The 2016 NFL Draft was one of the craziest drafts in recent memory, thanks to a tumble by Laremy Tunsil sparked by a video of him smoking marijuana using a gas-mask bong. (Say it out loud, seriously.)
It nearly got even crazier, with the Giants and Jets coming close to a Big Apple blockbuster trade in the middle of the first round.
According to Gary Myers of the New York Daily News, the Jets were eager to try and draft Tunsil and, when he started falling, rang up the Giants to make a move from No. 20 up to No. 10.
The Giants had just lost out on their top targets, Jack Conklin and Leonard Floyd (taken by the Titans and Bears, respectively, both who traded up to get them) and weren't interested in Tunsil.
The Jets wanted Tunsil and were willing to spend on moving up. But not spend big. More from Myers:
The Jets offered just one pick, their second-rounder, to flip spots. It was easy to say no. If they had also offered their fourth, the Giants would have been tempted. The second-round choice was not enough to drop 10 spots.
According to the Jimmy Johnson Trade Value Chart, the difference between the two picks (Nos. 10 and 20) is 450 points. The Jets' second-round pick, No. 51, is worth 390 points. So we're not talking a massive difference here.
According to Myers, the Giants were worried Eli Apple, the next player on their board, wouldn't be available at No. 20.
The Dolphins, who took Tunsil at No. 13, were also reportedly interested in Apple. There's a good chance he wasn't falling that far. But the move would also have netted the Giants an additional second-round pick at minimum.
Compare the two hauls:
- No trade: Eli Apple
- Hypothetical trade: Josh Doctson (WR, TCU) or William Jackson III (CB Houston) AND Mackensie Alexander (CB, Clemson) or Tyler Boyd (WR, Pittsburgh)
Also available at No. 51 (where the Jets took Christian Hackenberg) were linebackers Deion Jones (LSU) and Su'a Cravens (USC).
In short, it's surprising the Giants didn't gamble on the possibility of Apple falling in order to pick up an additional high-quality player in a spot where the draft was deepest.
The Jets' haul would have obviously changed as well. Stealing Tunsil at No. 10 would've made up for losing Hackenberg and/or Juston Burris in the fourth round.
There's another interesting angle to it too, in that it might reveal how the Jets really feel about Hackenberg.
For the Jets, I don't mind the trade up for someone like Tunsil but it's the clearest sign yet that the team isn't "all in" on Hackenberg.
— Football Perspective (@fbgchase) May 6, 2016
They weren't sitting there hoping he fell to them in the second round, desperate to grab him as the quarterback of the future, if they were willing to deal the pick just 24 hours before.
Maybe it speaks more to Tunsil's elite ability as a left tackle, but it also says that Hackenberg was more of a BPA (best player available) situation than anything else.
The potential for a Big Apple swap meet in the middle of the first round is fascinating and the only thing that ended up being missing from the wildest first round in recent memory.
