A Look Back at Recent Top 5 Picks Who Were Traded Before the End of Their Rookie Deal
· Yahoo Sports
It’s not often in the NFL that top-five picks are traded before the end of their rookie deals, but with the news that 2024 number four overall pick Marvin Harrison Jr. will likely no longer be a member of the Cardinals by the end of Sunday’s action, it’s worth remembering that it does happen.
Visit h-doctor.club for more information.
How these trades wind up looking for each team involved has varied greatly over the years. Sometimes teams give up on a player too soon, but sometimes that change of scenery is needed for both the team and player to improve and move forward.
That seems to be the case between Harrison and the Cardinals, but how did other recent trades involving top-five picks that were traded before the end of their rookie deals pan out for each team involved?
A Retrospective Look at 3 Recently Traded Former Top Five Picks
3. 2023: Falcons acquire CB Jeff Okudah from the Lions
The Falcons acquired cornerback Jeff OkudahThe Lions acquired fifth round pick (pick #159), which turned into wide receiver Dontayvion WicksStarting with another former Ohio State Buckeye, Jeff Okudah was the 3rd overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft by Detroit, and to say the least, it did not work out.
He played in just ten games over his first two NFL seasons due to injuries before playing in 15 in his third season, but was traded to Atlanta soon after that third year. Okudah wasn’t bad in Atlanta, per se, but he played in 13 games and started nine while dealing with more injury problems along the way.
Okudah played in 12 games combined with Houston and Minnesota in 2024 and 2025 and has not caught on with an NFL team to this point for the 2026 season. Overall, the 27-year-old has played in just 50 games and started 31 over six seasons, and that is not what you want to see from a former top-three pick.
As for the trade, there’s truly no real winners or losers here.
The Falcons took a flyer on Okudah with a fifth-round pick, which failed, but there’s no telling who that pick would’ve been if they had kept it (likely would not have been Wicks).
The Lions could be called winners in a sense here since they actually used that fifth-round pick in a package to trade up and select Brian Branch with a second-round pick in the 2023 draft. Branch has already made a Pro-Bowl and been a key member of the Lions’ secondary since he was drafted, so that could be looked at as solid asset management from the Lions.
All in all, Okudah’s career never worked out in the way that a top-five pick would expect it to. The Lions definitely don’t look back with regret for trading him, but making that selection at number three is a choice they would certainly do over again if they could.
The Falcons likely don’t regret taking the flyer either since the cost was so minimal, and all in all, this one was basically a wash, even if the Lions were able to use the trade as a mechanism to draft Branch soon after.
Oct 23, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Ladd McConkey (15) makes a catch against Minnesota Vikings cornerback Jeff Okudah (8) during the first half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images2. 2022: Panthers acquire QB Baker Mayfield from Browns
Panthers acquire quarterback Baker MayfieldThe Browns acquire a conditional 2024 fourth or fifth-round pickNow this trade most definitely has a loser, but it doesn’t exactly have a winner.
Out of many of the recent top five picks that were traded before the end of their rookie deals, Mayfield is one of the most successful.
He might not be a traditional number one overall pick at quarterback, but Mayfield’s career has been impressive, and he just recently signed a new extension to stay with Tampa Bay.
At the time of this trade, Mayfield had just finished the 2021 season, where he played in 14 games, completing 60.5% of his passes for 17 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He threw for 3,010 yards.
Sep 27, 2026; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) scrambles with the ball under pressure from Minnesota Vikings linebacker Eric Wilson (55) during the fourth quarter at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
The Browns had just acquired Deshaun Watson from the Texans, and that started the domino effect, which eventually ended in Mayfield going from Cleveland to Carolina and then eventually making his way to Tampa Bay with a brief stint with the Rams in between.
As for Watson, the Browns signed him to a massive contract, and while the Browns have had a solid start to the 2026 season, that contract has been eating away at their books for years, and they’ve gotten exactly zero value out of Watson until this year.
