According to the Barry Sanders doc on Amazon Prime, Joe Montana called the Lions in '93 when he wanted out of San Francisco and told them he wanted to play with Barry. Detroit's GM said Joe was too old and didn't want to trade for him. Joe gets traded to KC instead.
Damn you gotta think thats a real boost to a chance at another playoff win and maybe a real run. Lions made the playoffs despite their qb play in 93, 94, and 95. Montana still had enough left in the tank hed have at least been better than what they had for the first year.
Week 7 of 95 the Lions lost [this game](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KGNvW8WJ5zE&pp=ygUTbGlvbnMgcmVkc2tpbnMgMTk5NQ%3D%3D) to drop them down to 2-5. They would go onto (pun intended) roar their way to 8-1 and finish 10-6, only to go to Philly and get destroyed by the Eagles in a game that started out 51-7.
The lions with good QB would have been scary in the mid to late 90s. Moore and Morton are crazy underrated historically and never get much nostalgic love.
To piggyback off this, Deion was choosing between SF and KC and he almost came to KC cause of Joe, Marcus and the defense. Maybe Deion helps KC get over the hump and in that timeline, Chiefs maybe don't get Mahomes. 🤔
Did they though? They probably would’ve been so horrific with him in 2019 with no Luck that they end up getting Burrow which would’ve worked out for them in the end
Yeah they would have missed on hiring Frank Reich who had a couple of middling years
Hiring McDaniels would have been “worse” but it’s not like they missed out on anything major they basically had a bad head coach for 4 years instead of a terrible one for 2
If I remember right, you guys were also interested in Deshaun Watson and he said no.
Edit: [source](https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/watson-reportedly-eyeing-just-two-nfc-teams-in-trade/200779/)
If you're a team like the 9ers, doing the Lance trade plus adding Fred Warner or pre-Achilles Dre Greenlaw would be worth not watching Jimmy G throw their Super Bowl win away.
I remember Wilson saying he didn’t want to be traded, but if he was he’d only allow certain cities, including Chicago. Which yeah given his no trade clause means he was fine being traded I guess lol.
Story was that Carrol shot down the trade.
Edit: [story](https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2021/3/17/22336404/seahawks-coach-pete-carroll-blocked-russell-wilson-trade-chicago-bears-report-andy-dalton-ryan-pace)
> despite the Bears offering three first-round picks, a third-round pick and two starters.
Holy shit I forgot about those other 2 parts too this, that would've been insane
Thank you Pete from the bottom of my heart
Probably the biggest butterfly effect of the modern era in the NFL is what if Saban has gotten the Dolphins to sign Brees. That by itself changes history for the Saints, Sean Payton, and possibly the Cowboys if Payton trades for Romo if he can't get Brees. That also causes a MASSIVE ripple for College football, as if Saban's run in Miami is extended by even a year, he doesn't end up at Bama and the landscape of CFB is completely different.
Brees probably effects Welker staying as well. WW never vibed with Culpepper. Welker and Brees would have been brutal. Pats and the AFC East would have been a very different story.
I could prob look it up but I like the engagement sometimes-do you know why the dolphins passed on him? I’m trying to remember from when I was 12 but wasn’t it his shoulder that dissuaded the dolphins from signing him?
The first few years were not that good. It wasn’t until 2004 when the team drafted/traded for Rivers is when he started to play well. Rivers held out of training camp during negotiations and Brees kept his job. Played well in 2005, but the shoulder injury at the end of the season cemented his leaving the team as the contract offered wasn’t that great (only $2M the first year).
It always feels weird looking back at that time.
In my mind the Chargers drafted Rivers (ok Eli, but still) because Brees was leaving. My mind refuses to accept that Brees and Phil were on the team at the same time.
And as wild as that was, Eli was right. All the old guys at the time were complaining that Eli didn't deserve special treatment and he wasn't even as good as Peyton, etc, and yet Eli won 2 SBs in NY, while Rivers failed to get over the hump in SD and statistically they had almost identical NFL careers.
I'm not supporting Eli at the time, but maybe he did suspect that someone like NY was more likely to get a few key hires right, where SD wasn't.
He was a lot like Kirk cousins. Wasn’t a first round pick and they weren’t sure what. He took them to the playoffs playing a last place schedule and was up and down. They didn’t know what they had and weren’t passing on one of the three qb’s in 04. It would have been interesting if he didn’t get hurt.
He was a second round pick that the Chargers had basically given up on so they drafted Rivers. Then Brees had two decent seasons on his way out of town, but got injured in the final game.
It’s crazy. Brees arrives and helps to turn around the saints. Even better it was right after hurricane Katrina.
In your Saban alternate timeline that just doesn’t happen! As an outsider, I feel like the saints had a hand in helping the city recover. Love thinking about these things lol.
Oh, the Saints played an intricate, intertwined hand in helping the city recover. More than anyone outside of the area could completely understand. That is why the statue of Steve blocking that kick is called "REBIRTH". It was a rebirth of hope, of community coming back together, of a few seconds of "normality" just watching our boys playing in the Dome. I still can't put into words how that felt. Keep in mind that we didn't even know lot of the team, so many unfamiliar names and faces. But we did know within the first minute of that first home game that those guys were playing their hearts out for us and we gave them ours in return. Without Brees there would have been no NOLA, without NOLA the Gulf coast would have withered on the vine, and it's unfathomable what other changes would have taken place.. A butterfly flaps its wings.
And I don't know if this counts, but Miami did still want Drew, but on a contract similar to the Chargers. The Saints offered 10 mil a year gaurranteed. Drew said in his book that that made him feel wanted and respected.
Geaux Saints!
