Biggest NFL Trades That Never Happened | Launderer report

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Aaron Rodgers almost traded green and gold for silver and black.Jim Prisching / Associated Press

The history of the NFL is strewn with renowned trades, but it’s fascinating to consider deals that never happened.

Although a handful of legendary players eventually adapted to another team, they could have landed elsewhere with a potential trade earlier in their careers – and, in some cases, even before playing a starting role.

Given the density of a team, an alternate title for this piece might be: “How the Raiders Managed To Flirt With Excellence And Never Achieve It.”

Since 1983–the last Super Bowl in the franchise–the Raiders pursued three possible Hall of Fame quarterbacks via trade and managed to acquire zero.

Oakland has certainly not been the only team with large swings and near misses in the trade market over the years. The following agreements stand out among the franchise alert swaps that have never crossed the finish line.

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David Madison / Getty Images

Given that John Elway has said he won’t be playing for the Baltimore Colts, it seemed likely that a trade would happen around the 1983 NFL Draft. And the Los Angeles Raiders wanted to shoot the Stanford star.

As they held the 26th overall selection, the Raiders had to climb. They almost did.

“The Raiders believed they had made a deal to acquire the rights to John Elway,” said Paul Gutierrez of ESPN. “The way the Raiders saw it, they were going to get No. 6 pick from the Chicago Bears and return it as part of a package to the Baltimore Colts for Elway.

But trade–for whatever reason-fell through.

The Raiders ended up winning the Super Bowl in 1983, but had a playoff record 2-5 and no Super Bowl move for the rest of Elway’s career on the Denver Broncos.

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Owen C. Shaw / Getty Images

In 1990, Los Angeles had a shot at Dan Marino when the quarterback became frustrated with his situation with the Miami Dolphins.

Unfortunately for Raiders owner Al Davis, he looked at a deal again–the one that seemed finished–collapse.

“[Dolphins coach Don] Shula … not only considered the trade, but almost took the plunge, “according to the Miami herald Armando Salguero. “The reason Marino hasn’t played his last decade in silver and black is that Shula and Davis came to an agreement on the trade and that Shula then increased their asking price not once but twice.”

While no team accomplished much in the 1990s, Marino made at least seven playoff appearances in Miami. Maybe the story would be different if he had headed for the West Coast.

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Anonymous / Associated Press

Elway spent 16 professional seasons in Denver, but the Broncos enjoyed sending him to Washington in 1991.

“We called and asked what the price was for John Elway, OK that’s a fact,” Charlie Casserly, Washington CEO at the time, said in 2016, by the Washington post.

“And they didn’t say no; they said,” Let’s think about it. “They came back and said, ‘Jim Lachey’. [Owner] Jack Kent Cooke said, “We are not trading Lachey. So there has never been any discussion, any serious discussion, on our side. And the next day, they said no. “

Lachey, a left tackle, won his third straight All-Pro honor in 1991. Additionally, led by Mark Rypien, Washington beat the Buffalo Bills to win the Super Bowl this season.

Elway eventually won back-to-back rings during the 1997 and 1998 seasons to close his career.

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George Nikitin / Associated Press

Well, back to the Raiders.

Around the NFL draft in 1992, they expressed interest in the acquisition of Steve Young from the San Francisco 49ers. In return, the Niners wanted wide receiver Tim Brown, a first-round pick and a second-round pick – too high a price for Los Angeles.

The requests made sense for San Francisco, who was unsure of Joe Montana’s recovery from elbow surgery.

“I’ll tell you what, football is strange, life is strange,” said Young before the 1992 season, by Associated Press (h / t Deseret news). “There is no doubt that the Raiders were trying to sideline me. That the 49ers were the subject of a lot of debate. There is no doubt that something was going on throughout the offseason, but that’s what I wanted, to be here, so I was happy. “

From 1992 to 1998 with Young, the 49ers posted a 79-25 record, won five NFC West titles and celebrated a Super Bowl victory. Oakland, on the other hand, immediately lost in his only playoff appearance.

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Terrell Lloyd / Getty Images

Alright, Raiders fans, your nightmare is almost over.

Randy Moss spent 2005 and 2006 in Oakland but quickly ran out of hospitality. The Raiders started shopping in the Hall of Fame lobby in 2007, and the Green Bay Packers picked up the phone. Rumor has it, from ProFootballTalk, the Packers sent in 2005 first-round pick Aaron Rodgers to make Moss the main target for Brett Favre.

Whether the Packers are seriously considering dealing with Rodgers is less clear, but the fallout is pretty remarkable.

Oakland distributed Moss to the New England Patriots, who finished 16-0 while Moss broke an NFL record with 23 touchdowns. Rodgers replaced Favre as a starter in 2008 and quickly became one of the greatest quarters in NFL history.

What about the Raiders? Well, they continued to stumble over a 12-year span from 2003 to 2014 with exactly zero winning records.

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Morry Gash / Associated Press

As Favre’s relationship with the Packers deteriorated in 2008, they vowed to take Rodgers forward. Favre wanted to return, however, so they had to find a business partner.

Perhaps it was the lineage of the Raiders that crushed this one. (Yeah, I’m sorry, that was a cheap shot.)

Jon Gruden, then coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, thought his team had made a deal for Favre.

“I spoke to Brett on the phone and I think if you talk to Brett yourself we both thought he was going to Tampa,” Gruden said. “I went to bed about 20 minutes after 12, 12:30 pm thinking we had Brett Favre. I was sure we had Brett Favre. When I woke up the next day, Father Christmas didn’t arrive. was a sad day for me. “

Instead, the Packers moved Favre from the NFC to the New York Jets. They finished 9-7 in Favre’s lone season and fired head coach Eric Mangini–a similar fate for Gruden as Tampa finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs for the fourth time in six years.

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Rich Schultz / Getty Images

During the same 2008 offseason, the Philadelphia Eagles discussed the addition of Arizona Cardinals star Larry Fitzgerald.

As Fitzgerald said Geoff Mosher of CSNPhilly.com (m / t Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk), the trade reportedly included first and third round selections going to Arizona in exchange for the fan. Fitzgerald’s imminent contract extension ended talks.

Philly probably wishes she could rewrite those conversations.

The franchises met in this season’s NFC Championship game; Fitz had nine catches for 152 yards and three touchdowns in the Cardinals’ victory. They would fall to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl, but Philly suffered his fourth NFC defeat of the decade.

Fitzgerald has since climbed to No. 2 in career receiving yards.

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Matt Rourke / Associated Press

Shortly after Chip Kelly left Oregon for the Eagles, rumors constantly stated that he would pursue Marcus Mariota in the 2015 NFL Draft. Kelly, after all, had signed Mariota to Oregon and was reshaping Philly’s list.

A rumor, from Pat Yasinskas to ESPN, connected Nick Foles to Tampa Bay,

Another, of Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, had the Eagles abandon, well, any player on the list – plus several draft choices – for a selection of the top two.

But the price, apparently, turned out to be too high for Kelly. He eventually settled for Sam Bradford, the acquirer of the Saint-Louis Rams in a trade that included Nick Foles.

Philadelphia fired Kelly later in 2015, then shipped Bradford to the Minnesota Vikings. Foles returned in 2017 and helped the Eagles win a Super Bowl. Mariota clocked a 29-32 record with the Tennessee Titans and is now a save for the Las Vegas Raiders.