March 27, 2016
Mary Altaffer/AP
Just because the Redskins made a dumb trade once doesn't mean the rest of the league has to until the of end of time.
Over the last week, a few rumors have emerged that the Eagles could be interested in trading up for a quarterback, more specifically, North Dakota State's Carson Wentz.
The perception about trading up for quarterbacks has become that the cost has to be extraordinarily high. That's because in 2012, the Redskins traded the sixth-overall pick, the 39th-overall pick, their 2013 first-round pick, and their 2014 first-round pick for Robert Griffin III.
The Redskins altered expectations of what draft compensation should be when trading up for a quarterback, because they're the Redskins and they're stupid. However, it doesn't have to be that bad.
Over the last 10 drafts, 10 teams have traded up to draft a quarterback in the first round. Here is what they had to give up:
| Year | Trade-up team got | Trade-back team got |
| 2014 | Browns - Johnny Manziel at pick 22 | Eagles - 26th- and 83rd-overall picks |
| 2014 | Vikings - Teddy Bridgewater at pick 32 | Seahawks - 40th- and 108th-overall picks |
| 2012 | Redskins - Robert Griffin III at pick 2 | Rams - 6th- and 39th-overall picks, 2013 first-round pick, and 2014 first-round pick |
| 2011 | Jaguars - Blaine Gabbert at pick 10 | Redskins - 16th- and 49th-overall picks |
| 2010 | Broncos - Tim Tebow at pick 25 | Ravens - 43rd-, 70th-, and 114th-overall picks |
| 2009 | Jets - Mark Sanchez at pick 5 | Browns - 17th- and 52nd-overall picks, Kenyon Coleman, Brett Ratliff and Abram Elam |
| 2009 | Buccaneers - Josh Freeman at pick 17 | Browns - 19th- and 191st-overall picks |
| 2008 | Ravens - Joe Flacco at pick 18 | Texans - 26th-, 89th-, and 173th-overall picks |
| 2007 | Browns - Brady Quinn at pick 22 | Cowboys - 36th-overall pick, 2008 first-round pick |
| 2006 | Broncos - Jay Cutler at pick 11 | Rams - 15th- and 68th-overall picks |
As you can see, the cost to trade up for a quarterback doesn't have to be exorbitantly high. Certainly, none of the above trades compare at all to what the Redskins gave up to select Griffin. Of course, the Redskins had to trade up to the second-overall pick to get him, which obviously raises the cost.
A decent comparison from the Eagles' perspective, sitting at eighth overall might be the Jets' move to trade up from 17 to 5 to select Mark Sanchez. In that deal, all they had to give up was a second-round pick and three non-impact players.
If the Titans, for example, who are sitting at the first overall pick don't see a huge difference between the top positional player in this draft and who they might get at eighth overall, it might make sense for them to move back at a cost that would wouldn't require Redskins-level stupidity. Of course, that may also require a lack of extreme interest in Wentz or Jared Goff from other teams drafting in the top 10.
