This needs to be done a lot more often. This has potential to become a great series.

I swear he’s starting this series so he can talk about the Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson trades next year.

As someone who’s only been paying attention to the NFL for a few years, this is a really cool series to help get new people educated about past NFL history.

You’re probably wondering why the Deadskins didn’t become a dynasty or at least Super Bowl Contenders because of this Trade Two words Dan Snyder

I met Ricky Williams in a hostel in Melbourne, Australia. Never knew who the guy was. Just an absolute unit of a human that mostly kept to himself. Later found out and see why he left the hostel the moment 2 young Americans arrived.

I’d love to see a video about the Jared Goff-Matt Stafford trade in a few years.

Cincinnatti rejecting that offer AND THEN drafting Akili Smith might be the worst day of decisions for any GM in any sport in world history.

That Ricky Williams wedding photo will forever be the most cursed image in NFL history

Edgerrin James would end up becoming a key piece to the Colts being Super Bowl contenders with Peyton Manning, was rewarded for his efforts by receiving a Super Bowl 41 ring, was a key leader in the Cardinals' 2008-09 Super Bowl run, and a Hall of Famer.

I'm loving this mini series on big trades.

You should do the Jerome Bettis trade. Like the Herschel Walker trade, the Bettis trade is one of the most lopsided in NFL history. The Steelers had their best running back since Franco Harris, whereas Bettis’ replacement was Lawrence Phillips, whose draft bust story is sad and tragic. At least the Rams made up for it by trading for Marshall Faulk, so at least they got their happy ending.

In Ricky's defense, he smoked pot in India in 2004 because Dave "As Good As Anyone" Wannstedt literally ran him into the ground to the tune of 872 combined touches (775 carries) in 2002 and 2003

Makes me so blessed to have lived through the Payton-Brees era.

Washington had the bigger L. How you have all those picks and not win a championship?

I could see this being VERY nostalgic to older Football fans, but as someone born in 97, this is vastly educational towards a period before my time. Super interesting! Thanks Tree!

You should do a video on the Taylor Hall trade. Not the one you’re thinking of, but the one that sent him to Arizona for Kevin Bahl, a pick that became Dawson Mercer, and a pick that became a trade for Jonas Siegenthaler.

The style of your story telling combined with highlights and the graphics to elaborate really brings the football history to life

I always felt bad for Williams. On top of being overburdened by expectations he also signed what was one of the absolute WORST rookie contracts of all-time. EVERYTHING was incentive based but the incentives were nearly impossible for Williams to achieve. Hr would almost have to surpass Eric Dickerson's rushing numbers in his first 2 years (1808 and 2105yds) to make 1/2 of what was offered on his contract.

I lived in New Orleans at the time. I'll never forget laughing hysterically while listening to the Saints' radio network during the draft. "We just got our feature back for the next 10 years and he's gonna make it worthwhile." In retrospect, I think that I know where Rickey used to get his stash in New Orleans...

If you do one on the RG3 trade, I just want to make a note on something: Yes the Rams failed the 2014 #2 pick they got on giant bust Greg Robinson BUT if it weren't for having that pick, Rams never would've gotten Aaron Donald and would've drafted OL at #13 instead.

I would love to see a feature of the '99-present Browns drafting QB's. Trading down for teams to draft QB's all while failing to draft successful QB's themselves.

Just as the "legacy of failure" and lolcow videos were (and still are) extremely entertaining to watch, I have a feeling this is gonna be another favorite chapter for me in the course of this underrated channel. Keep up the great work, man!

An idea of another The Trade video is one about Ted Stepien. A man who’s deals permanently changed the NBA.

You could do one on the Lindros trade to Philly. Or the Gretzky trade

I did a trade tree video on this deal a while back. Obviously it's pretty big considering how many picks NOLA gave up, but what makes it more insane is some the players that pop up in it, both on the side of the picks traded and on Ricky's side of the tree when NOLA moved him later on

You need to cover the Roy Williams trade. It's massively underlooked compared to the Hershel Walker and Ricky Williams trades.

The first football team I was a fan of was the longhorns. Ricky was basically my first favorite football player. I basically became a fan of the Saints because he was drafted there and am still a fan of the team to this day.

