick. They are in fantastic position and absolutely made the right call in doing this deal with the Rams and in utilizing their resources to acquire talent.

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