Dave Gettleman insists he would trade back in the NFL draft and called it an "urban myth" that he's unwilling, despite never having done so in his eight years as a general manager with the New York Giants and Carolina Panthers.
Gettleman, the current general manager of the Giants, has the 11th pick in next Thursday's first round and six selections overall to work with this year.
"I've tried in the past. Honest, I've tried to trade back," Gettleman insisted with a laugh when asked about his track record. "But it's got to be value. I'm not getting fleeced. I refuse to do it. If someone wants to make a bad trade back, God bless them."
Gettleman has made 54 total selections as a general manager. He's traded up a few times (most recently back into the first round for Georgia cornerback DeAndre Baker in 2019), but never back. It has almost become an annual running joke. NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said earlier this week that he thinks "we'll see a right turn in a NASCAR race before we see Dave Gettleman trade back." Gettleman himself laughed at that and thought it was a good line.
At this point, Gettleman has admitted it's almost an urban myth. He just can't seem to set the record straight.
That is perhaps because he can only be judged on results. Not almosts, which he insists have happened.
"We've had opportunities. I've tried," Gettleman said. "You have to understand, the other piece of this is sometimes you have a trade and the guy that the team is trading up for gets picked in front of you. We've had that happen to us. 'We got a trade. We got a trade. So and so selects ... no trade, Dave. Goodbye. Hang the phone up on me.' So that happens too."
It's still quite a streak. The Cleveland Browns have made five trades back in the first round alone since 2013, according to ESPN Stats & Information. All of those came between 2014 and 2018.
This just might be the year for Gettleman and the Giants, who haven't traded back as an organization in any round of any draft since the first round in 2016. New York needs an edge rusher and the consensus at that position is that none of this year's options are top-11 players.
ESPN senior draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. has Michigan's Kwity Paye as the top edge rusher. He's ranked 16th on Kiper's latest Big Board.