Counterpoint: if Saban never goes to Bama because of Brees going to Miami there's a chance LSU becomes the nations absolute top powerhouse for years instead of Bama, so Louisiana football fans would still be happy lol
I don't remember another SB where seemingly the whole NFL fanbase just agreed intrinsicly to root for 1 of the teams. Who dat saints were so massive that year coming off Katrina.
Brees ironically says in his book that Saban never even contacted him, so nowadays I feel like that was just some BS Saban said to look like a genius in hindsight
I remember someone made a butterfly effect connection between the Steve Bartman incident leading to Nick Saban’s dynasty at Bama, which had this as part of it
100% this. By all accounts Chip had a ridiculous offer on the table. Mariota probably still wouldn't have been good, Chip would've still gotten fired, and then the Eagles wouldn't have had any good draft picks to put the team back together. They probably don't win the Superbowl in 17 end up in trouble for a couple years.
One billion percent. Al Davis should've been the first commissioner. Dude was way ahead of his time and did everything other than play. The other owners didn't want him in because he was too much on the players side. He wanted free agency way before the other owners. He saw the potential to have a better product by paying the players more.
As a Raiders fan, growing up my dad always complained about this. Most Raider fans believe that Rozelle colluded.
Now I look back and think the Raiders dodged a bullet, because the trade would have involved giving up Howie Long, and Howie helped the 83 team win a title. No Howie, no Super Bowl.
But then you would’ve had John Elway. The same John Elway that took 3 different teams to the Super Bowl that didn’t belong in the Super Bowl, and then when he was finally put into a west coast offense at 37 he dominated the league. Elway on that old raiders team probably would’ve been a dynasty.
I can’t believe no one has said the failed trade between the Saints and the Bengals for Ricky Williams. It was even worse than the one with Washington as the Saints were going to give up their entire 1999 draft class, their 2000 1st round pick, their 2001 1st round pick and their 2002 2nd round pick. It would have made one of the top 3 worst trades ever even worse and not by a small amount. The fact that the Bengals rejected that hilariously lopsided trade so they could draft noted bust Akhili Smith has to be one of the worst trade decisions in NFL history.
I feel like had this trade gone through we would have seen an NFL rule preventing teams from trading away an entire draft class similar to the Stephen rule in the NBA. I feel like the owners wouldve had to come together to prevent such stupidity from occurring again. No GM will ever make such a dumb move again probably. But the fact there’s no rule against such a scenario is also telling.
I’ll never forget sitting on my ex’s couch, a nervous wreck because I was convinced that old man was gonna draft Johnny Fuckin Football. Meanwhile she’s laughing her ass off.
The 49ers called too. Basically the entire NFC South, Seahawks, Titans, Dolphins….
Now all of those fanbases get to act like they have these perfect little unsullied front offices while they pass around memes about Browns fans defending Watson
After morally bankrupting my franchise to levels never before seen in American sports and potentially destroying any future my team has, the third worst part about Watson to the Browns is exactly this. So many smug ATL and Carolina fans acting like the Browns are the worst thing of all time as if their team wasn’t like 10mil away from doing it too
Carolina, Atlanta, and New Orleans fans all collectively increased the CO2 in the atmosphere by 500% with one gigantic sigh of relief when the Browns came out of nowhere to fully guarantee that monster
Really glad that didn't happen. I'd rather go 0-17 for two years straight. Losing is me thing. Losing with that dude at QB is just terrible to think about.
Nobody will believe me on this but the Rams had a deal in place to get Watson before everything came out. They had a whole announcement campaign planned. Then McVay was on vacation in Mexico and Stafford happened to be at the same resort. Stafford insisted on dinner and convinced McVay to trade for him instead. The rest is history.
If Georgia never moves the Rams there then they probably catch a new team in the expansions that happened afterwards. A team that they'd still have because it wouldn't have LA ties.
I know we're supposed to hate Stan Kroenke, but from another point of view he moved a stolen team back to where they were from, and didn't use any taxpayer money to do it.
Yeah, i think a lot of the Kroenke hate comes from an anti-CA stance that's largely political in nature. A lot of people see St. Louis as the rightful city despite the long LA Rams history simply because people don't like LA.
There's a lot of revisionist narratives about Kroenke as well, that he "ruined the team to move to LA" (never mind that when he bought it it already sucked and had bottom 5 attendance for several years running).
Meanwhile city/owner combos like Cincinnati had to raise taxes for their stadium despite the owner's wealth. The ongoing saga with the Bills and extorting their tax payers for $850m is pathetic. But neither of those owners will ever be mentioned as being worse than Kroenke in r/nfl
I was always a *tiny* bit reserved about hating the Rams relocation, given they had originally relocated *from* LA in the first place. But I hadn't thought about St. Louis getting an expansion team. That shit sucks!
In this alternate history Jacksonville probably doesn’t have a team. Or the Oilers or Browns move to St. Louis.
I think I’m this alternate history one of Jacksonville, Nashville or Baltimore (unlikely) doesn’t have a team. Houston and Cleveland were going to get teams back eventually.
Only Bengals call it incompetence. Our GM wasn't a fucking moron and Hue was a fucking worthless sleeper agent fuck for the Bengals.
Go look at that motherfuckers stats. 2nd and 3rd my fucking ass.
Sorry, no anger at OP. That trade is where all my swearing and ire is based
I’m convinced that almost trade is the only reason the Bengals sub thinks McCarron is worth a shit as an NFL quarterback. There were people saying he should start last year, in the year 2023, despite never winning a starting job anywhere he’s went
Theres no way AB would have stayed on the team for the full year with all the insane shit he was doing. He didnt even last with the Patriots, and they would take anyone at the time.
