Ditka gives away the entire Saints draft for Ricky Williams

[Kevin Hamilton]

In case you need a refresher:
www.canalstreetchronicles.com/2014/4/17/5623840/nfl-draft-saints-ricky-williams-mike-ditka-trade

Then Nawlins coach Mike Ditka gave away ALL his picks for the draft that year and two the next to Washington to trade up to draft Rickey Williams thereby mortgaging the team's entire future for one player. Now Williams was a great college player, no question. People did think he'd be a major pro star. All things considered, he did have a good career with several 1,000 yard rushing seasons albeit with his weed hiatus there in the middle well after he'd been traded from the Saints.

But, dude was a running back. Even your tip-top HOF rushers aren't gonna be able to do much without a team around them--witness Barry Sanders languishing on dismal Lions teams all those years--so what on Earth was Ditka thinking then?

It was bizarre then, and is still so bizarre. Not only are you getting a back that's not going to be able to achieve much on an eh team even if he's phenomenal (and again, Williams had a good not great career), you're also mortgaging the team's future by giving away all those picks.

You think someone, the owner, an assistant, someone could have told Ditka "we can't do this; it makes no logical sense even in the best case scenario."

No wonder he got canned within two years.

I dunno, just something I was thinking about which still makes no more sense now than it did back then.

[OGBoardPoster2005]

And the Redskins did nothing with it.

They traded up to get Champ Bailey (who they trade in 2003 for Clinton Portis, so it worked in a way), Nate Stimson (who doesn't even have a Wikipedia article), Derek Smith (again no Wikipedia), LaVar Arrington (too many injuries, but played great when healthy), and Lloyd Harrison (who was out of the league by 2002).

No one talks about that angle though.

[Kevin Hamilton]

True, but that's cuz Snyder is kind of an idiot. He makes Jerry Jones look rational.

[Toilet Paper Roll]

Whole different game back then. You actually felt like you could carry an offense on the shoulders of an elite running back.

Williams had a great career. But these days the shelf life on RBs is so short and the dominant bell cow back seems to be used by less than half of the league.

Still way too big a package to trade for any one player.

[bob]

that was a dumb trade, not because Ricky Williams didn't look like he would be an a impact player --- but the Saints had nothing worth a damn at QB back then

I remember that they claimed Kerry Collins off waviers when he was in free fall mode with a drinking problem that season

if you're going to go all in for 1 player as the Saints did that season you need to be set pretty much everywhere else or else you'll be boned

[Cyno]

Mike Ditka: The Isiah Thomas of the NFL.

[cabbageboy]

The Saints weren't even that bad oddly enough after that. The year after Ditka's firing they went 10-6 and made the playoffs, and after that were at least a .500 sort of team until Katrina wreaked havoc on them in 2005. It's so bizarre how people suck so bad as GMs in the NFL and yet it doesn't even kill a team for all that long. The Chargers missed badly with Ryan Leaf but one Brees pick or Rivers pick later and they were at least solid again.