The most frustrating thing about studying history? Watching others forget or ignore history and screwing things up beyond all recognition by repeating the mistakes of the past. Over and over again. I look forward to upcoming sports-ball history vids. Keep up the excellent work.

You should do the Eli for Rivers trade, because of how bizarrely it played it for both teams. The Chargers got the better qb, an elite LB, and a 3 year starting olineman, and would have probably been better off not making the trade. In hindsight the move was to reach on Fitgerald. The trade is the definitive sign that the Chargers are cursed.

I’d love to see The Trade episode about Eli Manning, that whole situation was a mess

Please make this a series Tree!!! These videos are amazing!!!! Keep up the great work! 😀

I can't wait for your review of the 2018 draft tree! Always a highlight when i see that content!

I'll always remember McNabb getting booed by a group of fans who were there to boo whoever the Eagles took 2nd if it wasn't Ricky because a local sports radio guy made a big stink about it and encouraged them to do so. The fact that McNabb would be accused of having a persecution complex whenever he referenced this incident offhand was ridiculous, but I can't say it surprised me.

I’m loving this “The Trade” series. Keep them coming.

I hope that this becomes a regular series! I think a great idea for a potential future episode would be the Pirates trading with the Rays for Chris Archer in exchange for Glasnow, Meadows and Baz

The entire 1999 draft?????? Cincy why did you turn this down my lord

I know Tree doesn't do many basketball videos but the Peirce Garrett to the Nets trade was made for this series

dude i remember this being one of the first times that i payed attention to the off season. all of this is a nostalgia bomb. i remember that heisman season. damn love these throwbacks. great job tree

I think it’s worse we didn’t build a dynasty off that Ricky Williams trade. Thanks Dan.

My irrational loyalty to this channel has paid off in getting new content regarding my Saints!

I'd say Washington won solely because they used some of the picks to trade up with Chicago to get Champ Bailey, a HoF Cornerback. Other than that, not much really happened on either side with this trade.

Legit, this needs to be made into a series. You have such a mastery with knowledge and that dry humour. I feel it would be a big hit for your channel

Redskins got Bailey and Arrington, and Jansen was not a bad selection either who was dominate before that foot injury. Snyder chased away Bailey and Arrington was a great talent that did not fit in Greg Williams defense years later. But it was an overall positive deal for the Redskins.

It's been almost 25 years and as a Bengals fan, I'm still salty that Mike Brown turned down that pile of pics when the Bengals desparately needed help at damn near every position (outside of running back, ironically. Corey DIllon was the only thing worth watching on those teams for several years) to draft Akili Smith. AKILI...F'N...SMITH!? For those who aren't fully aware, here's Aklii's career stats: 3 Wins 14, Losses, 5 TDS, 13 INTS, 2212 yds. Take it from someone who suffered through every single game, he was even worse than those stats would indicate. The poor guy looked absolutely lost without a clue out there. You know it's bad when you're a fan thinking, "Please, for the love of football, put Scott Mitchell in the game!" The only high point I can remember was a comeback win (in which he threw 2 of his 5 career TDs, and threw for 10% of his career total passing yards) against fellow rookie Tim Couch and the Browns. And honestly, Corey DIllon won that game with 168 rushing yards, but to Akili's credit, he didn't screw it up and did throw the winning TD in the final seconds. In the end, that's what they turned down all those picks for. A one-point win against Tim Couch and the expansion Browns...a quarter of a century later and it still hurts my head.

If you're gonna make this into a series (I would be all for it) maybe the Doug Gilmour trade would be a good direction to go next.

Here's an idea Tree: The Trade: Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Jason Terry to the Nets

Off topic, I was at the game when the Saints won their very first playoff game in 2000. They were up 31-7, and the Rams sidelines looked like they’d given up. But I said, fasten your seat belts, this is far from over and in a blink of an eye, they were only up by 3. Then Az-Zahir Hakim muffed the punt. I felt bad for him and I wish it didn’t come down to that, but the feeling in that stadium was electric. Same goes for the entire city. It was incredible.

