Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

When the ill-fated 1971 deal between the Cowboys and Patriots fell through because of Duane Thomas' refusal to complete a physical (i.e. take a drug test) for New England, the Pats made an odd choice. Instead of just negating the entire trade, they re-worked it.

New England had traded for Thomas, two-year-backup G Halvor Hagen, and '71 9th round pick Honor Jackson. In exchange, they gave up Carl Garrett and a first round pick. When the deal tanked, Thomas and Garrett returned to their old teams, but the Pats kept Hagen and Jackson. New England got its first round pick back, but only after giving the Boys a two and three in '72.

Upton Bell had such little respect for draft picks that he gave up two high picks for a pair of guys who were minor contributors on a 3-11 Pats team in '72, and were soon benchwarmers under Chuck Fairbanks, before being told to hit the road.

With that second round pick, Dallas took Robert Newhouse, who was supposedly too small to make it in the NFL. Their third rounder, LB Mike Keller, was a flop, only playing five games in '72. Still, Newhouse for two spare parts was another Dallas fleecing that seemed to be fairly common for this era.

Newhouse was drafted in part because Thomas had just gotten busted on drug charges and was an obvious continuing headache. Thomas was dealt to the Chargers in mid-'72for WR Billy Parks and RB Mike Montgomery. While Parks only caught 18 passes in his lone year in Dallas, the Cowboys were again able to take advantage of another team's stupidity by trading him and their flop first rounder in 1971 Tody (brother of Bubba) Smith for Houston's first and fourth picks in 1974. Those two picks ended up netting Dallas, Too Tall Jones (the top pick in the draft) and Danny White.

Corrected.

1 slight correction bd billy parks and tody smith were traded to the houston oilers not the san diego chargers

Joel Buschsbaum wrote in his 1977 NFL Scout's Guide that the Cowboys got the better of every trade.

"Dallas does do a tremendous job of trading players, that can't help them, for high draft picks that can (e.g. Tody Smith and Billy Parks for the first pick in the '74 draft, Craig Morton for the second pick in the 75 draft and a #2 in 76 plus the Longley steal). I can't remember the last time Dallas failed to get the better of a trade."

Of the Tony Dorsett deal, Buchsbaum wrote: "Gil Brandt should be thrown in a Seattle jail for grand larceny. First he steals Dorsett for one #1 and three # 2's, then he gets back one of the two for a W.R. who drops as many as he catches so he can select the premier q.b. in the draft."

BTW, the first pick in the 1974 draft was Too Tall Jones. And the pick the Cowboys got for Craig Morton turned out to be Randy White.

SixtiesFan wrote: First he steals Dorsett for one #1 and three # 2's, then he gets back one of the two for a W.R. who drops as many as he catches so he can select the premier q.b. in the draft".

I believe the WR is Duke Fergerson and the QB is Glenn Carano.

Teo wrote:and the QB is Glenn Carano.

Who's daughter is a more known and popular (former) athlete.

Some questionable Cowboy trades from the period:

Brig Owens and Mitch Johnson to the Redskins for a #5 DC. Owens was a #7 1965 DC, but Cowboys defensive backfield always had some holes in it. I'm sure Owens would have been useful.

#5 DC for Coy Bacon. Bacon was a street FA, 26 at the time, but became an All-Pro. Obviously they could have used Bacon more than the DC.

Ron Jessie was another one, #8 DC. Got a #4 from Detroit, but he was better than that. That happened in 1971. By 1972-73 the Cowboys' receiving corps was in a bit of turmoil, and Jessie would have been useful.

To settle the Ralph Neely dispute with the Oilers, the Cowboys had to give the Oilers four draft choices, including a #1 and #2. Neely was a solid starter, but not worth that price tag.

Jay Z wrote:Some questionable Cowboy trades from the period:

Brig Owens and Mitch Johnson to the Redskins for a #5 DC. Owens was a #7 1965 DC, but Cowboys defensive backfield always had some holes in it. I'm sure Owens would have been useful.

#5 DC for Coy Bacon. Bacon was a street FA, 26 at the time, but became an All-Pro. Obviously they could have used Bacon more than the DC.

Ron Jessie was another one, #8 DC. Got a #4 from Detroit, but he was better than that. That happened in 1971. By 1972-73 the Cowboys' receiving corps was in a bit of turmoil, and Jessie would have been useful.

To settle the Ralph Neely dispute with the Oilers, the Cowboys had to give the Oilers four draft choices, including a #1 and #2. Neely was a solid starter, but not worth that price tag.

Ironically, one of the picks they got for Owens ended up going to the Oilers (a #5 in '67). The Oilers didn't get much from that haul: Tom Regner, Roy Hopkins, Willie Parker and Zeke Moore, with Moore being the best of the bunch.

In the Owens deal, the Boys got Jim Steffen, but he never ended up playing for them. The draft pick (which turned out to be Parker) was sent to Houston.

The Bacon pick was only good for LB Chuck Kyle, who never played in the NFL. It was 10 picks later when the Bengals took Ken Riley.

The Jessie pick was used on a Penn State linebacker, Charles Zapiec, who flopped.

I forgot about how the Cowboys were the ones who originally drafted Jessie, not the Lions.

Jay Z wrote:To settle the Ralph Neely dispute with the Oilers, the Cowboys had to give the Oilers four draft choices, including a #1 and #2. Neely was a solid starter, but not worth that price tag.

Neely was a 13 year starter on both sides of the line. I would say he was definitely worth the price tag, and I would guess the Oilers would have rather had Neely than the 4 players/draft picks they eventually received. JMO

Bryan wrote:

Jay Z wrote:To settle the Ralph Neely dispute with the Oilers, the Cowboys had to give the Oilers four draft choices, including a #1 and #2. Neely was a solid starter, but not worth that price tag.

Neely was a 13 year starter on both sides of the line. I would say he was definitely worth the price tag, and I would guess the Oilers would have rather had Neely than the 4 players/draft picks they eventually received. JMO

Agreed. Neely also had HotVG level honors at 3/2/60s.