Cascade Trade: Remaking a Team

As a means of self-scouting, I went back to a team I have had since early 2012 and noticed a cascade trade that has transformed my team. In terms of the roster construction, I do not have a player I drafted in the 2012 start up, and the longest-tenured player is Aaron Rodgers who I acquired in the spring of 2014.

Through 6 trades in less than a calendar year, I was able to turn a middling team into a long-term contender.

Trade 1 (2.13.16)

Gave: Chris Ivory, 1.07, 2.01, 2.07

Received: Jay Ajayi, 1.01

The move was cheap in hindsight, because 1.01 became Ezekiel Elliot in a tier of his own. Ivory was a supplemental player, and the picks were depth assets in a down class.

Trade 2 (4.25.16)

Gave: Ajayi and Mohamed Sanu

Received: 2.01 and 2.07

The trade was prior to the NFL draft, and was a cash out on Jay Ajayi before the draft. Ultimately, Ajayi’s stock dipped throughout the spring and summer before he landed the starting job in season. This trade combined with trade 1, netted me 1.01 for the cost of 1.07, Chris Ivory and Mohamed Sanu.

Trade 3 (5.4.16)

Gave: Martavis Bryant, 1.01, and 2017 3rd (Became 3.09)

Received: DeVante Parker, 1.02 and a 2017 1st (Became 1.08 – Alvin Kamara)

Right before the rookie draft, I made this deal to move down. The primary goal was to move away from Martavis Bryant at a peak. The slide down was one pick, but a very large tier break. The one spot move returned a 2017 1^st and the upgrade from Bryant to Parker, which made up for the 2017

Trade 4 (5/20/2016)

Gave: Shane Vereen and DeVante Parker

Received: Duke Johnson and Donte Moncrief

I was never a huge fan of Parker, and Moncrief was a valuable asset at this moment in time. Their profiles had similar upsides, and Duke Johnson filled a depth running back hole for me.

Trade 5 (8.2.16)

Gave: Corey Coleman and Jordan Matthews

Received: Brandin Cooks

I had a lot of supplemental receivers highlighted by Coleman, Moncrief and Jordan Matthews, so in August 2016, I made a package up deal for Brandin Cooks. I thought Cooks would settle in as a long term low end WR1, while Coleman and Matthews were likely high end WR3s for the foreseeable future.

Trade 6 (1.23.17)

Gave: Donte Moncrief and Rob Gronkowski

Received: Carlos Hyde, Davante Adams, Tyler Eifert

At the time, Gronkowski and Eifert were both coming off back surgeries. I liked Eifert as an upper half TE1 but the injury was worse than I planned. To date, he has provided my team with no production.

On the other hand, Adams is locked in as a WR1 in an Aaron Rodgers led offense, with the potential of multiple future top 12 seasons. Hyde was also in front of a value bump by the addition of Kyle Shanahan as San Francisco’s head coach.  I like Adams over Gronkowski at this point, while Hyde clearly outpaces Moncrief.

2017 Draft

The pick I received in the 2017 draft in the Ezekiel Elliott trade turned out to be 1.08 where I got Alvin Kamara. Of note the pick allowed me to move out of my other pick, 1.09 for a second (Jamaal Williams), and a 2018 1^st, which became 1.01.

Outcome

The cascade of trades revolutionized my team. I’ve added two long term WR1s in Cooks and Adams, a RB1 in Alvin Kamara, RB2 in Carlos Hyde and depth running back Duke Johnson. The two biggest losses in the trade were Ezekiel Elliott and Rob Gronkowski, but the overall trades netted me four core assets.

Take Away

Over the course of a year through trades and a good draft, I was able to turn a middling team into a strong contender with a deep set of core assets. The cascade trade was facilitated by trading players I recently acquired, a practice a lot of owners are unwilling to execute. If you can get a 20% win on each trade by treating players as commodities, the profits pile up over the long term.