Questions about negotiating trades on Draft day?? Nick? ..

[MauiRam]

Hypothetical situation: The Rams are on the clock .. New Orleans wants Dorsey, and makes an enquiry as to what it will take to move up. New Orleans subsequently maikes an offer. The Rams know that Atlanta is also interested in Dorsey .. so ..

1) Is it legal for the Rams to initiate contact with the Falcons and reveal New Orleans offer?

2) Assuming it is legal, and the Falcons were to make a counter offer the Rams liked better, could the Rams then call the Saints back and reveal that offer to try and leverage more out of the Saints? If so then this leveraging would presumably continue until the highest bidder was determined. I have always wondered about this aspect of draft day deals .. Can anyone shed light on these questions?

3) Lastly -- Are teams required to be 100% honest, or can they stretch the truth here and there? If New Orleans legitimately offered their #1 & #2, is there anything that would sanction the Rams for turning around and telling the Falcons that the Saints offered a #1 - #2 and #4, or is the whole thing done on a live conference call where everybody hears everybody?

Love to hear some answers on these issues !!

[Falconator]

Hypothetical situation: The Rams are on the clock .. New Orleans wants Dorsey, and makes an enquiry as to what it will take to move up. New Orleans subsequently maikes an offer. The Rams know that Atlanta is also interested in Dorsey .. so ..

1) Is it legal for the Rams to initiate contact with the Falcons and reveal New Orleans offer?

2) Assuming it is legal, and the Falcons were to make a counter offer the Rams liked better, could the Rams then call the Saints back and reveal that offer to try and leverage more out of the Saints? If so then this leveraging would presumably continue until the highest bidder was determined. I have always wondered about this aspect of draft day deals .. Can anyone shed light on these questions?

3) Lastly -- Are teams required to be 100% honest, or can they stretch the truth here and there? If New Orleans legitimately offered their #1 & #2, is there anything that would sanction the Rams for turning around and telling the Falcons that the Saints offered a #1 - #2 and #4, or is the whole thing done on a live conference call where everybody hears everybody?

Love to hear some answers on these issues !!

I am not "Nick" but I will give you my thoughts to your questions:

1) I am sure it is probably "legal" to reveal the other teams competing offer but it probably would not be very highly respected in league circles to "tell" the details of competing offer.

2) again, probably "legal" but not smart - could get "black-balled" from trading with some teams in future if they deem your negotiating tactics 'below board"

3) again, I think teams could "lie" but if the other teams find out, it would sour the teams relationships and make future trades harder to get done.


Bottom-line, teams can act and do whatever they want to do on draft day. I think "honesty" is the best policy. If you are the Rams, here is how I would handle a situation like Saints/Falcons trying to move up. Here is a role play:

DeVaney: yeah, Mickey Loomis(Saints GM) we know you want Dorsey - he's a great player - we are probably going to take him ourself - make me your best offer - quick:

DeVaney calls Thomas Dimitroff(Falcons GM): yeah Tom-just wanted you to know we have a very strong offer from another team - their deal equals 2,600 points - we would rather deal with you and move down one spot but we are going to need your #48 pick to go with #3 overall -otherwise we are going with this other offer........

after those two conversations - i think the Rams have to make their move. If they wait until they are "on the clock" they won't have enough time to go "back-n-forth" too much.

You can be honest and still pit two competing teams against each other - I just think you don't disclose the teams.....

[MauiRam]

You can be honest and still pit two competing teams against each other - I just think you don't disclose the teams.....

Good answers .. particularly with regard to then non-disclosure comment. Legit to table the offers to involved parties, but maintain the anonynimity of the involved parties. Thanks for the input!

[Nick]

Falconator basically summed up most of my answers.

1) Is it legal for the Rams to initiate contact with the Falcons and reveal New Orleans offer?

I wouldn't see why not, though the Saints probably wouldn't like it much.

2) Assuming it is legal, and the Falcons were to make a counter offer the Rams liked better, could the Rams then call the Saints back and reveal that offer to try and leverage more out of the Saints? If so then this leveraging would presumably continue until the highest bidder was determined. I have always wondered about this aspect of draft day deals .. Can anyone shed light on these questions?

Again, can't see why not. I don't know of any rules that prevent this. To be honest, I kind of assumed that's how it was done. Maybe they don't mention specific teams, but I would imagine a team would definitely try to leverage another team to improve their compensation by citing a third team's offer.

3) Lastly -- Are teams required to be 100% honest, or can they stretch the truth here and there? If New Orleans legitimately offered their #1 & #2, is there anything that would sanction the Rams for turning around and telling the Falcons that the Saints offered a #1 - #2 and #4, or is the whole thing done on a live conference call where everybody hears everybody?

I don't think there's an honesty rule, but again, lying probably would not be appreciated in league circles.

[laram0]

I am not "Nick" but I will give you my thoughts to your questions:

1) I am sure it is probably "legal" to reveal the other teams competing offer but it probably would not be very highly respected in league circles to "tell" the details of competing offer.

2) again, probably "legal" but not smart - could get "black-balled" from trading with some teams in future if they deem your negotiating tactics 'below board"

3) again, I think teams could "lie" but if the other teams find out, it would sour the teams relationships and make future trades harder to get done.


Bottom-line, teams can act and do whatever they want to do on draft day. I think "honesty" is the best policy. If you are the Rams, here is how I would handle a situation like Saints/Falcons trying to move up. Here is a role play:

DeVaney: yeah, Mickey Loomis(Saints GM) we know you want Dorsey - he's a great player - we are probably going to take him ourself - make me your best offer - quick:

DeVaney calls Thomas Dimitroff(Falcons GM): yeah Tom-just wanted you to know we have a very strong offer from another team - their deal equals 2,600 points - we would rather deal with you and move down one spot but we are going to need your #48 pick to go with #3 overall -otherwise we are going with this other offer........

after those two conversations - i think the Rams have to make their move. If they wait until they are "on the clock" they won't have enough time to go "back-n-forth" too much.

You can be honest and still pit two competing teams against each other - I just think you don't disclose the teams.....

Actually the team that has what someone else wants sits back and waits for the calls to come in. Reaching out to perspective buyers would be a mistake IMHO. Now once the calls have come in and the team with the want has weighed the offers then they might reach out and play the negotiation game to their advantage. Or they may wait for the follow-up calls from the perspective buyers. Waiting for that second call helps determine just how bad the buyer wants what you have. It's a game of keeping the upper hand. Texas Holdem'.