In the NFL, trades are somewhat rare. They are far more common in other leagues such as the NHL and MLB. For one team, however, trades have become a major part of their offseason strategy.
On the morning of March 10th, 2015, the New Orleans Saints had one of the NFL’s best players on their roster: Tight End Jimmy Graham. By the end of the day this was no longer the case. In a blockbuster move, the Saints traded arguably their best player to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for center Max Unger and a first round pick. This was merely the first of three trades over the course of a week that made it clear the Saints are rebuilding. Two days later they traded guard Ben Grubbs to the Kansas City Chiefs. This trade was followed by a head-scratcher that sent promising young receiver Kenny Stills to the Miami Dolphins. All of these trades made it clear that the team was looking to rebuild after a highly disappointing season in which we saw the Saints finish below .500 and miss the playoffs.
When I stepped back and watched the dust settle after all of these trades, it made me think about the way the Saints management must have been “selling” their players. This is commonly referred to as trying to “shop” a player, and the Saints were doing a lot of it this past week. The GM of the Saints needed to talk up his players in order to maximize the return he got for them. This could have proved difficult because it was obvious he wanted to move the players and other teams may have kept their offers low as a result. “Selling” a player like Jimmy Graham sounds like it would be easy, but at the same time the management team for the Saints couldn’t afford to give him up for anything less than a first round draft pick and a perennial star at another position. They were fortunate to find a buyer in the Seattle Seahawks, who benefit greatly from this trade. The Seahawks lacked a playmaker at the tight end position (a point of pain) and were able to go out and buy the best player at that position in the league (which represents a serious gain). This is an example of nonsales selling that fascinates me.
BoweryJE22
Interesting how much of professional sports actually is a business with agents, unions, contracts, endorsements and even salespeople. It would be hard to juggle the aspect “of playing the game” and enjoying the sport if one were to make it professionally. Great post!
Very interesting Logan! This post is very realistic. This type of trading happens a lot in other sports. I like the view you took on how you “talk up” the players.