Browns president Mike Holmgren isn’t happy that his team wasn’t selected to make a deal with the Rams for the second overall pick in the draft.
“Honestly, when it didn’t happen I think there are reasons that I can’t go into right now, but there is a very close relationship between the people getting the deal done and the people who offered. And I’m not sure anything we offered would have been good enough,” Holmgren told season-ticket holders on Thursday.
To the extent the fix was in, Holmgren would know. Eleven years ago, Holmgren finagled a trade with his old team and his old boss for quarterback Matthew Hasselbeck.
As explained at the time by Don Banks of SI.com, the Dolphins were ready to send the 26th pick in round one to the Packers for Hasselbeck. Then, at the last minute, Holmgren’s Seahawks offered a flip-flop of first-round picks, with the Packers moving from No. 17 to No. 10 and the Seahawks sliding from No. 10 down to No. 17. Seattle also shipped a third-round pick (No. 72 overall) to Green Bay.
“I figured if it got done today, I’d be a Miami Dolphin,” Hasselbeck told Banks. “The Packers called and said, ‘You’re traded, but it’s not quite official yet until Mike Holmgren does some paperwork.’ And I said, ‘Mike Holmgren? It’s Seattle?’”
And so, thanks to his relationship with G.M. Ron Wolf, Holmgren was able to swoop in and swipe Hasselbeck, without even giving up a draft pick. Under the now-outdated draft trade chart, the flip-flop of picks No. 10 and 17 and the No. 72 selection was worth 580 points. The No. 26 pick in the first round worth 700 points.
So the Dolphins made the better offer, but the Packers chose to do business with the Seahawks.
So there’s yet another reason to not like Holmgren’s comments. They’re hypocritical.