There’s no telling what Howie Roseman is going to do during the draft, let alone with the 32nd overall pick (which the Philadelphia Eagles own because they beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX when they were up 40-6 with 2:54 left in the gam,. I’ll never get tired of writing that).
Everyone has different thoughts on what Roseman should do with that pick, but it’s important to remember what that pick is actually worth. That’s why we’re going to look at the last five times the 32nd overall picks have been traded.
A history of 32nd (and one 31st) overall draft pick trades
Since Roseman retook the throne as general manager in 2016, he’s had 10 first-round draft picks. He’s traded up five times, stayed put four times, and traded back just once.
The key thing about that lone trade-back is that it happened when the Eagles had the 32nd pick after winning Super Bowl LII (when Brandon Graham strip-sacked Tom Brady with 2:16 left in the game, I’ll also never get tired of writing that).
In order to have an idea of what’s going to happen when you’re watching the draft and saying, ‘Why isn’t Howie trading up right now?’ or ‘Why didn’t Howie trade back?’ or ‘Okay cool, Howie traded back, but how good is that?’ It's important to know the value of the 32nd pick.
There are two important things to remember about that 32nd pick: The first is that it’s a first-round pick. Yeah, it’s just one pick away from being a second-round pick, but because it’s a first, the team that makes the pick will get a fifth-year option on that player.
The Eagles hardly ever exercise a first-round pick’s fifth-year option in the traditional sense. In 2019, they used Derek Barnett’s fifth-year option the traditional way, whereas they exercised DeVonta Smith’s fifth-year option but built it into the extension he signed in March of 2024.
A team that trades up to the 32nd pick is probably going to be trading up because of that fifth-year option potential.
The second thing to remember is that not all drafts are created equal, and by most reports, this isn’t the strongest draft (especially in the first round). So if Roseman wants to trade up, he won’t have to trade as many picks as he would have to in other years.
All this to say, when we’re looking at what the 32nd overall picks have been traded for in the past, it doesn’t mean that’s super sticky and that’s the running price from year to year.
2024: Owned by three teams
The 32nd pick in the 2024 draft switched hands a couple of times: The Chiefs were the initial owners, but they traded up to get the Bills' 28th-overall pick. Then the Bills turned around and traded back with the Panthers (who didn’t have a first-round pick).
For the first trade:
Kansas City got a first (28th overall), fourth (133rd), and seventh (248th) round picks.
Buffalo got a first (32nd), third (95th), and seventh (221st) round picks.
For the second trade:
Carolina got a first (32nd) and sixth (200th) round pick.
Buffalo got a second (33rd) and fifth (141st) round pick.
This is cool because we got both examples. The Chiefs traded up just four spots, lost a late-day-two pick, and gained two day-three picks. The Bills traded back just one spot so they could have two second-round picks and gained a day-three pick.
2022: Part of the Stafford/Goff trade
This one is a little bit wonky because in 2022, the 32nd overall pick initially belonged to the Los Angeles Rams, but they traded it to the Detroit Lions before the 2021 season started as part of the Matt Stafford/Jared Goff trade. That means that going into the draft, it was Detroit’s to both wheel and deal, and wheel and deal they did.
The Lions traded with the Vikings to go all the way from 32 up to 12, so they could draft wide receiver Jameson Williams. It cost them a pretty penny, though.
Detroit got a first (12th) and second (46th) round pick.
Minnesota got a first (32nd), second (34th), and third (66th) pick.
The Lions had the second overall pick that year, and at the time of the trade, they had already drafted Aidan Hutchinson, so they were kind of playing with house money. They only had to move back 12 spots in the second round and lost their third-round pick.
Fun fact: the Vikings used that 32nd pick to draft safety Lewis Cine, who is now on the Eagles. The world revolves around us.
2018: The Eagles trade back
Here we are with the Eagles trading the 32nd pick. It went from the Eagles to the Ravens, who used it to draft two-time NFL MVP Lamar Jackson. Good for them. The Eagles used the pick that they got from the Ravens to trade up and draft Dallas Goedert. Good for us.
Eagles got a second (52nd), a fourth (125th), and the Ravens’ 2019 second-round pick.
The Ravens got a first (32nd) and a fourth (132nd) round pick.
So far, this is the best tradeback. It’s not super sexy at the time, but those future draft picks are incredibly valuable, and Howie Roseman loves them. He ended up using it to draft Miles Sanders.
On one hand, it would be incredible Roseman-esque for him to trade back this season if it meant he got future draft picks. On the other hand, the Eagles already have eight draft picks in 2026, and are projected to get another three compensatory picks, so it’s not exactly like they would be getting future draft capital because they don’t have any right now.
I imagine that if he made a trade back (which I don’t think will happen, based purely on his history), it would be for draft picks for this year… unless it is for another future second-round pick from a bad team.
2017: A trade for the guy Malcolm Jenkins hit
This is the first one that we’ve seen where a team uses the 32nd pick to trade for a player, and it was the Patriots trading the Saints for Brandin Cooks. Cooks, if you don’t remember, ended his season like this:
Malcolm Jenkins laid out Brandin Cooks pic.twitter.com/1WccyQ5yKw
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) February 5, 2018
What a shame. The world, once again, revolves around us.
New England got Brandin Cooks and a fourth-round pick (118th).
New Orleans got a first (32nd) and a third (103rd) round pick.
There’s always a possibility that Howie Roseman trades for a player during the draft. In 2022, he traded a first-round pick for A.J. Brown, and in 2023, he traded a future fourth-round pick for D’Andre Swift. Maybe he doesn’t like any of the draft prospects and wants to get a veteran.
If that’s the case, this is important to think about. Brandin Cooks was a really good wide receiver with the Saints in 2016. He had 78 catches for 1,176 receiving yards (seventh most in the NFL) and eight receiving touchdowns (tied for ninth most). If the Eagles traded for someone, that caliber of player (at any position) would definitely get the blood pumping.
2016: A regular-old tradedown
In 2016, the Patriots had to forfeit their first-round draft pick because of Deflategate. That means the Broncos’ 31st draft pick was the last draft pick of the first round, and they traded down to get the Seahawks' pick at 26.
Denver got a first-round pick (26th).
Seattle got a first (31st) and a third (94th) round pick.
There’s nothing really crazy about this trade, other than that the price to move up five picks was a late third-round pick. The funny thing is that the Broncos used that 26th overall pick to draft quarterback Paxton Lynch: the only player to get benched in the NFL, the CFL, the XFL, and the USFL. That was the guy they chose to replace Peyton Manning.