Before this season, Watson started just 19 games for the Browns over four seasons and completed 61% of his passes for 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. In 2026, over the first four games, he has completed 69.6% of his passes for 855 yards, six touchdowns, and two interceptions.
Watson is now in the final year of that deal, but there’s still reason to wonder if the Browns would have just been better off keeping Mayfield long term. Maybe things wouldn’t have worked out the way they did in Tampa Bay, but at the very least, that contract wouldn’t have been on the books for the last four years.
Unlike the Okudah trade, this trade might be an example of giving up on one of your top five picks too early, especially due to the hefty cost that came with it. Carolina took a flyer, and it didn’t pay off for them, but Tampa would never have found their future quarterback if it weren’t for this trade taking place.
As for losers, the Browns greatly mismanaged this trade, and it’s loomed over their franchise for years. Finally, in 2026, they’re getting closer to getting out from under it.
Oct 8, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) on the field before the start of the game against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images1. 2019: Rams acquire CB Jalen Ramsey from Jaguars
Rams acquire cornerback Jalen RamseyJaguars acquire 2020 first-round pick (became K’Lavon Chaisson), 2021 first-round pick (became Travis Etienne), and 2021 fourth-round pick (became Jordan Smith)Unlike the other two former top-five picks who were traded, Ramsey’s trade to the Rams wasn’t about underperformance, but instead friction between him and the Jaguars, which ended in a parting of ways between the two parties.
This trade is a bit more cut and dry than the other two in the sense that there’s a very clear winner and loser.
The winner is the Rams, who traded for Ramsey and made him into a huge part of their 2021-2022 Super Bowl-winning team.Ramsey was named All-Pro First Team that year in Los Angeles, as well as in 2020 with the Rams. He was named a Pro-Bowler in all three seasons with the Rams before being traded again in 2023.
The loser here is the Jaguars, who might not have tried hard enough to salvage things with their young star, but the haul they got looked good at the time. Two first-round picks and a fourth-round pick are a great package, but what came of those picks is a whole other story.
First, linebacker K’Lavon Chaisson was the 20th overall pick in 2020, and while he is still in the NFL now with the Commanders, his career in Jacksonville never took off in the way they would’ve wanted from a pick in the Ramsey trade.
The final two picks from this trade were made in 2021 with running back Travis Ettiene and linebacker Jordan Smith.
Etienne has had a solid career, especially for a 25th overall pick at running back, but he’s now with the Saints, and beyond some solid years in Jacksonville, nothing particularly noteworthy came from that pick either.
The last pick, fourth-rounder Jordan Smith, played two games in his NFL career.
So, the Rams got a key piece to a Super Bowl-winning team, even if they didn’t choose to retain Ramsey long term, and the Jaguars essentially got nothing of value here beyond a few good years of Etienne.
If there was ever a trade to warn teams against trading former top-five picks too soon, whether it’s due to underperformance or not, this would be the one.
Sep 8, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Miami Dolphins cornerback Jalen Ramsey (5) runs onto the field before the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn ImageThe Last Word
Circling back to the main point, 2024 fourth-overall pick Marvin Harrison Jr. will likely no longer be a Cardinal by the time Sunday’s games are over.
Harrison’s trade is coming due to underperformance, more similarly to Okudah or Mayfield, but there’s no telling whether this will be a mistake in the long term for Arizona.
Two years is quick to give up on top five picks, and there’s a chance this trade burns them in the future, similar to how the Mayfield trade hurt the Browns long term.
But there’s always the flip side of things where Harrison doesn’t figure it out, and the Cardinals get the most value they possibly could in return.
Only time will tell on that, but history tells us that trading former top-five picks before the end of their rookie deals is risky with varying results to say the least.
But it seems that’s a risk Arizona is willing to take, and maybe in a few years we can take a retrospective look back and see whether they made the right decision.
As for now, Sunday should mark the final day as a Cardinal for Harrison as Arizona closes the book on a top-five pick that they surely wish they could do over again.