NFL
Are NFL teams allowed to trade players on draft night? These are the rules
As all of the NFL’s attention is on the draft, you might think that player trading would stop. But you would be wrong.
The annual NFL Draft offers teams a level-playing field, at least theoretically, for infusing new talent into their rosters. In broad terms, the 32 teams are assigned a draft place based inversely on their position in last season’s league table. The worst pick first and the Super Bowl champions pick last.
Of course, once a draft slot is assigned, it becomes an asset, and like all assets owned by an NFL franchise, it can be traded. Carolina, for example, traded up, and traded big, with Chicago to get their hands on the first pick.
Over the years, the NFL has added up to 32 “compensatory free agent” picks to allow teams to fill gaps left by players lost to free agency. And of course, these compensatory picks may also be traded away to other teams.
At any time before or during the draft, teams can negotiate trades to swap draft picks or current NFL players to whom they hold the rights.
The only players who are restricted from trade negotiations are the actual players drafted. Once a player is chosen in the draft, he can only sign with the team who drafted him. Until the contracts are signed, he is not technically an asset of the team, but only a potential asset. No other team may approach him until the following year’s draft.
Of course, all of this changes the instant that the player puts ink to paper. Once signed, the player becomes an asset and can be traded just like every other asset that the team possesses.