RANS- NFL DRAFT- BLOCKBUSTER DEAL

[KYPack]

Man, from the way you old timers talk about devine I'm glad i wasn't alive. Obviously he was reckless with picks, but was the entire league more reckless then?

The teams regarded draft picks as an asset & all, but they were as revered as they are now by teams.

George Allen, espec with the Redskins didn't believe in the draft at all. He traded his entire draft several times. George also didn't keep track of things real well. Twice he traded the same pick to different teams. Allen's philosophy was an old one in the league, "Rookies get ya beat".

[Patler]

The teams regarded draft picks as an asset & all, but they were as revered as they are now by teams.

George Allen, espec with the Redskins didn't believe in the draft at all. He traded his entire draft several times. George also didn't keep track of things real well. Twice he traded the same pick to different teams. Allen's philosophy was an old one in the league, "Rookies get ya beat".

A lot of factors made trades very common in those days. There were fewer teams, and rosters were a lot smaller, so only a couple rookies made the team each year, and generally in backup roles. They didn't have much situational substitution, so the starting 22 players took virtually all of the snaps on offense and defense snd even played on special teams.. Rookies weren't expected to make a lot of contributions.

Trades for players were very common, and draft choices were often involved. A player only a couple years younger than the starter wasn't going to play, because the starter was tied to the team for as long was the team wanted him. As a result, teams that had depth at a position would trade that depth for a starter at a weak position, or, frequently, for a draft choice looking to the future. Teams even traded with their biggest rivals. Thus, the Packers and Bears were often trade partners. A team might trade away its own first round pick to acquire a player, then acquire another teams first round pick by trading away another player.

High draft picks were viewed as valuable, but that value was used in a different way because overall player value was looked at and used differently.

[Guiness]

I assume the lack of a salary cap and even more so, no free agency played a part in that. Teams could be pretty sure of holding onto a viable starter for their entire career, instead of worrying as their rookie deal was coming to a close that they would bolt.