The Art of the Deal: An inside look at how blockbuster NFL Draft trades get done

Ralph Vacchiano covered the New York Giants and the Eli Manning trade in 2004 for the New York Daily News. He also wrote the book " Eli Manning: the Making of a Quarterback ," which included a forward from former Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi, the man who made the historic deal.

In the months before the 2004 NFL Draft, the league was buzzing about how the New York Giants were trying to trade up to draft quarterback Eli Manning, the likely first overall pick. There were endless reports of their "talks" with the San Diego Chargers and updates that seemed to come weekly.

But there was one problem. They weren't really talking at all.

Ernie Accorsi, then the general manager of the Giants, had one conversation with Chargers general manager A.J. Smith at the scouting combine in February, then they didn't talk again for more than a month. And when they finally did, 25 days before the draft, the conversation went like this:

"Are you interested in trading that pick?" Accorsi said.

"I might be," Smith replied.

"Well," Accorsi said, "as time goes on, let's talk later."

The next time they talked about a potential deal, the 2004 draft was less than a week away.

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That's part of the myth of "trade talks" in the NFL, even though they're breathlessly chronicled by the media with their audience hanging on every updated word. It also helps explain why, with days until the 2025 NFL Draft, that not a single trade has been made involving a first-round pick.

Yet.

There have absolutely been "talks" and "calls" and "inquiries" up and down the order, from every level of every NFL front office. Every team, by now, knows what they'd be willing to do and has a sense of the cost of moving up or the bounty they could get by moving down.

And