Trade Dispute: Ronnie Brown for Draft Picks

Q: The situation: Team One and Team Two attempted to trade the following last week - Team One would send Ronnie Brown (before he was injured) to Team Two in exchange for Team Two’s 1st round pick (we keep two players, so essentially a 3rd round pick) and 5th round pick (essentially 7th round pick) in next year’s draft.

The league does not have a constitution and thus no written rule regarding trading players for draft picks.  However, last year a trade involving these same two teams took place.  Team One sent Joey Galloway to Team Two for a 4th round pick (essentially a 6th round pick).  That trade was approved by the league.

This is what the commissioner had to say about this trade, “I don’t think I can agree with this trade. In order to maintain the “competitive balance” of the league I don’t think I can agree to Team Two getting to essentially stack his team this year so that Team One could stack his next year. I veto.  A good trade will equally improve BOTH teams chances of winning that same year. I don’t think you guys are intentionally trying to “screw the league” the league. I understand what you are trying to do, I just think you’ve overlooked the impact this could have on the league as a whole.”

Here was the response: “This is not a lop-sided trade. Do you really feel that Ronnie Brown is worth that much more than a 3rd and 7th round pick? I think the trade, in and of itself, is fair and balanced.

The question seems to be, is trading a current player for draft picks next year unfair to the league? Once again, we set the precedent last year by allowing the Joey Galloway trade. How can we come back this year (not having discussed and decided not to permit these types of trades) and then say, no, we can’t do this because now you’re trading a great player instead of a good one? If we can trade players for picks (which we established last year), the question then becomes, is this a fair and balanced trade? As I discussed above, I believe it is and that there is not a good reason to veto.”

So, that’s the situation.  The question is, should this trade have been allowed?

A:  Thanks for the inquiry - and we’ll disregard the recent injury for this response.  Let’s first take a look at the fairness of the trade.  Ronnie Brown is a solid running back.  He hit approximately 1,000 yards in each of his first two NFL seasons averaging around 4.3 ypc and adding about 250 receiving yards per year as well.  In 2007, he has broken out and positioned himself as a top level back - not yet on  LT’s tier - but an absolute RB1 and an all around great addition to any fantasy squad.  That said, as his recent injury attests to - depth is king in fantasy football and picking up and extra first and fifth round pick is huge.  So huge, that with the uncertainty surrounding the Dolphin’s future, we’d probably rather have the draft picks.  But not by much and either way, a legit argument could be made for both sides.  This trade is definitely fair.

With that established, are any league rules being broken by the trade?  A good case could be made that without previously established rules, you shouldn’t be allowed to trade draft picks.  But your league set that precedent last year when they allowed the Joey Galloway trade.

This trade needs to go through.  Competitive balance is upheld when a trade provides relatively equal value to both parties involved - and unless you’ve previously established so - it shouldn’t matter whether that value is realized this season or next.