Worst NFL trade ever? Here's where Russell Wilson swap, other disastrous deals went wrong

Oftentimes, the best trades are the ones you don’t make.

It’s advice NFL general managers, who tend to be far more aggressive as it pertains to player acquisition these days, should probably heed whenever the temptation to deal for the next available star arises (and some will surely be available in the coming days). Yet this week has been a stark reminder that the infamous Herschel Walker transaction, which will turn 35 years old this October, may no longer be the clear-cut worst in league annals.

Monday, the Denver Broncos announced their intention to release quarterback Russell Wilson two years after trading for him at great cost, both in terms of draft capital and actual dollars. The club offered the obligatory thank you and well wishes in an otherwise terse statement regarding its decision about Wilson. (In contrast, the team issued five social media posts dedicated to Pro Bowl safety Justin Simmons when he was released Thursday.) Conversely, Wilson praised teammates, staff and the city with his goodbye – but notably did not acknowledge general manager George Paton nor coach Sean Payton, a telling indication of how this marriage went.

Tuesday, the Seattle Seahawks – the team that benefited so greatly from bartering Wilson – cut the cord with safety Jamal Adams after four seasons and a deal that was relatively even more one-sided in favor of the New York Jets.

Such maneuvering in today’s NFL is exponentially hazardous given the financial commitment that comes with star procurement.

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The Las Vegas Raiders are under new leadership two years after trading for and granting a nine-figure extension to All-Pro wideout Davante Adams, who hasn’t helped his new team win a playoff game – but his former one, the Green Bay Packers, has since his departure.

The Miami Dolphins have definitely juiced their offense in the two years since they traded for and granted a nine-figure extension to All-Pro wideout Tyreek Hill, who, nevertheless, hasn’t helped his new team win a playoff game – but his former one, the Kansas City Chiefs, has claimed a pair of titles since his departure.

Sensing a theme?

“I think it’s desperation almost,” former New York Giants vice president of player personnel Marc Ross told USA TODAY Sports. “Teams say to themselves, 'We see the talent. (The player) just needs to be in a better system. We have the coaches or environment that will allow him to thrive.'

“You end up over-evaluating what’s in your building to save a guy while hoping to maximize him.”

Of course, not every swap for an established player(s) blows up in GMs' faces – though a common denominator seems to be Los Angeles Rams wheeler-dealer Les Snead. He swung big on big-time guys like quarterback Matthew Stafford, cornerback Jalen Ramsey and pass rusher Von Miller, among others. That trio was a huge collective reason the franchise won its first Lombardi Trophy while based in LA – and the fuel behind what became the team’s “(expletive) them picks” mantra. The Stafford package redirected quarterback Jared Goff and two first-round picks to the Detroit Lions and GM Brad Holmes, previously one of Snead’s lieutenants.

“The late John Madden said winning the Super Bowl was the highest of high,” Snead said at the Rams’ post-Super Bowl victory parade. “Our players, our coaches, (owner) Stan (Kroenke) and his family, everyone in this organization who supports them on that mission, and everyone out there, you know what? We know what that highest high feels like today.

“(Expletive) them picks – we’ll use them to go win more Super Bowls.”

However Snead had skins on the wall and organizational buy-in prior to the Rams’ first championship in 22 years. His trades for players like receiver Brandin Cooks, pass rusher Dante Fowler and cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib partially paved the way to Super Bowl 53, where LA lost to the New England Patriots. Even Snead’s 2017 rental of wideout Sammy Watkins helped end a 13-year playoff drought following the demise of the “Greatest Show on Turf” in St. Louis.

Seahawks GM John Schneider and former coach Pete Carroll, who were on the right side of the Wilson deal but the wrong one for Adams, had already built a perennial NFC West powerhouse that reached two Super Bowls, winning one. Goff and the bolstered Lions reached heights in 2023 that Stafford never did in Detroit – though Holmes, who had a pre-existing relationship with the quarterback, was crafty enough to strike a deal with Snead that looked partially like a salary dump of Goff, damaged goods at the time, that gave him ample cover even if it didn’t pay immediate dividends.

