About 90 minutes into the 2021 NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys were on the clock with the No. 10 selection, set to be followed by the Giants at 11 and Eagles at 12 in an NFC East trifecta.
Within the next half-hour, however, the 10-12 order ended up as Eagles-Bears-Cowboys, with the Giants all the way down at 20, as a result of two shocking trades – the first a seemingly uncharacteristic one between two division rivals.
“We were sitting there at 10 and didn’t want to go too far back, because we really did like Micah (Parsons), and didn’t want to get into a position where he might not be there,” Cowboys COO and Director of Player Personnel Stephen Jones said in Dallas’ post-draft press conference. “Philly called and we knew what they wanted to do – it was obvious they were trying to get in front of the Giants. We felt like we knew what they were going to take, and felt like we could get through the Giants and still get our player, and we got a third round pick.”
It's a deal that had actually been discussed earlier in the week, with Philly coveting DeVonta Smith and thinking the Giants might nab him at 11 if he was available – and the Cowboys weren’t shy about making an intra-division deal at the expense of a third rival.
“You’re looking for value there, and trying to get the best player, so that wasn’t a hesitation. If that’s the trade, that’s the trade,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said.
“Normally doesn’t happen within the division,” Giants coach Joe Judge said. “But hey, look, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. They made a move that worked for them and that was a good business move.”
No hesitation from Eagles GM Howie Roseman or anyone on the Eagles’ side, either.
“We had a plan and a list of guys we were targeting in this draft, and with the amount of picks we had and the flexibility we had with them, we felt like it was important to get one of those guys, so that’s why we made the trade up to go get DeVonta,” Roseman said. “When we traded from six to 12, we had to make a list of guys we would be willing to take at 12, and had to project what we thought would go in front of us. We had 12 players we liked, and DeVonta was standing out on our board, so we wanted to make sure we got him.”
“Howie is not afraid to trade with anybody. I had a conversation with him earlier in the week and he said, ‘Dave, do you have any problems trading with me?’ I said, ‘No, if it works for both of us, it works for both of us,’” Giants GM Dave Gettleman said late Thursday night. “It’s a business deal, and one hand washes the other.”
So with Smith off the board, the Giants decided that they, too, would re-open their own trade thoughts, and it just so happened that one of their potential partners was in a prime position to move up to get an asset thy coveted.
“We had called around and I had spoken to (Bears GM) Ryan Pace, and I had heard he was interested in moving up," Gettleman said.
"So, I called him. When I spoke to him, he said, 'Yes, we're very interested.' And then the conversations begin.”
The Giants had begun those internal conversations earlier in the week, with Gettleman, Judge, assistant GM Kevin Abrams, and SVP of Player Personnel Chris Mara, among others, having multiple powwows about possible moves if they made sense for the team’s board when No. 11 came on the clock.
"We had really talked this through and looked at our board. We had a lengthy meeting on Monday and we followed it up with another meeting on Wednesday and so we really knew what we wanted,” Gettleman said. “We knew where we wanted to go, and we knew at which point we would consider a trade back, and that's where you get the other piece of it where we're calling teams behind us.”
The brain trust met again a couple hours before the draft to go over the plans once again, and a few hours later, Pace came calling. For Pace, who calls Gettleman “an amazing person I’ve known for 20 years,” the choice was clear: when the Detroit Lions took Penei Sewell at No. 7, he saw a clear route to Justin Fields at 11 – assuming no other QB-needy teams jumped up to make a deal with Carolina, Denver, or Dallas at 8, 9, or 10.
“Once our board was set, it was all about going through all of the variables and situations about what might happen. We had multiple plans tonight, and we got excited when the quarterbacks came off the way they did, and Justin kept falling,” Pace said. “Communication with Dave really started this morning, and we were excited to be able to do that.”
“He called me again somewhere around the seventh pick, somewhere in there, and then we got on the clock, and from there, Kevin took over and finished off the trade,” Gettleman said.
The Bears’ multiple plans were move up for a QB, move as needed for something else, or stay the course, and as Pace said, “luckily, No.
1 happened.”
“Obviously Dallas was happy with their return, so they made the trade with Philly, and we decided to trade back,” Gettleman said. “We all felt very together on the decision, and we made it.”
So with Smith at 10 to Philly, and Fields to Chicago at 11, Dallas came back up. Jerry Jones noted that Dallas “could’ve worked it and kept moving down,” but decided to get their guy at 12.
“We could have worked it and kept moving down in the round and picking up more picks because of the quality of players on the board, but we didn’t have the stomach to risk losing Micah based on our evaluation to him,” Jones said.
Eight picks, one trade (the Jets moving up to 14 to get a lineman), and a whole lot of waiting later, the Giants were up at 20 – and they were still able to get a player they coveted, a player with a similar skill-set to Smith in Florida WR Kadarius Toney.
“One of the off-season goals was to add weapons on offense,” Gettleman said. “Kadarius is a good-sized kid, a strong, tough kid who can run, has good hands. We were thrilled that he was there for us at that spot – he was our next man up.”
And, while the Eagles only had to give up the third-round pick they had acquired from Indianapolis for Carson Wentz to move from 12 to 10, the Giants got three extra picks from the Bears, including two in 2022 that were key to Gettleman.
"It was very important to get the first-round pick next year," Gettleman said. "As I told you guys at my pre-draft presser, there's a lot of unknowns here with this (draft class), and a lot of kids went back and took advantage of the NCAA giving them an additional year of eligibility. That obviously played into our thinking."
And now, all that’s left is to get on the field, and see if Parsons can be the pass rusher who can neutralize how the division rivals use Smith and Toney – and maybe, if and when Dallas and Chicago hook up, get to Justin Fields.
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