Nine Days After Watching Him Collapse, Green Bay Traded Five Draft Picks for John Hadl
The Green Bay Packers had a front-row seat for the end of John Hadl.
On October 13, 1974, at Milwaukee County Stadium, Hadl started at quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams against the Packers. He completed 6 of 16 passes for 59 yards, threw two interceptions, and was benched in the third quarter of a 17-6 upset loss. The Rams, heavy favorites to repeat as NFC West champions, fell to 3-2. The following week, the starting job went to James Harris.3
Nine days later, Packers coach and general manager Dan Devine traded five prime draft picks — two first-rounders, two second-rounders, and a third-rounder — to the Rams for the 34-year-old quarterback he had just watched fall apart.1
Even Hadl couldn't believe it. "I didn't really believe it," he said in a 2006 interview. "I didn't think anybody would be that desperate."3
The week in between
The trade didn't come out of nowhere. It came out of a worse option collapsing first.
The week before the Hadl deal, Packers director of pro scouting Bill Tobin had an agreement with the New Orleans Saints: Archie Manning, 25 years old and four years removed from being the No. 2 overall pick, for two first-round picks and two second-rounders. Tobin flew to Atlanta to finalize it after the Saints' game on October 20. But Saints backup Bobby Scott hurt his knee, a rookie 15th-rounder named Larry Cipa completed 1 of 7 passes in relief, and with Scott out for a month, the Saints backed out. Tobin got the news outside the locker room from their pro scout and flew home empty-handed.2
The next night, the Packers lost 10-9 to the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football. Jerry Tagge started at quarterback, went 14 of 32 for 140 yards, and couldn't produce a second-half touchdown despite starting drives at the Bears' 29-, 37- and 36-yard lines. The day after that, Devine sent the five picks to Los Angeles for Hadl — who, as the Packers had personally witnessed two weeks earlier, had lost his fastball.2
Devine was coaching for his job in what proved to be his final season in Green Bay. He resigned on December 16, a day after the last game, to take the Notre Dame job, finishing his four-year Packers tenure at 25-28-4.8
The first bill comes due: April 1975
Future picks are IOUs, and Green Bay's came due fast. Those five choices turned out to be the 9th, 28th, and 61st selections in the 1975 draft, and the 8th and 39th in 1976.1
One detail worth pausing on: the 1975 second-rounder wasn't even Green Bay's. It was Baltimore's — a pick the Packers had acquired two months earlier, in August 1974, when they traded for star linebacker Ted Hendricks from the Colts. Green Bay flipped a second-round pick that had already changed teams once, and never got to spend it. The Rams spent it on cornerback Monte Jackson of Maryland at No. 28.14
Jackson became a two-time Pro Bowl selection, intercepted a league-high 10 passes in his second season, and was named Associated Press All-Pro in 1976. With the 9th pick, the Rams took Notre Dame defensive tackle Mike Fanning, who played 10 seasons, registered 43½ career sacks, and from 1975 to 1982 lined up alongside Jack Youngblood, Fred Dryer, and Larry Brooks on one of the most feared pass rushes in football. The 61st pick became center Geoff Reece.1
Three picks, three starters, one draft. The Rams had already won the trade before the 1976 draft happened.
The second bill: April 1976
The 1976 second-rounder, No. 39, became cornerback Pat Thomas of Texas A&M — a two-time Pro Bowler, a first-team All-Pro in 1980, and the owner of 26 career interceptions. Between them, Jackson and Thomas picked off 49 passes in their careers, and both started in the secondary of the Rams team that reached Super Bowl XIV.18
The 1976 first-rounder, No. 8 overall, took the strangest route of all. The Rams never used it. When Los Angeles signed Lions wide receiver Ron Jessie as a free agent in July 1975, Detroit was awarded the pick as compensation. The Lions then traded it to the Chicago Bears for the 10th and 68th picks, and Chicago used it on Wisconsin tackle Dennis Lick.56
So the final accounting of Green Bay's five picks: two All-Pro cornerbacks, a decade-long starting defensive tackle, a starting center, and a first-round tackle for a division rival — plus a starting wide receiver in Jessie for the Rams themselves. Green Bay got 22 games of John Hadl.