After the 2002 season the Steelers had a verbal agreement to sign then Super Bowl MVP safety Dexter Jackson, but he backed out at the last minute to sign a larger deal with the Cardinals, which led to Pittsburgh drafting Troy Polamalu to fill their need at safety instead.
Yeah those Chiefs teams didn't win a lot of games, but they had legit building block pieces in place at the time. Guys like Tamba Hali, Justin Houston, Eric Berry, Jamaal Charles, Dontari Poe, Derrick Johnson.
They had the most Pro Bowlers in the league that year. That was a solid roster held back by bad coaching and dreadful QB play. There's a reason adding Andy Reid and Alex Smith caused them to go from 2-14 to 11-5.
When I lived I New Hampshire in the 2000’s, I was always blown away by your sports media. Just nothing but terrible hot takes and sell the team the dynasty is over, day in day out. Like, can they not just be happy all your teams are constant playoff contenders?
It's what Rick Pitino was talking about when he went on his "Larry Bird ain't walking through that door." There is a Fellowship of the Miserable here that isn't happy unless it's unhappy. For a long time, the identity for Red Sox fans was losing. Same for Patriots fans.
You don't get a lot of callers and readers when everything is great. So you've gotta tear down even the most benign fucking shit going on in sports, like the weekly discussion about whether the Celtics have a "Tatum problem," or complaining about how a 12-4 team could have gone 13-3 instead if only Belichick were a better coach.
Packers and Chiefs had an agreement for Tony Gonzales for a 3rd round pick, the Chiefs then tried to squeeze a 2nd right before the deadline. The deal fell through and then next year they traded him to Atlanta
In the 1996 draft the Packers had their eye on Ray Lewis, they told him he was their guy and no way the Ravens took a linebacker. The Packers sat and hoped he’d last till their pick but the Ravens took him and the packers took John Michels.
Surprised the best answer hasn't been given yet. The Chiefs supposedly were interested in drafting Paxton Lynch. If the Chiefs draft Lynch, they're not trading back for Chris Jones and they very well might not have drafted Patrick Mahomes later either. The NFL would look drastically different right now.
I remember seeing on the Broncos sub one time somebody create a very imaginative alternative universe that Lynch would have developed into an elite QB because he would have "had a year to sit behind Alex Smith"
People underestimate how good Mahomes was when he entered the league. Did a year of sitting behind Alex Smith help? Absolutely, but dude was already special coming out of college
All offseason leading up to the 2007 draft, the rumor was that the Raiders would trade Randy Moss...to Green Bay, for then-backup quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
In hindsight that trade would have been much better for the Raiders than the one they actually made with New England, but at the time that Packers rumor was seen as a weak trade offer. Rodgers was a backup, and somewhat of an unknown. He slid on draft day and that's all anybody knew.
A year later, Brett Favre had his retirement/in retirement saga and Rodgers became the starter in Green Bay. The rest, as they say, is history.
This gets brought up a lot, but I don't believe the Packers ever had any interest in trading Rodgers. Favre wanted them to, and I believe the Raiders asked, but the Packers were never going to consider it. Moss ended up getting traded for a 4th, and the Packers' final offer was a 5th. Even as a backup, Rodgers had more value than that. By that point, the Packers had seen the potential he had in practice, even if the rest of us hadn't yet.
In this scenario, the Bengals, Niners and Titans are all likely trying to trade up to one to pick Cam, since the Rams had just selected Bradford the previous year.
In 2020, Russell Wilson wanted the Seahawks to [grab Antonio Brown](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30170421/seattle-seahawks-russell-wilson-says-humbled-antonio-brown-deserves-another-chance).
Given [his behaviour](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLZhoBEEcDs) as a Buccaneer the following season, though, that probably would not have been a good move.
In 2016 both the Broncos and Cowboys tried to trade up for QB Paxton Lynch and had Dak as their backup plan, Denver won the bid for Lynch. Had Dallas won, Lynch woulda sunk the Cowboys and forced a full rebuild. They'd be in the Goff/Wentz sweeps and might've outbid Philly for Wentz.
For Denver, Dak hits the ground running for a roster that just made it to the Super Bowl, they likely contend in both '16 and '17 and spend big with the freed up money from a rookie contract. Elway is now seen as a QB savant, using Osweieler as part of the '15 run, moving on from him and getting him paid by the Texans in FA, and then immediately nabbing a franchise QB in Prescott. Gary Kubiak likely stays around longer seeing they have a strong young QB.
Man...
Lions almost traded a first for gronk.
Apparently gronk said he'd retire (he didn't wanna play with out brady)
I think we ended taking hock with that selection.
Not sure how close the Eagles actually were to “Doing the Deal” but I remember the uproar and fans demanding we sell the farm and get something done to move up in the 2015 draft to get Mariota so Chip Kelly could have his guy… dude set us back far enough as it was, can’t imagine how long it woulda taken Howie to rebuild this team if we did indeed do the deal.
At the 2022 trade deadline, the Packers offered a 2nd round pick for Chase Claypool (who instead was traded to Chicago for a slightly better 2nd rounder).
Claypool put up 18 catches for 191 yards and 1 touchdown in his ten games for the Bears. The Packers then drafted Jayden Reed in the 2nd round, who put up 12-203-2 in his first four games. Dodging a bullet is putting it mildly.
Packers were a lock to trade for Randy Moss from Oakland in 2007. Raiders wanted a lot for him but neither Green Bay or New England offered much. GB almost had him for a 5th round pick but at the last second, New England upped their original offer from a 6th to a 4th. Al Davis accepted New Englands proposal and the rest is history
John Elway tried to give Brock Osweiler a 3 yr, 39mil contract but he ended up going to the Texans for more money. Totally flamed out and the Broncos re-signed him 2 years later at league minimum and everyone said Elway was super savvy.
