The top 3...

Number 3

The New York Giants traded David Baker (SLB) to the Cardinals for a second round pick. Baker did play five seasons for Arizona and had 511 career tackles. But New York used tha draft pick to select: 2019 2-15: William Marquis (WR). That's right, Hall of Famer William Marquis was acquired for the low low cost of a middling LB. Marquis of course was one of the only non-QBs to ever win league MVP and is considered to be one of the best WR ever.

Number 2

The Atlanta Falcons trade a Marvin Lane (WR) to the SF Demons for three draft picks, who became:

2026 2-28: Anthony James (WR)
2026 3-28: Peter Taylor (MLB)
2026 5-28: Willie Mays Hayes (TE)

Taylor played two seasons making 44 tackles before his career ended. James and Hayes combined for around 1500 career receiving yards. And then Marvin Lane had almost twice that amount of yards… in one season. Yes, the Falcons cut bait on Marvin Lane right before his career breakout, launching him into a hall of fame career, and got a whole lot of nothing in return. Of course, Lane's ascension may have been helped by another player...

Number 1

SF Demons trade a third round pick to the Charlotte Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies in exchange for Patrick Spinner (QB). Was there any doubt this would be number 1? The Duckies used the third round pick on 2019 3-24: Adam Oliveira (WLB). Oliveira did play 10 seasons, though he only totaled 149 tackles, 1 sack and 1 INT in his career. Yep, about 15 tackles per year. Meanwhile, everyone knows that Spinner averaged way more than 15 touchdowns per year. He retired as the undisputed greatest quarterback in Football Moguls history and no matter how great a backup linebacker could be, the difference in value between "franchise QB" and guy that might make 15 tackles in a good year and cause one turnover in his whole career, is a chasm. There's no doubt that the best/worst trade in history is the league's most famous one.

So we've counted down the top 6, and it seems like the lesson should be, don't trade with SF!

In my defense, I did get Spinner off the waiver wire. At the time I was only trading a waiver wire pickup for a 3rd rd pick.
(And this is my return for taking him off the scrap heap. lol)

The Origin of Football Moguls

The 20th season of Football Moguls kicks off tonight and before that happens, we take a moment to reflect on how it all began 20 seasons ago...

League administrator Norm was part of public league Custom-22, his first ever league on MyFootballNow. However, the league was slowly grinding to a halt, due to not enough teams to keep the simulation running. But inspiration would soon strike! Jdavidbakr had recently opened up a new feature call "private leagues." The original vision of Football Moguls was to invite a bunch of Norm's personal friends, who had previously played sim baseball together, and have fun playing this new sim game! In addition, the former members of Custom-22 were invited to fill out the league.

The league began with just 16 members. From the beginning it was declared that the veteran owners would populate the NFC only, while the newbie owners would populate the AFC, so that they would have a better chance of making the playoffs without having the battle the game veterans. Of course, billyvan signed up for the AFC regardless. But the concept was supposed to be 2 human teams and 2 CPU teams per division. The AFC/NFC distinction was kept for years, and explains why to this day, the NFC still feels a lot tougher than the AFC. With that, the league was off and running!

And... the league soon ground to a halt. Part way through the season, many of the newbie owners stopped logging in. The game was "too confusing" and they "didn't have time to learn" how to do things like gameplan. Eventually, the league fell below the required 16 owners to simulate. Desperate to at least finish the year, fake teams were recruited to take over franchises so that the game could run to its conclusion. At the end of the season, there became a decision point. Keep the league as a private playground, propped up by fake teams, or open it to the masses. In the interests of keeping the investment in the league alive, the gates were opened and the league soon filled with new owners and a new era in Football Moguls began, which resulted in most of you here right now!

There are only a few remaining owners from the inaugural season that have been through it all. The "20 Season Club":

norm - Los Angeles Xtreme
choaspika - Irvine Anteaters
asnboidmx - San Francisco Demons
Bananas - Chicago Bears
billstein - Charlotte Warthogs/Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies

lol at least i make it interesting in AFC.

This explains all that success Billy is quick to remind us all of. Happy he is just taking it easy on us these days. Week 6

Yes, billy's two Super Bowl campaigns in the AFC were against people who literally never played the game before.

lol who say peoples never play. kurset was a veteran.. he manage to be a great champ.

I played in one other league prior to joining FM, for 2-3 seasons. I was super nervous joining the Moguls; I was shocked as anyone to find success as early as I did.

I inherited a much better team than was being played (re: the New England Vince Wilforks).

you doing pretty well kurset and I did have high expectation of you to succeed me in AFC superbowl title.

First off, Norm, thanks for being such a great admin. You do an amazing job. Thanks for having me around for the last 10 seasons, and heres to 10 more!