It wouldn't be difficult these days to find Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff and Cleveland Browns head coach Pat Shurmur smiling.
It wasn't that long ago when the two sides pulled off an incredible trade in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft that moved the Falcons up to Cleveland's No. 6 spot to take Alabama wide receiver Julio Jones and the Browns down to No. 27 with a boatload of new picks. The trade worked out for both sides and each walked away very happy with what they had accomplished.
Shurmur, speaking at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Luncheon Club this week, called the trade "probably one of the greatest trades in Draft history."
It's hard to argue with that assessment. Climbing up 21 spots in the Draft is no small feat, and landing extra second and fourth round picks this year and a first and a fourth next year is nothing to sneeze at.
NFL.com put together their top 10 Draft trades of all time — made prior to the trade we're speaking of now, mind you — so I won't try to come up with my own list or bore you by listing out all of the ones NFL.com mentioned.
Instead, if you want to see the NFL.com opinion on the subject, simply click here and peruse at your leisure.
I'll just mention a couple I consider to be pretty big and in the same ballpark as the Julio Jones trade.
The Saints trading eight picks — their entire stock of picks in the 1999 Draft — to trade up to fifth overall to select Ricky Williams. This trade was certainly iconic, and the price tag was unheard of at the time. *
In 1977, the Cowboys and Seahawks pulled off a similar trade. Dallas traded up to the No. 2 overall spot to select Tony Dorsett while the Seahawks got four picks to vacate the slot. Dallas went on to win a Super Bowl in Dorsett's rookie year. By the mid-1980s, all of Seattle's picks from the trade were out of the NFL. *
The Falcons have been involved in several big Draft trades, but the blockbuster trade that gave Indianapolis the No. 1 overall pick in 1990 and sent Andre Rison, Chris Hinton and a first-round selection to Atlanta the following year stands out. Indy used the pick on Jeff George, and the rest was history.
Again, I won't bore you by rehashing all of the picks, but those are just a couple that stand out to me. So, the question becomes now, where does the trade for Jones rank among some of the biggest and best of the Draft? Vote below.