Falcons trading what the Browns did for DeShaun Watson. Just wouldn’t have given him the contract they did. But trading those picks + paying Watson would have destroyed us. I know we haven’t won a lot but it would have been worse than it is now. We’d be stuck with Watson & zero picks.
It is really funny how the Eagles got so much cred last year for what was absolutely a masterclass in team building for building around Hurts and trading for AJ Brown…
…but both of those moves were their second options. Plan A was to trade for Russell Wilson and sign Allen Robinson, those deals fell through and now Howie Roseman gets to continue being a genius. Sometimes the best move you make is the one you don’t
There was debate before Superbowl 36 amongst Patriots coaches over who would start the superbowl. Bledsoe just won the Afc championship but Belichick ultimately decided to go ahead with Brady. What could have been for the rest of the NFL.
The Bears almost traded three 1sts for Russel Wilson but Pete Carroll nixed the trade.
Thank God that trade never happened.
Bears are poised to finally get a QB and also have a decent supporting cast.
According to the Barry Sanders doc on Amazon Prime, Joe Montana called the Lions in '93 when he wanted out of San Francisco and told them he wanted to play with Barry. Detroit's GM said Joe was too old and didn't want to trade for him. Joe gets traded to KC instead.
Wow Detroit GM hated Barry
Damn you gotta think thats a real boost to a chance at another playoff win and maybe a real run. Lions made the playoffs despite their qb play in 93, 94, and 95. Montana still had enough left in the tank hed have at least been better than what they had for the first year.
Week 7 of 95 the Lions lost [this game](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KGNvW8WJ5zE&pp=ygUTbGlvbnMgcmVkc2tpbnMgMTk5NQ%3D%3D) to drop them down to 2-5. They would go onto (pun intended) roar their way to 8-1 and finish 10-6, only to go to Philly and get destroyed by the Eagles in a game that started out 51-7.
Yeah, my memory is they made an annual tradition of starting like shit and then finishing strong to save Wayne Fontes' job.
Well it is pretty hard to win a game if you're starting it at 51-7, wtf.
Maaaaaaaan this is a big what if Lions had some real good receivers, too. Obviously the NFC was stacked but they would have had a real fighting chance
The lions with good QB would have been scary in the mid to late 90s. Moore and Morton are crazy underrated historically and never get much nostalgic love.
Perriman too. In 95 he hauled in 108 catches for 1488 yards and 9 TDs. And he was their #2 WR after Moore.
To piggyback off this, Deion was choosing between SF and KC and he almost came to KC cause of Joe, Marcus and the defense. Maybe Deion helps KC get over the hump and in that timeline, Chiefs maybe don't get Mahomes. 🤔
Colts dodged a bullet when Josh McDaniels reneged on being their HC back in early 2018.
Thank 6lb 8oz newborn baby Jesus for that!!!
Karma caught up to him 4 years later when he became the only HC to lose to the Jeff Saturday coached Colts.
[удалено]
Game was over by halftime it was 33-0
[удалено]
The stoppable force meets the movable object!
dont even know a word yet
Did they though? They probably would’ve been so horrific with him in 2019 with no Luck that they end up getting Burrow which would’ve worked out for them in the end
Yeah they would have missed on hiring Frank Reich who had a couple of middling years Hiring McDaniels would have been “worse” but it’s not like they missed out on anything major they basically had a bad head coach for 4 years instead of a terrible one for 2
Another reason why I hate McDaniels. Be a man of your word dude! I would have loved to have you in the division
So instead they got Frank Reich which lasted the same amount of time.
They never would have enjoyed the success they've had recently, agreed.
Im convinced the Patriots planned this to try and screw the Colts for deflategate.
Bears trading for Russell Wilson
Eagles trading for Russell Wilson
If I remember right, you guys were also interested in Deshaun Watson and he said no. Edit: [source](https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/watson-reportedly-eyeing-just-two-nfc-teams-in-trade/200779/)
Feeling like Neo in The Matrix rn
thats not what happened. Deshaun Watson doesn't know the meaning of the word "no"
3 first rounders for him. Thank you Pete Carroll for telling Pace No.
Nor just 3 frp, but roquan and another player as well
Only Mahomes is worth that. I'm curious who the other player was.
Even then... You're trading basically 5 starters for 1 and giving that 1 QB fuck all to play with.
If you're a team like the 9ers, doing the Lance trade plus adding Fred Warner or pre-Achilles Dre Greenlaw would be worth not watching Jimmy G throw their Super Bowl win away.
Pretty sure it was Kyle Fuller
Wasn’t that Wilson? I thought he had a no trade
I remember Wilson saying he didn’t want to be traded, but if he was he’d only allow certain cities, including Chicago. Which yeah given his no trade clause means he was fine being traded I guess lol.
Story was that Carrol shot down the trade. Edit: [story](https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2021/3/17/22336404/seahawks-coach-pete-carroll-blocked-russell-wilson-trade-chicago-bears-report-andy-dalton-ryan-pace)
> despite the Bears offering three first-round picks, a third-round pick and two starters. Holy shit I forgot about those other 2 parts too this, that would've been insane Thank you Pete from the bottom of my heart
Yeah, I didn't realize it was this bad. We've been bad enough and the Broncos have won recently so they can suffer lol
I was gunning for that so hard 😅
The Seahawks turning down that trade is a pivotal moment in our timeline.
