Pick trading a key part of draft day drama.
When a team is in desperate need of an impact player, but suspect that the player will already have been picked by the time their chance comes, a trade is likely to happen.
The most famous example of a draft day trade is the Julio Jones trade in 2011.
The Atlanta Falcons had the 27th pick in the draft, and believed that Julio Jones was the missing piece that their offence needed to win the Super Bowl. So they reached out to the Cleveland Browns, who held the number six pick.
A deal was finalised, and the Atlanta Falcons jumped from number 27 to number six to draft the wide receiver. It came at a price, and a very big price too.
Not only did they swap first round picks, the Falcons gave Cleveland their second and fourth round pick from the 2011 draft, plus their first and fourth round pick the 2012 draft.
To move up 19 places in the draft order to acquire one player, the Falcons gave up a huge 5 selection opportunities as they can be used to secure long-term depth for the future.
Draft picks are valuable to a team with little talent on a team, but they can also be used as poker chips to move up and down draft boards, San Francisco have 14 draft picks to use, at least half them will be used to trade up in the later rounds, so they are just as valuable to trade as they are to keep.
While a trade as big as that does not happen every year, first round trades are becoming more common in the draft, as the risk of high rookie salaries have been reduced due to new CBA between the league and players union.
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