The Denver Broncos have made a lot of great trades through the years, but they’ve also made some really horrendous ones. We rank the top three worst.
Throughout the course of the franchise’s history, the Denver Broncos have made some pretty amazing trades.
As a matter of fact, they’ve probably made two of the better trades all throughout NFL history. One of them being the team’s recent blockbuster deal to acquire Russell Wilson, and another being the team’s trade to acquire John Elway back in 1983.
As we begin exploring some potential new trade ideas with the offseason winding down, I can’t help but think back to some of the most regrettable trades in team history.
There are certainly plenty of candidates, but to me, these three particular trades stand out as the very worst for a number of reasons.
Denver Broncos worst trades of all-time no. 3: The Joe Flacco trade
Denver Broncos receive:
- QB Joe Flacco
Baltimore Ravens receive:
- 4th round pick (2019)
On the surface, this trade looks fairly innocent, right?
It’s just a fourth-round pick, after all.
Unfortunately, that’s not really all it was. Not only were the Denver Broncos giving up an actual draft pick for a player the Ravens simply wanted off their payroll, but the Broncos were also inheriting the back end of Flacco’s contract.
For less than one year of service to the team, the Denver Broncos paid Joe Flacco a whopping $18.5 million, according to OverTheCap.com.
Even more annoying? The Broncos drug out the recovery time of Drew Lock’s preseason injury, not getting the rookie onto the field until late in the season.
Flacco ended up suffering an injury and the Broncos prolonged Lock’s debut further by throwing Brandon Allen onto the field for a few games.
Overall, Flacco proved to be exactly what everyone thought he would be. He was statuesque in the pocket. He put the ball in harm’s way more than he made positive plays.
In that 2019 season (8 games), Flacco finished with six touchdown passes, five interceptions, and eight fumbles.
Of all the directions the Broncos could have gone that offseason (keeping Case Keenum would have been preferable), trading for Joe Flacco was about the worst thing they could have done for the growth of the franchise.
Denver Broncos worst trades of all-time no. 2: The Alphonso Smith trade(s)
Denver Broncos receive
- 37th overall pick (2009 NFL Draft)
Seattle Seahawks receive
- 2010 first-round pick (14th overall)
In Josh McDaniels’ first year on the job with the Denver Broncos, he made some — let’s call them bold — moves.
Just like his mentor Bill Belichick, Josh McDaniels tried to prove that he could put the Patriot imprint on the Denver Broncos franchise and he was making one wild trade after another.
More on that in a bit.
From a pure value standpoint, this is one of the dumbest trades in NFL history and you could make a legitimate argument it should be the number one item on a list such as this.
Even if the Denver Broncos had won the Super Bowl in 2009, McDaniels would have been trading the 32nd overall pick in a future draft for the 37th overall pick in the current draft.
The modern NFL Draft Trade Value Chart says the 37th overall pick is worth 530 points. The 32nd overall pick is worth 590. The difference there is 60 points, the equivalent of a high fourth-round pick.
Even if that was the only loss of value, it’s still a horrible trade.
As we’ve seen, you can land players like Joe Flacco for a nice fourth-round pick.
As it turned out, that 37th overall pick (valued at 530 points) ended up being traded for the 14th overall selection in 2010, worth 1,100 points.
The loss of value of 580 points is the equivalent of the 33rd overall pick.
It’s insane no matter what way you spin it, but it’s even more insane knowing the accurate loss of value.
It truly gets worse, though.
It’s not Alphonso Smith’s fault that he was the subject of this trade, but he did not end up having the type of career you’d expect for a player who was acquired for the price of a mid-first-round pick.
Actually, he ended up picking off eight passes from 2010-2011, but not with the Denver Broncos. Josh McDaniels didn’t like the immediate results from Smith and traded him essentially for Dan Gronkowski in his second year as a pro.
Smith’s career ended after the 2012 NFL season but he did have a couple of good years with the Lions.
The pick the Seahawks got back from the Broncos in this trade, the 14th overall selection in 2010, was Texas safety Earl Thomas.
We all saw how that one went.
Denver Broncos worst trade of all-time: The Jay Cutler trade
Denver Broncos receive:
- 2009 1st-round pick
- 2010 1st-round pick
- 2009 3rd-round pick
- QB Kyle Orton
Chicago Bears receive:
- QB Jay Cutler
- 2009 5th-round pick
Anytime this gets brought up, I think a lot of people decide that the Jay Cutler trade was of the “no harm no foul” variety.
Look at the way everything turned out for the Denver Broncos, right?
I mean, they ended up getting Peyton Manning which led us to where we are today which is with Russell Wilson as the team’s QB.
Listen, I’m not saying I would rather not have had the Peyton Manning years. What I am saying is that at the time this trade was made, it was so bad I questioned my allegiance to the team.
This was a trade that I feel Pat Bowlen should have stepped in and vetoed.
Cutler was a young quarterback who had just made the Pro Bowl. In a moment of absolute hubris, Josh McDaniels felt like his imprint on the team would be so strong that he wouldn’t need Jay Cutler to be successful.
He figured he could do things his own way.
I have no issue with a coach/GM wanting their own guy at the QB position, but the idea on paper of bringing in McDaniels’ offensive genius in combination with Cutler and the offensive core Mike Shanahan left behind?
Apparently, it was too good to be true.
After Cutler’s Pro Bowl appearance in 2008-09, we’d never see him suit up for the Denver Broncos again.
3 Denver Broncos trade ideas with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2022
The Denver Broncos have been wheeling and dealing ever since George Paton came aboard as GM. Could he strike a deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars?
Sure, things turned out okay for the Denver Broncos, but that’s not the point. The point is, this was a horrible trade and the most embarrassing situation in team history.