Not sure if this will be a new series but I’m loving it either way

The D-Hop trade would be a good one, not just for the bad trade but the mutiny that followed in the Texans locker room

That ederian james selection ended up becoming absolutely perfection for the colts. A duel threat RB who can run and catch passes

Waiting a couple years for the eventual video like this you make on the Tanner Jeannot trade to the Lightning lmao

Hopefully we might see Hockey or other Sports? Kinda want to know more about the Brendan Shannahan trades when he was a player.

If the expansion Browns had made this trade, and asked for everything Washington did and then some, then Ricky Williams could have been the last running back taken first overall instead of Ki-Jana Carter. This may have been the last time a running back could have genuinely gone first, and this may have been a good trade for the expansion Browns instead of just taking Tim Couch. Maybe they could have built a line for a quarterback in a future draft (and there were a couple good quarterbacks in the early 2000’s drafts).

I would love if you did this in the NBA especially with the Dwight Howard trade

New Orleans was the picture of ineptitude for years on end. Payton and Brees pulled them out of the abyss and for that I'm grateful. When the Saints won the Super Bowl, the NFL dream of parity had been achieved.

Looking back some of the insane trades from NFL history... More please 🥺

This is a pretty good series that could work for the other leagues as well. Would love to see a future vid on the Miguel Cabrera trade, or even the trade of Chris Paul to the Lakers that got killed by the Commish

Still amazed Cincy passed on the king's ransom offered by the Saints. Granted the team would have completely pissed away those picks. But passing on 3 first round picks to draft Akili Smith? Truly the low point of Mike Brown's running the team.

Ricky Williams was a beast. What was his rushing avg? 5.8 yards per carry. Crazy. He just had personality difficulties.

RGIII trade needs to be next. Same as this one: no one won that trade.

This whole draft just kicks off my inner historian's "What if" sense. Those drafts could've built a solid team around Couch or even Smith, the Colts could've swindled Ditka and still gotten Edge, then been even more overpowered, the list goes on...

I remember that trade. There were people coming to speak at my high school and one of them tried to hype us up about Ricky Williams. That was the first time I ever predicted The Saints to go to the Super Bowl.

As a Saints fan, I remember that day, I was so mad at Ditka. I was hoping he'd have quit just like Mora did.

1999 was a different time. A time when general managers thought it would be a good idea to trade an entire draft, as well as a 1st and 3rd the next season, to go from 12 to 5 in order to select a running back. Good times. I’m sure New Orleans would’ve had no use for LaVar Arrington.

As bad as the Saints offenses were under Ditka in 1997/1998, it's honestly a miracle they managed to win 6 games twice.

The only good thing the Ditka years in NO brought us was that one wacky weekend where the Panthers/Saints and Packers/Cardinals engaged in the most insane 4 hours of football ever to determine the point differential tiebreaker for the NFC playoffs. Ditka was going for 2 and demanding onside kicks down 30+ points just to send Carolina home lol.

To be Fair. Ricky did have a Better Career than everybody that got drafted with those Picks COMBINED. LaVar Arrington was an Absolute Beast, but got injured if he even looked at the Field Wrong. Desmond Clark is the next most successful. The problem is that the Saints bungled keeping him, and Ricky couldn't stop smoking Weed. I don't consider Champ Bailey part of this trade. He wasn't picked with one of the Saints Picks. That was a Bears Pick the Redskins got. Almost all the Saints Picks turned out Worthless outside of Arrington and Clark. Even got the Bust Cade McNown.

Honestly was Mike Ditka good at all in New Orleans I mean he was literally just waving his cigar around still acting like he’s the Super Bowl champion but as a Steelers fan that’s what Mike Tomlin does too

🎶SMOKE WEED EVERYDAY🎶 I'm surprised there's a whole video centered around Ricky and that music drop wasn't in it once.

As a saints fan, I'd like to throw a shout-out to rookie Ricky Williams, who was legit shell shocked by going from being a stoner in college to face of an NFL franchise being pumped full of anti depressants because Mike ditka was insane

Give Indy credit too for not jumping ahead of themselves and staying with Ed James as their RB of choice. They needed a better downfield pass-catching RB for their offense with Peyton, and James fit it to a T.

It blows my mind that not only did New Orleans trade their entire draft and then some for a single player, they also had not just one, but *two* teams TURN THEM DOWN first. Like, I get that draft strategies and analytics might not have been as well-developed at the time, but Dallas had just won THREE Super Bowls earlier in the decade on the back of the Herschel Walker trade. I seriously cannot fathom what was running through the minds of Cincy's and Indy's GMs when they declined the Saints' offer. Did they think it was some kind of trick? Were they trying to goad the Saints into offering even more? Or did they genuinely believe that Akili Smith and Edgerrin James were each more valuable than an entire draft class? For Indy it's especially mind-boggling - everyone on the planet knew the Saints wanted Williams, so if the Colts had wanted Edgerrin that badly, why not just use a portion of the picks they would've got to move back up and get him anyway?

Hmm I wonder if Tree will a "Trade" video about 'The Great One' Wayne Gretzky.

Ricky was actually a fullback in his Freshman and Sophomore years. He blocked for Priest Holmes, who ended up with a solid career in Baltimore and KC. If Ricky had ended up in Indy getting handoffs from Manning, his career might have been better.

Just imagine if the Colts had said to hell with Edgerrin and taken all those picks. James was great, but those extra picks may have actually put a defense around Manning to win more than 1 title in Indy.

I met Mike Ditka in HS, I’m from Louisiana and he apologized to all of us for this move. That’s how bad this trade was.

Ditka won Suoer Bowl VI as a tight end with the Cowboys (scoring a TD [which Walter Payton did not get to...]), Super Bowl XII as the special teams coach with the Cowboys and Super Bowl XX as head coach of the Bears... All in New Orleans. No wonder he loved that city so much and wanted to come back! Fourth time was the bottom of despair...

To think Carolina had the 5th overall pick and traded it to Washington for Sean Gilbert... Carolina could have built something incredible with it.

For the record, the first overall pick in 2000 was ALSO with the Browns

The despair from hiring Ditka is what caused my father to drop the day-one season tickets he inherited from my grandfather. He could handle bad Saints football, but clownshow football was just too much of an ask.

A fun chaos theory about this trade Most of the attention is on the two teams that were involved, but the Bengals turned down the huge haul of picks to draft Akili Smith. If they take the deal, they likely take Cade McNown. Now McNown still sucks, but after the picks shake out Bengals would have had an extra late first round pick in 2001, which means Bengals could have in that draft taken Drew Brees late in the first, since they were talking with him already, just didn't draft him at 4 with their original pick. But with a pick later in the draft but before the Chargers 2nd rounder, they likely take him. And if Brees ends up a Bengal, then there's a huge shakeup in the 2003 Draft. Bengals obviously wouldn't be at 1, Lions and Texans both drafted a first round QB in 2002 so they'd probably not take a QB, Jets had Chad Pennington so not likely QB (and mostly I want to extend the chaos to the most interesting point) So Carson Palmer likely goes to the first drafting QB needy team... The Cowboys Cowboys didn't draft a QB that year, their starter was a bad Quincy Carter, so they'd probably be willing to take Palmer. But the Cowboys DID pick up a QB that year. Some little known guy out of a small school named Antonio Ramiro Romo as a UDFA. So Romo likely ends up at a different team who pursued him as a UDFA, and goes to the team he said would have been the best chance for him to make a roster, the Broncos. Broncos that year had picked up Jake Plummer to be their starting QB who was good but got injured during the 2003 season, leading to them having to start Jarious Jackson, Steve Beuerlein, and Danny Kannell at different points due to injuries and ineffective play. While it's unlikely Romo would start in 2003, it's not impossible he could beat out at least Jackson to start one game, and then spend 04 and 05 as the backup to Plummer. Now it's still likely with Plummer declining that Broncos draft Jay Cutler in 2006 like they did IRL, but in the 2006 offseason IRL, Sean Payton (who had been OC for the Cowboys) tried to trade for Tony Romo for a third rounder to be the starting Saints QB. This may not happen in this scenario since Payton wouldn't have formed the bond with Romo like he did in Dallas, but assuming it did happen, the Broncos likely take the deal since they’d be planning for their heir apparent plan in Cutler. (Cowboys wanted at least a 2nd round pick for the deal to work which is why it was turned down). And at this point I think it's a good stopping point, where we have: - Bengals starting QB Drew Brees - Cowboys starting QB Carson Palmer - Broncos starting QB Jake Plummer into Jay Cutler - Saints Starting QB Tony Romo

The Deadskins roast at the end to top off another quality video from UrinatingTree 😂🤟🏽.

I’m actually impressed at the Colts taking Edge instead of Williams. Not that Williams couldn’t have been amazing with Peyton Manning but they saw someone else who would be a perfect fit for what they were building around Peyton and went for the ‘bigger picture’ play. And they were rewarded for it, what-ifs with Ricky aside.

The RG3 trade needs to be revisited-it too involved Washington and Dan Snyder.

I look forward to the inevitable episode on the RGIII trade. A couple of good ones to also consider for a series such as this are Forsberg for Erat and the Wall for Westbrook trades (the later is especially fascinating considering the absolute chaos it caused in the following years).

I'd like to see the RG3 trade as another one of these.

Awesome series, one trade that'd be cool to look into is John Hadl to the Packers. They gave up 2 first, 2 seconds, and a third for a 34 year old QB who was off the team after a year and a half.

As a Saints fan since the late '80s, all I have to say is that trade was *painful* to watch unfold.

Mike Ditka should’ve never took the Saitns HC job

Ricky’s numbers are just outside Hall of Fame territory in my opinion, pretty similar to Edgerrin James’ numbers, and that’s after missing multiple seasons of his prime due to the NFL’s hardline policy against marijuana. He’d easily be in the Hall of Fame if those seasons hadn’t been taken away from him. That said, there’s something special about Ricky barely playing over a 4 year stretch and coming back and barely missing a step. Even his last year at 34 as a backup on the Ravens he was still very effective. He probably could have played a few more years. He’s easily the most talented RB I’ve ever watch suit up for the Dolphins and is probably the biggest reason I fell in love with the game.

I will say the Colts were wise to take Edgerin James. The reasoning was that he was an excellent fit for the scheme that they had assembled. And Bill Pollian was right. Although I still can't believe that the Bungles didn't take the haul from the Saints. THATS EMBARRASING!

As an Australian, loving these 'great' historical trades

Great series so far Tree! I can't believe some of these trades you highlighted.. has there ever been a huge trade like this or the walker trade that actually worked out?

I'm always kinda sad my Bengals didn't jump at the Saints' offer. But then again, we were still a complete dumpster fire for another 5 years and all those picks wouldn't have amounted to much under Bruce Coslett and Mike Brown anyway.

Love this new series. I would like to see ones that were less lopsided too. Or At least ones that were win-win.

Can you imagine if the Colts accepted that trade? They could have had another Super Bowl title or two. Or the Colts drafting Ricky Williams themselves? There would have been no near the pressure for Ricky like in New Orleans because most of the pressure would have been on Peyton.

just wanna say, Tagliabue announced the 4th pick all wrong. You know Rozelle would've gone "...running back" [8 second pause] "Edgerrin James..."

WOW! I never knew the Bengals turned down that insane haul to ensure they’d get Akili Smith 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

As a Saints fan, I’ve learned better than to be optimistic about our seasons.

That same year, the Rams traded a 2nd and 5th round pick to the Colts for Marshall Faulk. Faulk was demanding a new extension and the Colts were interested in Edgerrin James. James rushed for 1500+ yards and helped turned the Colts from a 3-13 team in 1998 to a 13-3 playoff team in 1999. The Rams with the help of Marshall Faulk and his 1300 yards rushing were able to turn it around too going from 4-12 to 13-3 and won the Super Bowl. Meanwhile the Saints got the biggest name in this draft and went from going 6-10 to 3-13. I was 19 in 1999 and I was shocked at how far Ricky Williams fell in that draft but by seasons end I had learned that no matter how big of a name a guy is and no matter how much everyone loves a player, there’s no guarantee that he will do anything big in the NFL or will turn around a team by himself. It’s what made me laugh at Skip Bayless demanding that Johnny Manziel go first overall in 2014. Some people never learn that big names in college might not mean shit in the NFL.