From an article about Tennessee taking Mariota rather than trading down, I picked up this little bit of story line and I thought it was worth sharing with you guys for a little perspective:In 1999, Mike Ditka went crazy. You don’t have to be a fan of a certain age to remember that Ditka, running the Saints and in his coaching twilight, offered his entire draft to move up from 12 into the top five in order to pick Texas running back Ricky Williams. The Saints called every team in the top five. Cleveland stayed and picked quarterback Tim Couch. Philly did the same with quarterback Donovan McNabb, and Cincinnati with quarterback Akili Smith. And the Colts, stunningly, turned down the offer and selected running back Edgerrin James. It wasn’t until Washington, with the fifth overall pick, that the Saints were able to move up by trading all six of their picks in the ’99 draft, plus their 2000 first- and third-rounders.That was Andy Reid’s first draft as the coach of the Eagles. He could have dealt one pick for six. But Reid knew his franchise was listless, without a solid quarterback of the future. Reid knew he liked Donovan McNabb. Reid knew there was no guarantee he’d be picking high enough in the draft to take a quarterback he thought he could win with. So it wouldn’t have mattered how many picks Ditka offered him; unless Da Coach guaranteed one of them would provide a quarterback as good as or better than McNabb, it would be a senseless trade.“I was talking to Andy today,’’ Whisenhunt said late Thursday night. “He told me the story about Ditka offering a whole draft for his [Reid’s] pick. I understood what Andy was saying. It certainly helped solidify what I was thinking—that’s for sure.” http://mmqb.si.com/2015/05/01/marcus-mariota-tennessee-titans-nfl-draft/