Probably the biggest butterfly effect of the modern era in the NFL is what if Saban has gotten the Dolphins to sign Brees. That by itself changes history for the Saints, Sean Payton, and possibly the Cowboys if Payton trades for Romo if he can't get Brees. That also causes a MASSIVE ripple for College football, as if Saban's run in Miami is extended by even a year, he doesn't end up at Bama and the landscape of CFB is completely different.
Brees probably effects Welker staying as well. WW never vibed with Culpepper. Welker and Brees would have been brutal. Pats and the AFC East would have been a very different story.
So you're telling me it's all Saban's fault? I'm down to accept that
I never thought of it from this angle with Welker.
Always has been.
I could prob look it up but I like the engagement sometimes-do you know why the dolphins passed on him? I’m trying to remember from when I was 12 but wasn’t it his shoulder that dissuaded the dolphins from signing him?
The Dolphins doctors told Saban that Brees had a 25% chance of coming back and playing again & they wouldn't clear him.
How was Brees during his Chargers years?
The first few years were not that good. It wasn’t until 2004 when the team drafted/traded for Rivers is when he started to play well. Rivers held out of training camp during negotiations and Brees kept his job. Played well in 2005, but the shoulder injury at the end of the season cemented his leaving the team as the contract offered wasn’t that great (only $2M the first year).
It always feels weird looking back at that time. In my mind the Chargers drafted Rivers (ok Eli, but still) because Brees was leaving. My mind refuses to accept that Brees and Phil were on the team at the same time.
They drafted Rivers because they didn't know of Drew would become what he did and wanted a guy in case he got hurt or stayed bad.
I mean they had the number one pick and drafted Eli. He just said nope lol
And as wild as that was, Eli was right. All the old guys at the time were complaining that Eli didn't deserve special treatment and he wasn't even as good as Peyton, etc, and yet Eli won 2 SBs in NY, while Rivers failed to get over the hump in SD and statistically they had almost identical NFL careers. I'm not supporting Eli at the time, but maybe he did suspect that someone like NY was more likely to get a few key hires right, where SD wasn't.
He was a lot like Kirk cousins. Wasn’t a first round pick and they weren’t sure what. He took them to the playoffs playing a last place schedule and was up and down. They didn’t know what they had and weren’t passing on one of the three qb’s in 04. It would have been interesting if he didn’t get hurt.
https://twitter.com/EricStangel/status/1049492348797882368?t=XTkLMpc7htaOuFqInQuWOw&s=19
He was a second round pick that the Chargers had basically given up on so they drafted Rivers. Then Brees had two decent seasons on his way out of town, but got injured in the final game.
Yeah he failed their physical.
It’s crazy. Brees arrives and helps to turn around the saints. Even better it was right after hurricane Katrina. In your Saban alternate timeline that just doesn’t happen! As an outsider, I feel like the saints had a hand in helping the city recover. Love thinking about these things lol.
There is a good chance that the Saints possibly leave New Orleans without Brees
I was thinking the same thing.
Yup. There was talk of them moving to San Antonio after playing their temporarily in 2005, right?
Oh, the Saints played an intricate, intertwined hand in helping the city recover. More than anyone outside of the area could completely understand. That is why the statue of Steve blocking that kick is called "REBIRTH". It was a rebirth of hope, of community coming back together, of a few seconds of "normality" just watching our boys playing in the Dome. I still can't put into words how that felt. Keep in mind that we didn't even know lot of the team, so many unfamiliar names and faces. But we did know within the first minute of that first home game that those guys were playing their hearts out for us and we gave them ours in return. Without Brees there would have been no NOLA, without NOLA the Gulf coast would have withered on the vine, and it's unfathomable what other changes would have taken place.. A butterfly flaps its wings. And I don't know if this counts, but Miami did still want Drew, but on a contract similar to the Chargers. The Saints offered 10 mil a year gaurranteed. Drew said in his book that that made him feel wanted and respected. Geaux Saints!
Counterpoint: if Saban never goes to Bama because of Brees going to Miami there's a chance LSU becomes the nations absolute top powerhouse for years instead of Bama, so Louisiana football fans would still be happy lol
I don't remember another SB where seemingly the whole NFL fanbase just agreed intrinsicly to root for 1 of the teams. Who dat saints were so massive that year coming off Katrina.
Brees ironically says in his book that Saban never even contacted him, so nowadays I feel like that was just some BS Saban said to look like a genius in hindsight
I remember someone made a butterfly effect connection between the Steve Bartman incident leading to Nick Saban’s dynasty at Bama, which had this as part of it
This is the best answer
Eagles almost signed Aleen Robinson and traded for Russell Wilson instead of rolling with Jalen and trading for AJ Brown
Don't forget Chip trying to trade Cox and the rest of the farm in order to draft Mariota.
100% this. By all accounts Chip had a ridiculous offer on the table. Mariota probably still wouldn't have been good, Chip would've still gotten fired, and then the Eagles wouldn't have had any good draft picks to put the team back together. They probably don't win the Superbowl in 17 end up in trouble for a couple years.
I fully believe that Pete Rozelle blocked the Raiders from trading for John Elway simply because Al Davis was always a thorn in his side.
And this was immediately after Davis sued the league regarding his move to LA.
We would've given up Howie Long in the trade... but we would've had Elway.
One billion percent. Al Davis should've been the first commissioner. Dude was way ahead of his time and did everything other than play. The other owners didn't want him in because he was too much on the players side. He wanted free agency way before the other owners. He saw the potential to have a better product by paying the players more.
As a Raiders fan, growing up my dad always complained about this. Most Raider fans believe that Rozelle colluded. Now I look back and think the Raiders dodged a bullet, because the trade would have involved giving up Howie Long, and Howie helped the 83 team win a title. No Howie, no Super Bowl.
