We have all seen the trades and questioned why would that owner make that trade. Trust me I know, when a player is traded for draft picks someone will wonder why? Can’t speak for everyone else but the acquiring of draft picks have overall help that team out in one way or another. Here are some of the highlight pickups teams have made by getting extra picks. The two best would have to be Joe Horn (drafted by Dynamite with Destroyers #2 03 pick) and Tom Brady (drafted by Rebels with Ghosts #5 04 Pick). Horn has been a stud for the Dynamite. Horn was 3^rd on the Dynamite in scoring in 03, nearly being named all conference, then was franchised and was all CIFL in 04. Brady on the other had led the Rebels in scoring in 04 with 210 points for an average of 15PPG. Other good pickups made via the traded draft pick have been Todd Heap in 03 by the Rockers via the Legends who averaged 4.7 PPG in 10 games. Jay Feely twice, averaging a respectable 5.1 games for the Legends via the Ghosts in 03, and averaging 8.5 PPG in two games for the Rebels via the Ghosts again in 04 as a backup to Jeff Wilkins. Jay Fiedler had 11 points in the back up role to Donovan McNabb for the Attack in 03 via a trade with TWISTERS. Then you have the trades that don’t work out at first….but eventually work out for the best. For instance, in the 04 draft, the Rebels traded a 7^th round pick back to the Dynamite in order to move up 2 spots in the first round. The Rebels then drafted Darryl Jackson, who was solid, but not great for the Rebels. The Rebels later traded Jackson for a 05 draft pick. The Dynamite in that deal, got their 7^th round pick back that had been traded the previous season, plus still was able to draft the player that the owner wanted all along in the first round. This trade also had an effect on the team sandwiched in between the Rebels and Dynamite…the Destroyers. The Destroyers had intended on drafting Jackson themselves, so the trade threw a wrench in their original plans as well. Another pick that later worked out for the better was the Ghosts drafting Amani Toomer with the Twisters 5^th pick in 04. Toomer had a dreadful year, but the Ghosts was able to use him in a trade to get a running back, that actually played a major role in a win for the Ghosts that week. Although neither player produced the rest of the year, the trade did win one game for the Ghosts. But of course every picked up draft pick isn’t going to be a success. Twisters only got 6.5 PPG out of Rich Gannon in 03 after drafting him via the Dynamite. Jason Taylor failed to live up to the previous year when the Ghosts drafted him with their 5^th round pick acquired from the Rockers in 03, and Dallas never got any thing out of Olindo Mare with the 13^th round pick gained from the Ghosts in 03, but he did have the #2 kicker in the league that year….so it wasn’t that big of a loss for them. While only a couple of these picks have made huge impacts, for the most part, these extra picks have been very helpful to the teams acquiring them. The advantage to gaining draft picks is that you can fill your starting spots faster, enabling you to make more riskier picks later on. This is why I was able to draft Willis McGahee, Anquin Boldin, and Julius Jones as early as I did last year. Now 2 of those risks will most likely be franchised next year. This year a record 9 draft picks have been traded so far…maybe the trends of the success of acquiring draft picks will be more evident after next season is through.

Here is the list of traded draft picks made in the league:

2003: Destroyers trade 2^nd RD pick to Dynamite (Joe Horn); Legends trade 3^rd RD pick to Rockers (Todd Heap); Dynamite trade 3^rd RD pick to TWISTERS (Rich Gannon); Rockers trade 5^th RD pick to Ghosts (Jason Taylor); Ghosts trade 5^th RD pick to Legends (Jay Feely); TWISTERS trade 12^th RD pick to Attack (Jay Fiedler); Ghosts trade 13^th RD pick to Dynamite (Olindo Mare)

2004: Dallas trades 1^st RD pick to Rebels for 1^st RD Pick and 7^th RD pick (Darryl Jackson/Mike Vanderjagt/Jevon Kearse); TWISTERS trade 5^th RD pick to Ghosts (Amani Toomer); Ghosts trades 5^th RD pick to Rebels (Tom Brady), Ghosts trades 12^th RD pick to Rebels (Jay Feely)