2001 NFL draft day coverage
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Is the cupboard that barren?
Several teams look like bandits after mid-first-round trades
By Andy Hanacek, Associate editor
April 21, 2001
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NEW YORK — My gut reaction to two of the trades in the middle of the first
round is very simple: Are the two players selected really that good that they command such
a high price on the trading market? Let me explain what I mean here.
The Bills and Steelers look like shrewd businessmen after their respective trades,
while their counterparts, the Buccaneers and Jets, leave me shrugging my shoulders.
It’s not that I think OT Kenyatta Walker (selected by the Bucs at #14 overall) and WR
Santana Moss (taken at #16 by the Jets) are going to be busts at those slots. It’s
just that the price the Buccaneers and Jets paid seems a bit lofty.
The Buccaneers traded the Bills their top two picks to move up seven spots and take
Walker. Now they don’t have a pick until the third round, barring another trade.
Granted, the Bucs are one of the better teams in the league and don’t have a million
holes to fill, but I don’t believe Walker by himself is worth two top picks. Had they
gotten another second-round pick or a third-rounder, it would seem more of an even swap to
me.
The picture gets a bit hazier with the Jets’ deal with the Steelers. Moss
definitely fills a huge void on the Jets, especially since he gives them a very good kick
returner, something they lacked last season. Never mind the garbage about Moss’
height. He jumps a lot higher than most players his size. But to move up three slots, the
Jets gave up three picks – their first-rounder, a fourth and a sixth. The Jets do
have other areas they must address, and a lack of late-round picks could come back to
haunt them. It seems the Jets saw a potential run on wide receivers, panicked and felt
Moss would vanish before it got to them. Much like strategy when drafting a fantasy team,
in the real NFL draft, it pays off not to panic and not to get to caught up in a run on a
position, especially one that is very deep, such as wide receiver this year.
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