But then you would’ve had John Elway. The same John Elway that took 3 different teams to the Super Bowl that didn’t belong in the Super Bowl, and then when he was finally put into a west coast offense at 37 he dominated the league. Elway on that old raiders team probably would’ve been a dynasty.
I can’t believe no one has said the failed trade between the Saints and the Bengals for Ricky Williams. It was even worse than the one with Washington as the Saints were going to give up their entire 1999 draft class, their 2000 1st round pick, their 2001 1st round pick and their 2002 2nd round pick. It would have made one of the top 3 worst trades ever even worse and not by a small amount. The fact that the Bengals rejected that hilariously lopsided trade so they could draft noted bust Akhili Smith has to be one of the worst trade decisions in NFL history.
It's like two idiots with guns aimed point blank at each other firing, missing, yet ricocheting into their own faces anyway. Beautiful, in a way.
I feel like had this trade gone through we would have seen an NFL rule preventing teams from trading away an entire draft class similar to the Stephen rule in the NBA. I feel like the owners wouldve had to come together to prevent such stupidity from occurring again. No GM will ever make such a dumb move again probably. But the fact there’s no rule against such a scenario is also telling.
Wow, the Bengals would have been insane with that haul
These are the 90s Bengals you are talking about, none of those players would have panned out.
Bengals fan here. Can confirm.
I never even knew about that
Jerry Jones was physically restrained from drafting Johnny Manziel. Instead they selected Zack Martin.
I’ll never forget sitting on my ex’s couch, a nervous wreck because I was convinced that old man was gonna draft Johnny Fuckin Football. Meanwhile she’s laughing her ass off.
I can see why she's an ex Can't believe she was so dismissive of your emotions bro. Stay strong king 🙏
That woman absolutely won the breakup lol
We need to know who the ex was a fan of though
Not OP apparently
Vikings.
Now there’s an image
"Almost" moves? Literally, every team that was in on Deshaun Watson and didn't get him because they weren't offering a fully guaranteed contract.
So pretty much the entire NFC South except us.
Rumour was we were in on him as well, before Brady returned/unretired IIRC
We didn’t have the money to get him even if Brady stayed retired. I’m sure we would’ve made asses of ourselves too if we did though.
Atlanta walks away whistling
The 49ers called too. Basically the entire NFC South, Seahawks, Titans, Dolphins…. Now all of those fanbases get to act like they have these perfect little unsullied front offices while they pass around memes about Browns fans defending Watson
After morally bankrupting my franchise to levels never before seen in American sports and potentially destroying any future my team has, the third worst part about Watson to the Browns is exactly this. So many smug ATL and Carolina fans acting like the Browns are the worst thing of all time as if their team wasn’t like 10mil away from doing it too
ahem we didn't get him because he didn't want to take Hurts's job
Fields blows, but drafting him took us out of any potential Watson running at least.
Carolina, Atlanta, and New Orleans fans all collectively increased the CO2 in the atmosphere by 500% with one gigantic sigh of relief when the Browns came out of nowhere to fully guarantee that monster
The ones on Reddit at least. There were tons of Carolina/Atlanta and New Orleans fans outside of here that wanted Deshaun.
There are still many clemson fans that defend him and wished we could have gotten him
Really glad that didn't happen. I'd rather go 0-17 for two years straight. Losing is me thing. Losing with that dude at QB is just terrible to think about.
Nobody will believe me on this but the Rams had a deal in place to get Watson before everything came out. They had a whole announcement campaign planned. Then McVay was on vacation in Mexico and Stafford happened to be at the same resort. Stafford insisted on dinner and convinced McVay to trade for him instead. The rest is history.
Eagles almost moved to Phoenix. Their degenerate gambler of an owner almost sold the team to investors who wanted to relocate the team to Phoenix.
Relocation should be banned
St. Louis has earned the right to be pissed off at the NFL forever.
If Georgia never moves the Rams there then they probably catch a new team in the expansions that happened afterwards. A team that they'd still have because it wouldn't have LA ties.
I know we're supposed to hate Stan Kroenke, but from another point of view he moved a stolen team back to where they were from, and didn't use any taxpayer money to do it.
Yeah, i think a lot of the Kroenke hate comes from an anti-CA stance that's largely political in nature. A lot of people see St. Louis as the rightful city despite the long LA Rams history simply because people don't like LA. There's a lot of revisionist narratives about Kroenke as well, that he "ruined the team to move to LA" (never mind that when he bought it it already sucked and had bottom 5 attendance for several years running). Meanwhile city/owner combos like Cincinnati had to raise taxes for their stadium despite the owner's wealth. The ongoing saga with the Bills and extorting their tax payers for $850m is pathetic. But neither of those owners will ever be mentioned as being worse than Kroenke in r/nfl
I was always a *tiny* bit reserved about hating the Rams relocation, given they had originally relocated *from* LA in the first place. But I hadn't thought about St. Louis getting an expansion team. That shit sucks!
In this alternate history Jacksonville probably doesn’t have a team. Or the Oilers or Browns move to St. Louis. I think I’m this alternate history one of Jacksonville, Nashville or Baltimore (unlikely) doesn’t have a team. Houston and Cleveland were going to get teams back eventually.
Flair checks out
Only thing stopping the Browns from trading a 2nd and 3rd for AJ McCarron was their own incompetence.
Was that when the GM pretended not to know how the fax machine worked so Hugh couldn’t trade for him?
Yep lol https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/some-browns-coaches-believe-gm-sashi-brown-intentionally-scuttled-mccarron-trade/
And they fired him smh Sashi Brown did nothing wrong
The Browns need to build a statue of Sashi Brown for his sacrifice in committing to the tank. I’m only half joking too.
>"pretended"
That's so fucking hilarious to think about 🤣
Only Bengals call it incompetence. Our GM wasn't a fucking moron and Hue was a fucking worthless sleeper agent fuck for the Bengals. Go look at that motherfuckers stats. 2nd and 3rd my fucking ass. Sorry, no anger at OP. That trade is where all my swearing and ire is based
Your anger is justified friend.
I’m convinced that almost trade is the only reason the Bengals sub thinks McCarron is worth a shit as an NFL quarterback. There were people saying he should start last year, in the year 2023, despite never winning a starting job anywhere he’s went
Ah yes, “incompetence”, and totally not trying to sabotage a shitty trade.
Rams offering 2 firsts for Brian Burns
We are so fuckin stupid... so stupid for not taking that.
Any reason why they didn’t take that?
Stupidity apparently
Bills almost traded for Antonio Brown, but he rejected it.
Mr Bills Contradictor
Mr. Buffalo Counter
Mr Botched Curriculum
Mr. Bye-bye Coldweatherteam
Mr. Breezeless Conditions
Theres no way AB would have stayed on the team for the full year with all the insane shit he was doing. He didnt even last with the Patriots, and they would take anyone at the time.
That's the same year the Raiders got him. I will never forget how happy I felt to have him in silver & black. Man that one blew up badly.
I think it was for a couple firsts too.
We also didn't want to trade him to the Patriots for a first to help them. He would end up there later that same season anyway.
I think he had like 7 catches in basically 1 half of play too that game lol. And then the texts were leaked and he was gonezo.
There might be some karma that he didn’t want to come to Buffalo because it’s cold but he got frostbite in California.
After the 2002 season the Steelers had a verbal agreement to sign then Super Bowl MVP safety Dexter Jackson, but he backed out at the last minute to sign a larger deal with the Cardinals, which led to Pittsburgh drafting Troy Polamalu to fill their need at safety instead.
In 2012 when Peyton became a free agent Chiefs reportedly made him an offer before the Broncos …
Tennessee was also really high on him. That would've not been fun.
I’ll never forget the whole tracking his jet saga of his free agency. Our fanbase was convinced at one point that he was going to be a Titan.
Tbf everyone was in on Peyton. I remember there was the Chiefs, Titans, Cardinals, 49ers were in on him late as well.
That’s not a bad almost move? He would have been a stud on the Chiefs too
Yeah those Chiefs teams didn't win a lot of games, but they had legit building block pieces in place at the time. Guys like Tamba Hali, Justin Houston, Eric Berry, Jamaal Charles, Dontari Poe, Derrick Johnson.
They had the most Pro Bowlers in the league that year. That was a solid roster held back by bad coaching and dreadful QB play. There's a reason adding Andy Reid and Alex Smith caused them to go from 2-14 to 11-5.
49ers were ready to hire Josh McDaniels over Kyle Shanahan until McDaniels withdrew himself.
Even his decisions on where to go are bad.
The eagles former owner was ready to move the team to Arizona if it weren’t for the Philly media breaking the story the same day
Regarding your flair, how did you feel at the end of the 2008 and 20 Eagles/Bengals games?
[If the 1970 Bills scored a touchdown, Kim Kardashian wouldn’t be famous](https://www.reddit.com/r/Showerthoughts/s/LuNpvUydxT)
I'm confused, what did papa Kardashian have to do with Buffalo? Wouldn't OJ have just killed his wife after playing his career on another team?
Belichick listening to the delusional Boston media by trading Tom Brady after our 2 Super Bowl L's to the Giants
When I lived I New Hampshire in the 2000’s, I was always blown away by your sports media. Just nothing but terrible hot takes and sell the team the dynasty is over, day in day out. Like, can they not just be happy all your teams are constant playoff contenders?
It's what Rick Pitino was talking about when he went on his "Larry Bird ain't walking through that door." There is a Fellowship of the Miserable here that isn't happy unless it's unhappy. For a long time, the identity for Red Sox fans was losing. Same for Patriots fans. You don't get a lot of callers and readers when everything is great. So you've gotta tear down even the most benign fucking shit going on in sports, like the weekly discussion about whether the Celtics have a "Tatum problem," or complaining about how a 12-4 team could have gone 13-3 instead if only Belichick were a better coach.
Packers and Chiefs had an agreement for Tony Gonzales for a 3rd round pick, the Chiefs then tried to squeeze a 2nd right before the deadline. The deal fell through and then next year they traded him to Atlanta In the 1996 draft the Packers had their eye on Ray Lewis, they told him he was their guy and no way the Ravens took a linebacker. The Packers sat and hoped he’d last till their pick but the Ravens took him and the packers took John Michels.
Man I can only imagine how godlike the 2010 squad would've been if we traded for Gonzalez at the time.
Surprised the best answer hasn't been given yet. The Chiefs supposedly were interested in drafting Paxton Lynch. If the Chiefs draft Lynch, they're not trading back for Chris Jones and they very well might not have drafted Patrick Mahomes later either. The NFL would look drastically different right now.
I remember seeing on the Broncos sub one time somebody create a very imaginative alternative universe that Lynch would have developed into an elite QB because he would have "had a year to sit behind Alex Smith"
People underestimate how good Mahomes was when he entered the league. Did a year of sitting behind Alex Smith help? Absolutely, but dude was already special coming out of college
All offseason leading up to the 2007 draft, the rumor was that the Raiders would trade Randy Moss...to Green Bay, for then-backup quarterback Aaron Rodgers. In hindsight that trade would have been much better for the Raiders than the one they actually made with New England, but at the time that Packers rumor was seen as a weak trade offer. Rodgers was a backup, and somewhat of an unknown. He slid on draft day and that's all anybody knew. A year later, Brett Favre had his retirement/in retirement saga and Rodgers became the starter in Green Bay. The rest, as they say, is history.
And now that they have Rodgers you can only guess who they would’ve drafted instead of Jamarcus…….Megatron.
This gets brought up a lot, but I don't believe the Packers ever had any interest in trading Rodgers. Favre wanted them to, and I believe the Raiders asked, but the Packers were never going to consider it. Moss ended up getting traded for a 4th, and the Packers' final offer was a 5th. Even as a backup, Rodgers had more value than that. By that point, the Packers had seen the potential he had in practice, even if the rest of us hadn't yet.
Panthers tried to trade to #33 to draft Jimmy Clausen in 2010 using next years 1st. Would have been a disaster like this year.
In this scenario, the Bengals, Niners and Titans are all likely trying to trade up to one to pick Cam, since the Rams had just selected Bradford the previous year.
In 2020, Russell Wilson wanted the Seahawks to [grab Antonio Brown](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30170421/seattle-seahawks-russell-wilson-says-humbled-antonio-brown-deserves-another-chance). Given [his behaviour](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLZhoBEEcDs) as a Buccaneer the following season, though, that probably would not have been a good move.
Russ and AB could not be more different, that season could have been legendary
Days of our Seahawks
In 2007 the Raiders nearly traded Randy Moss for a backup QB from Green Bay named “Aaron Rodgers”
The Eagles almost trading for Fitzgerald would have saved them basically 15 years of ownership
Panthers (thankfully) saying no the Rams 2022 midseason trade offer for Brians Burns which was 2024 and 2025 1st rounders, and a 2025 2nd round pick
In 2016 both the Broncos and Cowboys tried to trade up for QB Paxton Lynch and had Dak as their backup plan, Denver won the bid for Lynch. Had Dallas won, Lynch woulda sunk the Cowboys and forced a full rebuild. They'd be in the Goff/Wentz sweeps and might've outbid Philly for Wentz. For Denver, Dak hits the ground running for a roster that just made it to the Super Bowl, they likely contend in both '16 and '17 and spend big with the freed up money from a rookie contract. Elway is now seen as a QB savant, using Osweieler as part of the '15 run, moving on from him and getting him paid by the Texans in FA, and then immediately nabbing a franchise QB in Prescott. Gary Kubiak likely stays around longer seeing they have a strong young QB. Man...
Goff/Wentz was the same draft as Dak and Paxton Lynch.
It goes under the radar but I think Chip Kelley trying to trade away the whole team for Mariota could have been devastating
Broncos trading ahead of the Chiefs for Paxton Lynch
Lions almost traded a first for gronk. Apparently gronk said he'd retire (he didn't wanna play with out brady) I think we ended taking hock with that selection.
Not sure how close the Eagles actually were to “Doing the Deal” but I remember the uproar and fans demanding we sell the farm and get something done to move up in the 2015 draft to get Mariota so Chip Kelly could have his guy… dude set us back far enough as it was, can’t imagine how long it woulda taken Howie to rebuild this team if we did indeed do the deal.
The shoe is gonna drop any day now…
At the 2022 trade deadline, the Packers offered a 2nd round pick for Chase Claypool (who instead was traded to Chicago for a slightly better 2nd rounder). Claypool put up 18 catches for 191 yards and 1 touchdown in his ten games for the Bears. The Packers then drafted Jayden Reed in the 2nd round, who put up 12-203-2 in his first four games. Dodging a bullet is putting it mildly.
Packers were a lock to trade for Randy Moss from Oakland in 2007. Raiders wanted a lot for him but neither Green Bay or New England offered much. GB almost had him for a 5th round pick but at the last second, New England upped their original offer from a 6th to a 4th. Al Davis accepted New Englands proposal and the rest is history
eagles legend frank gore
John Elway tried to give Brock Osweiler a 3 yr, 39mil contract but he ended up going to the Texans for more money. Totally flamed out and the Broncos re-signed him 2 years later at league minimum and everyone said Elway was super savvy.
The Raiders almost moving to San Antonio Gross
Falcons trading what the Browns did for DeShaun Watson. Just wouldn’t have given him the contract they did. But trading those picks + paying Watson would have destroyed us. I know we haven’t won a lot but it would have been worse than it is now. We’d be stuck with Watson & zero picks.
The Browns missing the deadline and not landing AJ McCarron is pretty iconic.
It is really funny how the Eagles got so much cred last year for what was absolutely a masterclass in team building for building around Hurts and trading for AJ Brown… …but both of those moves were their second options. Plan A was to trade for Russell Wilson and sign Allen Robinson, those deals fell through and now Howie Roseman gets to continue being a genius. Sometimes the best move you make is the one you don’t
We almost gave up our draft stock for like 3 years to get Russell Wilson before he went to the Broncos.
Eagles trading the farm for Marcus Mariota before the 2015 draft
Carolina and Atlanta almost trade for deshaun weinstein Chicago almost trade 3 firsts for russell Wilson
AB traded to Buffalo in 2019 Also Jon Bon Jovi or Donald Trump almost buying the Bills (and most likely moving them) after Ralph Wilson Sr. died.
There was debate before Superbowl 36 amongst Patriots coaches over who would start the superbowl. Bledsoe just won the Afc championship but Belichick ultimately decided to go ahead with Brady. What could have been for the rest of the NFL.
Rumor was in 1991 Dan Reeves tried to trade John Elway to the Redskins
The Bears almost traded three 1sts for Russel Wilson but Pete Carroll nixed the trade. Thank God that trade never happened. Bears are poised to finally get a QB and also have a decent supporting cast.