Football Trade Trees

← All stories

Bad Moon Rising: the 1990 draft-day gamble that traded Andre Rison for the No. 1 pick

October 16, 2026

Bad Moon Rising: the 1990 draft-day gamble that traded Andre Rison for the No. 1 pick

Andre Rison was driving to East Lansing when his mother called. The draft had started. "You just got traded," she told him — traded with the first pick overall, not for it. Rison's answer was pure disbelief: "I'm not going." He was a Michigan kid who knew nothing about the South, a year removed from a rookie season that finished second in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting to Barry Sanders. He was hurt, and he said so plainly years later: "I was hurt. I was hurt."11

His mother overruled him. "Boy, over the phone," she said, "you're going wherever they signed."11

And that was the whole trade, in miniature: a franchise convinced it knew exactly what it was doing, and a 23-year-old wide receiver along for the ride.

What Indianapolis wanted

The Colts were not a franchise short on desperation in the spring of 1990. They'd gone 8-8 in 1989 and missed the playoffs by a game, with Jack Trudeau at quarterback — serviceable, and obviously not the answer. General manager Jim Irsay wanted a local hero: Jeff George, the Indianapolis native who starred at Warren Central High School and then at the University of Illinois, a rocket arm the Colts believed could be the next Johnny Unitas.619

The logic was seductive, and it wasn't only about football. Indianapolis was a franchise struggling to be loved: despite winning the division in 1987, the strike year and owner Robert Irsay's unpopularity had soured the market — college and high-school basketball were the real entertainment kings, the Hoosier Dome sat half-empty on Sundays, and Eric Dickerson, the roster's biggest star, was feuding with the team and getting suspended for insubordination. George was a hometown boy, a name the market already knew. The Colts didn't just want a quarterback; they wanted a face.5

The No. 1 overall pick belonged to Atlanta. So on April 22, 1990, draft day, Indianapolis bought it — at the steepest price the draft market had seen in years. The terms, verified in the site's trade tree for this deal and cross-checked against Pro Football Reference's April 1990 transaction listing:12

Indianapolis received:

  • the 1990 first overall pick — Jeff George, QB
  • the 1990 fourth-rounder, No. 83 — Stacey Simmons, WR12

Atlanta received:

  • WR Andre Rison
  • G/T Chris Hinton
  • the 1990 fifth-rounder, No. 121 — Reggie Redding, T
  • Indianapolis's 1991 first-rounder — No. 13, Mike Pritchard, WR14
  • a conditional 1991 pick that never conveyed

Rison was 22, a first-round pick himself (No. 22 in 1989), coming off 52 catches for 820 yards and 4 touchdowns.8 Hinton was the better-known name at the time: a Pro Bowl lineman who'd come to Indianapolis in the 1983 John Elway trade, finished his career with seven Pro Bowl selections and multiple All-Pro honors.5 Nobody in Indianapolis pretended the price was cheap. The Colts just believed the hometown quarterback was worth it.

The branch that bloomed

Rison's teammates in Indianapolis were, by one account, heartbroken. Former Colts linebacker Jeff Herrod said Rison "had some Marvin Harrison in him," and that without him, "our team went in the craps."10

In Atlanta, Rison did something better than making Indianapolis miss him: he became one of the best receivers in football. Over five Falcons seasons (1990–94) he caught 423 passes for 5,633 yards and 56 touchdowns, made the Pro Bowl four times, was first-team All-Pro in 1990 and second-team All-Pro from 1991 through 1993, and led the entire NFL with 15 touchdown catches in 1993.129 His five Atlanta seasons: 82 for 1,208 and 10; 81 for 976 and 12; 93 for 1,119 and 11; 86 for 1,242 and 15; 81 for 1,088 and 8.8

Falcons coach Jerry Glanville put it simply: "Nobody could separate like he could. He had the best change-of-direction I've ever seen."10 Chris Berman dubbed him "Bad Moon" Rison, after the Creedence song — a nickname a writer named Michael Adler is credited with handing to Berman — and Rison eventually had the nickname tattooed on his bicep.109 He teamed with Deion Sanders to give Atlanta its most electric pairing since the franchise's founding — the birth of Primetime in a Falcons uniform — and those 56 Atlanta touchdowns eclipsed every NFL receiver not named Jerry Rice over that span.125

The peak of it was 1991. Atlanta went 10-6 under Glanville, and Rison — 81 catches, 976 yards, 12 touchdowns that season — helped deliver the franchise's first playoff win since 1978, a wild-card victory over New Orleans, before the Falcons fell to Washington in the divisional round.817 A year earlier, Rison's first Atlanta season (82 for 1,208 and 10) had finished second in the league in catches, third in yards, and second in touchdowns — only Jerry Rice had a better year at the position.18

He wasn't the only thing Atlanta got. Hinton made the Pro Bowl in 1991 and earned All-Pro honors in 1993 before leaving for Minnesota as a free agent in 1994.7 The 1991 first-rounder became No. 13 overall, which the Falcons spent on Colorado receiver Mike Pritchard — whose best season, 77 catches for 827 yards in 1992, came in an Atlanta uniform, and who topped 200 receptions in three Falcons seasons before being traded to Denver.13 The fifth-rounder, tackle Reggie Redding, never cracked the Falcons' starting lineup and was traded to New England after the 1991 season.7 The conditional 1991 pick never conveyed — a disputed detail in the record books, but with no effect on the outcome. And the one shadow over Atlanta's half: for all the individual brilliance, that 1991 season was the only winning one the haul produced.

The branch that withered

Jeff George signed a six-year, $15 million contract — the largest rookie deal in NFL history at the time — and landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated before playing a down.67 What followed was a slow-motion lesson in what trading up can cost. George's Colts won seven games his rookie year, then collapsed to 1-15 in 1991 — the worst season in franchise history since the move to Indianapolis. They averaged about seven wins over his final two seasons. In four years as the Colts' starter, George went 14-35 with 41 touchdown passes and 46 interceptions, and never took Indianapolis to the postseason.6 He clashed with coaches, feuded with the fanbase, and became, in the words of one Colts retrospective, the biggest bust in Indianapolis history.4

The No. 83 pick fared no better. Stacey Simmons, a Florida track star the Colts drafted in the fourth round, caught 4 passes for 33 yards in one season in Indianapolis, then washed out to the CFL and the Arena League — where, to be fair, he won two ArenaBowls with the Tampa Bay Storm.15

Two of the three assets Indianapolis got for a Pro Bowl receiver, a Pro Bowl lineman, and a future first-rounder were a quarterback who never won a playoff game for them and a receiver who caught four passes.

Four years later, the tree folded in on itself

Here's the part that makes this trade a story rather than a scorecard. In 1994, the Colts gave up on Jeff George — and traded him to Atlanta. The hometown savior Indianapolis had paid Rison, