The Ricky Williams trade was a trade between the New Orleans Saints and Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL), which occurred prior to the 1999 NFL draft. Mike Ditka of the Saints wanted to move up in the draft order to ensure that he would be able to select Ricky Williams from the University of Texas at Austin. To do so, he traded every pick he had in the draft for the fifth overall selection, which he used to select Williams.
Background
Ricky Williams, a running back, set the National Collegiate Athletic Association record for rushing yards and won the Heisman Trophy in 1998, while playing college football for the Texas Longhorns of the University of Texas at Austin.[1] Meanwhile, the New Orleans Saints, with Mike Ditka as head coach, had two consecutive seasons with a 6-10 record.[2] The Saints tried to trade all of their picks in the 1998 NFL draft to acquire one of the top two picks, which they intended to use on Peyton Manning or Ryan Leaf, but their overtures were rejected.[3]
Leading up to the 1999 NFL draft, Ditka decided that he wanted Williams. At the NFL owners meetings two months before the draft, he publicly stated that he would trade his entire draft to acquire Williams.[1][4] Ditka compared Williams to Walter Payton.[2]
The trade
With limited leverage, Saints' general manager Bill Kuharich began discussing trades with the teams holding the first five selections.[5] The Saints offered nine draft picks to the Cincinnati Bengals for the third overall choice, but the Bengals declined the deal.[6]
The Saints traded their first round, third round, fourth round, fifth round, sixth round, and seventh round picks in the 1999 NFL draft, and their first-round and third-round picks from the 2000 NFL draft to the Washington Redskins for the fifth overall pick.[7] This became the biggest NFL trade for one player since 1959.[1] (The Saints had already traded their second-round pick in a separate transaction.)[8]
The Redskins traded the 12th overall pick, the third-round draft pick acquired from the Saints, and their fourth- and fifth-round picks to the Chicago Bears to acquire the seventh overall pick. The Redskins used the pick to select Champ Bailey,[9] the player they had coveted. They also made a second trade with the Bears, acquiring a second-round pick that allowed them to select Jon Jansen, in exchange for a second round pick and the fifth round pick acquired from the Saints.[10][11]
- 1999 1st round pick (12th overall subsequently traded, Cade McNown), 1999 3rd round pick (71st overall subsequently traded, D'Wayne Bates), 1999 4th round pick (107th overall, Nate Stimson), 1999 5th round pick (144th overall subsequently traded, Khari Samuel), 1999 6th round pick (179th overall subsequently traded, Desmond Clark), 1999 7th round pick (218th overall subsequently traded, Billy Miller), 2000 1st round pick (2nd overall, LaVar Arrington) and 2000 3rd round pick (64th overall, Lloyd Harrison) to the Washington Redskins for the fifth overall pick.
Aftermath
After the trade, Ditka and Williams appeared on the cover of the August 9, 1999, issue of ESPN The Magazine, dressed as a bride and bridegroom.Ditka agreed to the photoshoot as long as he wasn't wearing the wedding dress.[12]
The Saints struggled to a 3-13 season in 1999, their second-worst in franchise history.[13] Williams had a disappointing rookie season, due to various injuries that limited him to 884 rushing yards and two touchdowns in 12 games,[14] as well as alienating teammates through his off-field behavior.[1] The Saints fired Ditka and Kuharich after the season.[13] Without the traded draft picks, Randy Mueller and Jim Haslett, the new general manager and coach respectively, signed 27 free agents to a total of $15 million to fill out the roster.[1]
Williams expressed resentment towards Ditka and New Orleans.[15] He rebounded to two straight seasons with 1,000 rushing yards or more.[1] However, Williams expressed an interest in playing baseball, leading the Saints to select Deuce McAllister in the first round of the 2001 NFL draft.[14] With the emergence of McAllister and Williams' off-field issues,[16] the Redskins traded Williams after three seasons, In exchange for Williams and their 2002 4th round pick (114th overall, Randy McMichael), the Miami Dolphins traded their 2002 1st round pick (25th overall, Charles Grant), 2002 4th round pick (125th overall, Keyuo Craver) and 2003 1st round pick (18th overall subsequently traded, Calvin Pace) to New Orleans.[17]
Neither the Redskins nor the Bears benefited from the trade greatly. The Redskins acquired Bailey and LaVar Arrington. Both were elected to the Pro Bowl.[18] While the Redskins made the 1999 postseason, they failed to return until 2005.[1] The Redskins later traded Bailey to the Denver Broncos for Clinton Portis.[18] The Bears used the Saints' original first round pick to select Cade McNown, who had a 3-12 winning record in two seasons before he was released.[1]
Ditka was fired by the Saints after the 1999 season.[19] He ended his tenure with the Saints with a 15-33 win-loss record in three seasons.[1] When asked about the trade in 2010, Ditka said he would make it again.[20]
Sports Illustrated ranked the Ricky Williams trade as the second worst NFL trade, following only the Herschel Walker trade.[21]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i http://blog.nola.com/saintsbeat/2009/04/history_shows_that_thennew_orl.html
- ^ a b [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ [4]
- ^ http://bengals.enquirer.com/1999/04/18/ben_bengals_turn_down.html
- ^ [5]
- ^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2199&dat=19990418&id=MEslAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6uYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5693,4238509&hl=en
- ^ http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/nfldraft/ct-side-1999-nfl-draft-spt-0430-20150429-story.html
- ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/redskins/daily/april99/18/skins18a.htm
- ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/redskins/daily/april99/18/wilbon18.htm
- ^ http://blog.nola.com/saintsbeat/2009/04/wedding_photo_of_mike_ditka_an.html
- ^ a b [6]
- ^ a b http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2004-07-26/sports/0407260276_1_dolphins-williams-finishes-touchdowns
- ^ [7]
- ^ [8]
- ^ [9]
- ^ a b http://blog.nola.com/saintsbeat/2009/04/the_ricky_williams_trade_where.html
- ^ http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2000-01-06/sports/0001060012_1_ditka-coaching-staff-benson
- ^ http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/sports/football/mike-ditka-tells-mens-nite-out-hed-still-trade-who/nL5M6/
- ^ http://www.si.com/nfl/audibles/2013/12/12/worst-trades-nfl-history