What Green Bay bought
Hadl started the final six games of 1974 and went 3-3 as the Packers finished 6-8. Then came 1975, Bart Starr's first season as head coach, and the full collapse. Hadl started 13 of 14 games on a 4-10 team, posting a 52.8 passer rating with 21 interceptions against just 6 touchdown passes, and was sacked 35 times.3 Across his season and a half in Green Bay, he threw 9 touchdowns against 29 interceptions in 22 games.10
This was a quarterback coming off a 12-2 season in 1973 in which he'd been named the NFC Player of the Year by the Associated Press. The arm, reportedly injured, never came back. It is reckoned as one of the worst trades for a starting quarterback in NFL history — and Hadl himself always knew it. The man knew the price was absurd before he'd even packed a bag.39
The exit, and one last twist
In April 1976, Starr cleaned house. He traded Hadl, cornerback Ken Ellis, and two draft picks to the Houston Oilers for quarterback Lynn Dickey. Hadl played two seasons in Houston, went 1-5 in six starts, and retired.34
And here is the last twist of the knife: one of the picks Green Bay attached to sweeten the Houston deal was the 117th selection in the 1976 draft. The Oilers used it on a wide receiver from Tulsa named Steve Largent.4 He was traded to Seattle before the season and caught 100 touchdowns in the Hall of Fame.
For all of that, Hadl never carried a grudge about Green Bay. He wasn't unhappy there, he said in that 2006 interview, and he especially appreciated the chance to play for Starr. "I loved Bart," he said. "He was truly one of those guys, what you see is what you get."3
He was the only person involved in the trade who ever got to be gracious about it. Everyone else was too busy counting what it cost.
Sources
- Cliff Christl oral history: "Even John Hadl was shocked at what the Packers paid to acquire him" (packers.com, June 2026) — pick numbers (9th, 28th, 61st in 1975; 8th, 39th in 1976), what the Rams drafted (Fanning, Jackson, Reece, Thomas; 8th traded in the Jessie deal), Jackson's 10-INT 1976 season and All-Pro honor, Fanning's 43½ sacks and 10 seasons, the corners' combined 49 interceptions
- Cliff Christl: "Trade for Archie Manning fell through in 1974" (packers.com) — the failed Manning deal (two 1sts, two 2nds), Tobin's Atlanta trip, Scott's injury, Cipa's 1-of-7, the 10-9 Monday night loss to Chicago, Tagge's 14-of-32
- Cliff Christl: "Former Packers QB John Hadl dies at 82" (packers.com) — the Oct 13, 1974 benching game (6-of-16, 59 yards, 2 INTs; Harris given the job), Devine's desperation, Hadl's "desperate" and "I loved Bart" quotes, 1975 stats (52.8 rating, 21 INTs, 6 TDs, 35 sacks), the April 1976 Dickey trade, Houston stint (1-5 in six starts)
- Pro Sports Transactions: John Hadl transaction log — pick-to-player mapping (#9 Fanning, #28 Jackson, #61 Reece, #8 Lick, #39 Thomas), the 1976 Houston trade terms including the 117th pick (Steve Largent)
- Wikipedia: 1976 Detroit Lions season — the 8th pick awarded to Detroit as compensation for the Rams signing Ron Jessie; Detroit's trade of #8 to Chicago
- Pro Football Hall of Fame: 1976 NFL Draft — Dennis Lick, 8th overall, "[from GB thru LARm and Det]"
- Wikipedia: Pat Thomas (defensive back)) — 1976 2nd round, 39th overall; 2× Pro Bowl; 1980 first-team All-Pro; 26 career interceptions
- Wikipedia: 1974 Green Bay Packers season — Devine's Dec 16, 1974 resignation, Notre Dame, 25-28-4 record
- Wikipedia: John Hadl — 1973 NFC Player of the Year season, the trade terms, 1975 stats (2,095 yards, 6 TD, 21 INT), the deal's reputation
- Acme Packing Company: Packers-Rams series history — 9 TDs to 29 INTs in 22 games as a Packer
Trade terms, teams, and dates verified against the site's trade tree for this deal and cross-checked with the sources below.
About this article: it was drafted with AI assistance from the Football Trade Trees database and public reporting, then reviewed by a human editor. Spot an error? Email [email protected].