It didn’t take until Black Friday for buyer’s (or seller’s) remorse to set in for some NFL teams.
Even with the coronavirus pandemic creating uncertainty about the future salary cap outlook, several teams still made bold moves this past offseason to reshape their rosters.
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It didn’t take until Black Friday for buyer’s (or seller’s) remorse to set in for some NFL teams.
Even with the coronavirus pandemic creating uncertainty about the future salary cap outlook, several teams still made bold moves this past offseason to reshape their rosters. For some, that meant casting off marquee players to move in a different direction. Others looked to bring on top talent, even if it meant paying a hefty premium in the form of lucrative contracts or early draft picks.
With 10 regular-season weeks already completed, we asked NFL reporters and columnists from around USA TODAY Sports: What’s the most regrettable move made by any team this offseason?
Their answers:
Jarrett Bell
Worst move? That’s too easy to call, especially when seeing yet another replay of DeAndre Hopkins leaping above three Bills defenders to snag that “Hail Murray” prayer for the absolute Play of the Year. The Texans (2-7) gave away D-Hop for what? A song, a refurbished laptop, a six-pack of Bud Light, a blank cassette tape and a box of paper clips. OK, actually, Houston’s since-fired dictator, Bill O’Brien, shipped the All-Pro receiver and best jump-ball artist in the NFL for a running back trying to get his groove back, David Johnson, and a second-round pick while swapping fourth-round slots. I mean, you can find running backs all over the place. Look at what the Seahawks have done this season to manufacture a running game with a committee around Russell Wilson. So, unless you’re dealing for Dalvin Cook or Jim Brown, you just don’t dump your stud receiver because you’ve got a twisted sense of the addition-by-subtraction concept.
Kudos, Arizona. Cardinals GM Steve Keim should have his picture plastered in every post office in Harris County, Texas, for sure, as a wanted man. Billy The Kid, wearing a GM hat. What a heist. And poor Deshaun Watson. No knock against Brandin Cooks, Will Fuller, Randall Cobb, Kenny Stills and Keke Coutee (the occupants of the Texans’ receivers room), but every franchise quarterback should be so lucky to have a security blanket like Hopkins. Ask Kyler Murray, who was so brutally honest in sharing his thoughts while in the midst of heaving the miracle throw. “Hop down there somewhere.” Too bad for the Texans that he isn’t down in Houston. O’Brien lost his job as Houston has plummeted from division champ (10-6) to also-ran, and there’s no doubt that trading away Hopkins — the most egregious in a series of baffling moves — is the one to define his downfall. And just think: Hopkins became “expendable” in part because O’Brien had difficulty connecting with him and deemed him bad for the culture. They should have paid the man and worked through the other stuff. But at least O’Brien earned himself a place on the Cardinals’ holiday gift list.
Jori Epstein
It’s almost too obvious to state. Read more from USA Today.
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