Philadelphia Eagles personnel guru Howie Roseman, who’s built two Super Bowl squads, surrendered a first- and third-rounder for wideout A.J. Brown, yet always finds a way to stockpile surplus draft picks as currency and/or insurance. Even GM John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers were able to survive the disastrous pre-draft trade that brought the club quarterback Trey Lance in 2021 after getting do-it-all back Christian McCaffrey and all-universe left tackle Trent Williams at relative discounts.

“This thing's not an exact science,” Lynch said last summer following the Niners’ decision to move Lance on to the Dallas Cowboys. “But when you put that much into a player, it usually is really tough to rebound from.”

And that’s often true even when the stakes aren’t nearly as high. Remember when Washington took the bait and accepted quarterback Donovan McNabb from the division rival Eagles in 2010 for a second- and fourth-rounder? How about all those mid-level deals recently fired Carolina Panthers GM Scott Fitterer made for the likes of quarterbacks Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield and cornerback C.J. Henderson, stripping Carolina of nearly a half-dozen roster-building draft selections?

The Cleveland Browns made the playoffs last season, though quarterback Deshaun Watson – the guy who cost them three first-round picks and a fully guaranteed, five-year, $230 million contract – didn’t have all that much to do with it.

New York Jets GM Joe Douglas is hanging by a thread despite the bounty he reeled in from Seattle during the Adams heist, hoping last year’s gambit on four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers pays off belatedly in 2024. In Denver, Paton, who pulled the trigger for Wilson in 2022, has been diminished by the arrival of Payton, hired the following year to become the organization’s guiding hand while wasting little time laying the groundwork to distance the Broncos from Wilson.

Ross, who was part of what was largely a draft-and-develop philosophy with the Giants for 11 seasons – two of them producing Lombardi Trophies – believes optics can drive a lot of these inherently risky gambles.

“Keeping your job is good enough for some people,” he said.

For a little while anyway.

Worst trades in NFL history?

Herschel Walker

In the midst of a 1-15 1989 season, the Cowboys sent Walker, their best player at the time, to the Minnesota Vikings as part of a three-team deal with the San Diego Chargers. Dallas wound up with four players and eight draft picks eventually parlayed into the likes of Hall of Fame back Emmitt Smith, a far superior talent to Walker, DT Russell Maryland, S Darren Woodson and CB Kevin Smith – all pillars of the Cowboys’ 1990s dynasty that won three Super Bowls between the 1992 and ’95 campaigns. The Vikes and Bolts essentially wound up nowhere.

Russell Wilson

Seattle bundled its Lombardi-winning, nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback and a fourth-rounder for a haul that included two Round 1 selections, a pair of Round 2 selections and three players. Some of those picks have turned into LB Boye Mafe, LT Charles Cross and CB Devon Witherspoon, who all appear to be foundational pieces for the Seahawks moving forward. Meanwhile, the Broncos no longer have Wilson, who signed a five-year, $245 million extension after coming to Denver, and will incur a record $85 million dead-cap hit to move on from him.

Jamal Adams

It boggles the mind that Seattle took a box safety – and Adams was a heat-seeking missile coming out of LSU in 2017 – and a fourth-round pick in exchange for two firsts and a third. Then the Seahawks gave Adams a four-year, $70 million extension that largely presented as a face-saving move. Adams did collect 9½ sacks in 2020, a single-season record for a defensive back, but he was never much more than a de facto linebacker adept at blitzing. And he was a massive liability in coverage – a no-no for safeties in the modern game – whom Seattle couldn’t mask in some of its biggest games. The frequent embarrassments (the “best in the nation” NBC TV intro, social media harassment of reporters, injuries and unprofessional treatment of sideline doctors) certainly didn’t help. After opting not to give in to Adams' contractual demands in 2020, the Jets wound up with 2022 Offensive Rookie of the Year Garrett Wilson and talented OL Alijah Vera-Tucker.

“It was pretty clear to most on Jamal Adams what his skills and limitations were,” said Ross. “The Seahawks kinda ignored the negatives."

Follow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter @ByNateDavis.