An NFL club trading two first-round picks straight-up for a wide receiver?
It happened 15 years ago Thursday, when the Cowboys dealt their 2000 and 2001 No. 1 picks to Seattle for Joey Galloway. (A hat tip to ProSportsTransactions.com for jogging our memory.)
The trade ended a saga that saw Galloway hold out for half of the 1999 season, his final under contract to Seattle. He returned for the final eight regular-season games, and ultimately, an arbitrator ruled that he had earned an accrued year, thus making an unrestricted free agent. The Seahawks responded by giving him the franchise tag, then allowing Dallas to work out a deal.
The Cowboys were in need of receiving help with Michael Irvin’s NFL future in question because of a neck injury. And indeed, Irvin would retire later in 2000. But Galloway was limited to just one game in his first season with Dallas because of a torn ACL, and he never reached 1,000 yards receiving in three subsequent seasons with the Cowboys.
Galloway would go on to have a good deal of late-career success with the Buccaneers, racking up three 1,000-yard seasons in his mid-30s (2005-2007).
As for the No. 1 picks the Seahawks acquired? With the first of those picks, Seattle took tailback Shaun Alexander, who played a major role in the club’s first-ever Super Bowl trip and garnered AP MVP honors in 2005.
The 2001 first-round pick was traded to San Francisco, who took Andre Carter, who had a long and productive career. The Seahawks, who dropped down from No. 7 to No. 9 in the deal, took wideout Koren Robinson. (Note: The 49ers and Seahawks were still a year away from being NFC West competitors, as Seattle was still in the AFC at the time.)
The Galloway deal got us to thinking: would any wide receivers today be worth two first-round picks in trade? (For our purposes, let’s assume every player is available, even prospective free agents.)
We’ve listed a handful of blue-chip receivers in the poll below. Let us know via your votes and in the comments if two first-rounders for any current wide receiver is too much — or just right, for the right player.
[polldaddy poll=8652857]