Dave Gettleman has never traded back in the NFL Draft in his career, but the NY Giants general manager swears that it’s not from a lack of trying.
“I’ve tried in the past,” Gettleman said during a conference call with reporters Thursday. “I’ve, honestly, I’ve tried! To trade back. But, it’s got to be value, I’m not getting fleeced.”
As the 2021 NFL Draft looms next week, reports surfaced that Gettleman and the NY Giants are exploring the option of trading back from the No. 11 overall pick in the first-round.
However, much like in the past, Gettleman says that unless the NY Giants receive fair value, there’s no impetus to move down.
“If somebody wants to make a bad trade back,” Gettleman said. “God bless him. We’ve had opportunities, I’ve tried.”
Gettleman also pointed out that there have been times when trades have been agreed upon in the moments leading up to a selection being made, that the public never finds out about, because the deals wind up falling through.
“There have been times where the guy that the team is trading up for gets picked in front of you,” Gettleman explained. “We’ve had that happen to us. ‘We’ve got a trade, we’ve got a trade,’ and so-and-so selects, all of a sudden it’s ‘No trade, Dave, goodbye.’ And you hang the phone up.”
The NY Giants famously held firm with the No. 2 overall pick in 2018 to select Saquon Barkley, when Gettleman vowed not to accept a “hot dog or warm pretzel” for the right to take the running back out of Penn State.
NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah quipped recently that “there will be right-turns in NASCAR, before Dave Gettleman trades down,” but we’ll soon find out if this is the year that Gettleman bucks his career trend.
Matt Lombardo is the site expert for GMenHQ, and writes Between The Hash Marks each Wednesday for FanSided. Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattLombardoNFL.