The winners of 5 blockbuster trades that the 2019 NFL Draft wrapped up

The Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry trades look even better for the Browns now that all the picks have been made.

The 2019 NFL Draft had a record 40 trades over the course of three days, but those were mostly swaps of picks. Josh Rosen, Dekoda Watson, and Hassan Ridgeway were the only three NFL players involved in deals over the weekend.

What the draft did provide, though, was the chance for us to evaluate some of the biggest trades of recent years.

We’ll still have to wait until 2020 to see the dust completely settle on the Khalil Mack, Dee Ford, and Frank Clark trades. Considering the way the Patriots deal picks, the Jimmy Garoppolo trade may never see its end.

But there were five blockbuster deals from the last couple seasons that got wrapped up during the 2019 NFL Draft. Here’s what those trades turned into, and who came out on top:

The Odell Beckham Jr. trade doesn’t look any better for the Giants

Browns get

• WR Odell Beckham Jr.

Giants get

• DT Dexter Lawrence (2019 1st round, No. 17 overall)
• DE Oshane Ximines (2019 3rd round, No. 95 overall)
• S Jabrill Peppers

New York’s decision to send away Odell Beckham Jr. — a 26-year-old, three-time Pro Bowler with the second-highest receiving yards per game average ever — was puzzling, to say the least. Especially when the compensation was just one first-round pick, a third-round pick, and Jabrill Peppers.

Peppers was a good, not great safety in two years with the Browns. The two draft picks were used to take a run-stuffing defensive tackle and Old Dominion’s first ever draftee.

It’ll look much better if Peppers thrives in a new defense, Lawrence is the anchor for over a decade, and Ximines is the Giants’ next Osi Umenyiora. If even two of those are true, it’d be a move the Giants can feel good about. New York also got the added incentive of sending away the five-year, $90 million extension the team gave Beckham.

But it doesn’t help that the Lawrence pick was made to fill the void left by Damon “Snacks” Harrison, who was traded away to the Lions for a fifth-round pick in October. Giants general manager Dave Gettleman doesn’t exactly get the benefit of the doubt after his bizarre offseason ended with Beckham, Olivier Vernon, and Landon Collins all wearing different uniforms.

No team got a lower draft grade from Dan Kadar after Gettleman picked quarterback Daniel Jones with the No. 6 pick while Dwayne Haskins was still on the board.

The Giants made three first-round picks Thursday and the Browns didn’t make their first selection until the middle of the second round. Cleveland was certainly fine with the way things shook out, though.

The trade was originally lauded as a win for the Browns and a head-scratching move for the Giants. That’s still very much the case after the fact.

The Browns’ deal for Jarvis Landry also looks great now that’s finished

Browns get

• WR Jarvis Landry

Dolphins get

• TE Durham Smythe (2018 4th round, No. 123 overall)
• RB Myles Gaskins (2019 7th round, No. 234 overall)

A year before trading for Beckham, the Browns landed a different Pro Bowl receiver in a deal with the Dolphins. Miami gave Jarvis Landry the franchise tag in spring 2018, but only used it to send him to Cleveland.

The real goal for the Dolphins was to dodge the five-year, $75.5 million contract the receiver got from the Browns. Still, getting just a pair of Day 3 picks in exchange is tough.

Smythe only caught six passes during his rookie season and will likely be buried behind Mike Gesicki, Dwayne Allen, and Nick O’Leary on the depth chart heading into training camp. Gaskins is low on the totem pole too, with Kenyan Drake and Kalen Ballage expected to eat most of the carries.

Meanwhile, Landry made a Pro Bowl in his first season in Cleveland with 1,036 yards from scrimmage and five total touchdowns.

Advantage: Browns.

All parties can feel good about the Amari Cooper trade

Cowboys get

• WR Amari Cooper

Raiders get

• S Johnathan Abram (2019 1st round, No. 27 overall)

Unlike the Beckham and Landry trades, the Raiders were praised for sending away their top receiver. Cooper’s production was tailing off, and his rookie contract was coming close to its end. Getting a first-round pick in return looked like a gigantic win for Oakland. Six games into the Jon Gruden era, Cooper averaged only 46.7 yards per game and had just one touchdown.

Then Cooper sparked the Cowboys offense and helped the team win seven of its last eight games to finish 10-6. The first-round pick tumbled to the bottom of the draft order and Cooper clearly established himself as a key piece of the future for Dallas.

So the Cowboys were far from heartbroken when they didn’t get a pick Thursday night:

That doesn’t necessarily mean the Raiders should feel any different about the compensation they got from Dallas, though. It was still a huge haul for a player who was looking less and less like a long-term fixture for the Raiders.

The compensation ended up being Abram, a pick who was Todd McShay’s favorite selection of the draft for the Raiders:

Oakland targeted lots of tough, physical players who can be difference-makers on the defensive side of the ball. At the top of the list is Abram, a human torpedo.

The hard-hitting safety brings a lot of energy to the secondary and can be a defensive leader for this rebuilding defense. Abram has a ton of power and good closing burst. He has the size to matchup with tight ends and bigger receivers, but will also be aggressive in run support. He’s a competitor and fits what Jon Gruden is looking for in defensive assets. My top safety is going to be a very good NFL player.

The Raiders had difficulty at the safety position in 2018 and were dead-last in touchdown passes allowed. Getting a 22-year-old, first-round safety is exactly the type of haul they probably envisioned when they sent Cooper to Dallas.

The Seahawks and Texans both won the Duane Brown trade too

Seahawks get

• OT Duane Brown
• LB Shaquem Griffin (2018 5th round, No. 141 overall)

Texans get

• OT Martinas Rankin (2018 3rd round, No. 80 overall)
• CB Lonnie Johnson (2019 2nd round, No. 54 overall)

Both the Seahawks and Texans have difficulty protecting their star quarterbacks, so the move to send Brown to Seattle hugely benefited Russell Wilson and was awful for Deshaun Watson.

Brown was a big reason for the Seahawks’ success in 2018, and the trade also landed Shaquem Griffin — the coolest story of the draft last year — in Seattle too. Giving up a couple Day 2 selections was a decent price to pay for that immediate success.

Houston certainly could’ve used Brown’s help in 2018, when Watson was sacked a ridiculous 62 times. Picking Martinas Rankin didn’t help much either. He missed all of training camp due to injury and was benched a month into his rookie season after struggling in his first NFL games.

But moving Brown wasn’t really a bad call for the Texans. The offensive tackle was 32 years old at the time of the trade and held out the first seven weeks of the 2017 season in pursuit of a new contract. In his absence, Houston was doing just fine offensively and scored at least 33 points in four straight games.

The Texans dodged his pricy contract extension and got a draft pick to take a new offensive lineman. Rankins’ career didn’t get off to a good start, but given an actual offseason and training camp, he could be ready for a sophomore leap. The trade was completed Friday when the Texans added Johnson, filling a big hole at cornerback on the roster.

The Steelers and Raiders still have to wait to evaluate the Antonio Brown deal

Raiders get

• WR Antonio Brown

Steelers get

• WR Diontae Johnson (2019 3rd round, No. 66 overall)
• TE Zach Gentry (2019 5th round, No. 141 overall)

Unlike the other four deals, this one’s still up in the air.

It mostly depends on whether or not Brown still has gas left in the tank. He turns 31 in July and is due to make a little more than $50 million over the next three years. But Brown also hasn’t shown signs of slowing and could give the Raiders an offense-changing wide receiver.

For the Steelers, it’ll be a win if either Johnson or Gentry turns into a playmaker in the pass game.

Pittsburgh already has its replacement for Brown in 22-year-old Pro Bowler JuJu Smith-Schuster. Finding another receiver wasn’t a must, but the Steelers used the first of the two picks they got in the Brown deal to take a receiver very much of the same mold as their former star. Their profiles as draft prospects are so alike you can’t help but think the Steelers might’ve picked Brown’s mirror image with that exact pick on purpose.

Brown was a steal in the sixth round and that’s because not many teams wanted to take a chance on a 5’10, 186-pound receiver with 4.56 speed who played in the MAC. It’s awfully similar to the profile of Johnson, who is 5’10, 183 pounds with 4.53 speed.

Johnson still managed to rack up over 2,000 receiving yards and 21 receiving touchdowns in his last two seasons at Toledo anyway. He got there — like Brown — by being one of the most polished and clean route runners of the draft class.

Two rounds later, the Steelers got a 6’8 tight end who may be able to offset the departure of Jesse James. Keeping Brown would’ve been nice, but dodging the headache will be well worth it if either Johnson or Gentry works out.