To me a fair trade is going to hurt both sides a little. I love the guys they got but it would have been nice to have the extra picks. I thought this was interesting trying to quantify it...
Many years ago, former Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson devised a trade chart with values for every draft pick. Though created two decades ago, it's still a way to examine the balance of trades that happen during the draft. So let's take a look at the Texans' two trades with the numbers presented by Pro Football Reference.
Texans give Cleveland Browns: Picks Nos. 51 (worth 390), 116 (worth 62), 195 (worth 13.4)
Total value of picks: 465.4
Browns give Texans: Picks Nos. 43 (470), 229 (1)
Total value of picks: 471
Conclusion: Texans general manager Rick Smith said he felt giving up fourth- and sixth-round picks to move up eight spots in the second round was a little rich, so he got back a late seventh-round pick that he hoped to package later. Pro Football Reference's chart doesn't go past the 225th pick, but I estimated the 229th was worth about 1 point. Based on this chart, the Texans actually gave up a little less than they got back, by the value of about the 215th pick, which is just an earlier seventh-round pick. We'll call this even.
Trade 2: Jaelen Strong
Texans give New York Jets: Picks Nos. 82 (worth 180), 152 (worth 30.6), 229 (worth 1), and receiver DeVier Posey.
Total value of picks: 211.6, plus DeVier Posey
Jets give Texans: Pick No. 70 (240)
Total value of picks: 240
Conclusion: Based purely on the value of the picks, the Texans gave up 28.4 points less than they got from the Jets. If you attribute the rest of that value to Posey, that makes him worth about a late fifth-round pick. If the Texans had tried to trade Posey outright, it's unlikely they would have gotten a fifth-round pick for him. The going rate for backup quarterbacks is about a sixth- or seventh-round pick, and backup quarterbacks tend to have more value in trades than backup receivers. So while the sheer quantity of the haul seems massive, according to the trade chart numbers, the Texans actually came out ahead in this one, too.
- Tania Ganguli, ESPN Houston Texans reporter
Many years ago, former Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson devised a trade chart with values for every draft pick. Though created two decades ago, it's still a way to examine the balance of trades that happen during the draft. So let's take a look at the Texans' two trades with the numbers presented by Pro Football Reference.
Texans give Cleveland Browns: Picks Nos. 51 (worth 390), 116 (worth 62), 195 (worth 13.4)
Total value of picks: 465.4
Browns give Texans: Picks Nos. 43 (470), 229 (1)
Total value of picks: 471
Conclusion: Texans general manager Rick Smith said he felt giving up fourth- and sixth-round picks to move up eight spots in the second round was a little rich, so he got back a late seventh-round pick that he hoped to package later. Pro Football Reference's chart doesn't go past the 225th pick, but I estimated the 229th was worth about 1 point. Based on this chart, the Texans actually gave up a little less than they got back, by the value of about the 215th pick, which is just an earlier seventh-round pick. We'll call this even.
Trade 2: Jaelen Strong
Texans give New York Jets: Picks Nos. 82 (worth 180), 152 (worth 30.6), 229 (worth 1), and receiver DeVier Posey.
Total value of picks: 211.6, plus DeVier Posey
Jets give Texans: Pick No. 70 (240)
Total value of picks: 240
Conclusion: Based purely on the value of the picks, the Texans gave up 28.4 points less than they got from the Jets. If you attribute the rest of that value to Posey, that makes him worth about a late fifth-round pick. If the Texans had tried to trade Posey outright, it's unlikely they would have gotten a fifth-round pick for him. The going rate for backup quarterbacks is about a sixth- or seventh-round pick, and backup quarterbacks tend to have more value in trades than backup receivers. So while the sheer quantity of the haul seems massive, according to the trade chart numbers, the Texans actually came out ahead in this one, too.
