Quote
RamBill
Evan Silva@evansilva
Per Boston beat reporter @KevinRDuffy, 14 of the last 42 pick-swap trades (team acquires proven vet in exchange for marginal draft-slot drop) have been made by #Patriots.
During this same time period, the #Patriots have made a league-high 14 pick-swap trades. On 14 occasions they've moved down in the draft to acquire a proven veteran but not lost an actual pick.
During this same time they've *parted with a vet to move up in the draft zero times."
Last year, the #Patriots made 5 pick-swap trades. The *rest of the NFL, combined, made 4*
I've been saying for years, the proven vet trade market is undervalued, draft picks are overvalued.
The Rams got that memo last year and picked up Cooks, Talib, and Peters. You really should never be able to pick up a solid vet like Talib for a 5th given that the pick has about a 10% chance of amounting to anything.
Unfortunately, the Pats are the smartest team when it comes to team building; fortunately, the Rams seem to be following some aspects of their model and are right up there with them.
I still wonder if trades will be the way we fill OL depth, NT, or ILB.
