Where the NFL Fails, Trades

In the world of American sports the NFL reigns supreme. They dominate the TV ratings and have the highest annual revenue of the big four sports. In the world of fantasy sports the also dominate, with legions of fantasy football players all over the world. Another example of their dominance is the Madden video game franchise (the only licensed NFL video game). This game has a huge following and has been able to convince loyal fans to fork over $60 every year just to get new rosters and a few graphics tweaks. However, even with all its might there is one area that the NFL falls short, player trades.

One of the most exciting and attention grabbing events in the world of sports is when two or more teams trade players/money/draft picks in an attempt to improve. When blockbuster trades happen the entire sports world will focus in on them. Fans and analysts will dissect, discuss and offer opinions on the results and implication of the trade for days or even weeks.

The NBA probably does player trades better than any other league, with players, money and draft picks routinely changing hands between two, three or even four teams. The complexity and creativity the NBA GM use when making these deals is amazing. Just this last off-season we had Dwight Howard and James Harden get traded. The circumstances leading to the trades are different, but both are marquee players.

Some fans are frustrated by this lack of consistency on basketball rosters, but most view it as adding to the intrigue. In a sports that uses about 7-10 players in a regular game, gaining a single player can change your team drastically. This avenue to quickly turning around a team lets fans dream about duping so team in taking a underperforming player in exchange for an impact player.

MLB also does a good job in the world of trades especially by hyping and promoting their mid-season trade deadline. Every year come July all the talk in the baseball world focuses on who's available to be trade and which teams are buyer and which are sellers. Every fans are hoping to bolster their team's chance of winning a championship, either that year or the next, by acquiring some new talent. 

Another thing that really helps increase the appeal of MLB trades is the swapping prospects for prospects. Baseball, unlike other sports, very rarely has players come right out of high school or college ready to compete at the highest level. Players take years to develop the skills required to succeed at the highest level. This results in a vast minor league system where players spend time developing. An example of a prospect swap was last year’s trade of Michael Pineda from Seattle to New York for Jesus Montero. Both teams had a strength in one area and a weakness in another and decided in order to help both teams succeed they would strength to improve weaknesses. Both teams media and fan bases were given optimize about the future. This kind of trade doesn’t happen in any other sport.

Unlike the NBA and MLB. the NFL falls short in the trade category. Fans rarely talk or speculate about mid-season trades. When it comes to improving your teams roster all the attention falls onto the draft. There are lots of reasons for this, but the biggest is that NFL trades very rarely involve a player for another player. They are always a player for draft picks. The team giving up the player gets no kind of instance gratification. Instead you get a hole in your roster and hope that your GM finds someone good come April. If that draft pick is a bust tough cookies; as a fan you get nothing to hold onto for that trade. You cant really assign value to what you got for your departed player.

The complexity of the NFL playbook and the importance of team chemistry on both offense and defense also works to limit the effectiveness of trades. A struggling offense can trade for a top tier receiver but that doesnt mean he will have immediate success. The WR will have to learn all his new routes and the QB will have to learn to trust him. A new CB gained in a trade will have to get a feel for how his SF and LB transition zones and provide help. Very few NFL position are just plug and play and the ones that are dont usually have the impact needed to right a struggling team.

So, even though it is our favorite sport as a nation, the NFL does have its faults. The NBA and MLB both do a better job at creating interest and excitement when a player is traded. The NFL falls flat. Nobody ever talks about the NFL trade deadline. Nobody ever talks about how exciting it would be to get a 5th round pick for CB Josh Wilson.