Trade value
Thompson got the better value in his trade up into the first round to select outside linebacker Clay Matthews, according to one trade-value chart used by NFL teams.
The picks Thompson traded to New England (Nos. 41, 73 and 83) totaled 890 points, and the picks he received (Nos. 26 and 162) totaled 906.6 points. Thats a net gain of 16.6 points, or about the value of a late sixth-round pick.
We have a couple, three of them, Thompson said of the trade charts. Ones a composite thing of different ones, ones I think the original Cowboy one, and theres another one. We have (director of research and development) Mike Eayrs, who works in statistics and numbers and he does things like that.
"It wasnt a great trade, but it wasnt a horrible trade for us from a numbers standpoint. But again, it gets to how badly do you want the player?