On Tuesday, there was a report that five teams among the top 12 picks were interested in trading their picks and moving down in the draft order.
Two more reports on Wednesday morning have pushed that total up to eight teams. Albert Breer of the NFL Network reports that the Jets have made calls to teams in hopes of moving the ninth and/or 13th picks that they currently hold in the first round.
Adam Schefter of ESPN, meanwhile, adds the Raiders (currently holding the third pick and not actively shopping the pick according to General Manager Reggie McKenzie) and the Cardinals (seventh overall pick) to the list. Schefter also mentions “others” as interested in moving down, which suggests that it might just be easier to make a list of every team in the league and report that they are willing to consider trading their pick if the right offer should come along.
Obviously, there’s no way all of these teams interested in moving down are going to be able to realize their goal. There’s also no reason to believe that some of these teams are simply seeing what’s out there while making plans to stay put if they aren’t bowled over by a trade proposal. Given the amount of teams thought to be interested in a move, the chances of such a trade proposal being made wouldn’t seem to be all that great.
Especially since no one seems to want any of the players available in this year’s draft. We’ve already heard this called the worst draft in 10 years and the reports about the growing list of teams trying to trade away their picks underscores that belief. It’s not the best advertisement for Thursday night’s festivities and we’ll see if the feeling that NFL teams would rather spend the evening playing cribbage winds up impacting the television ratings.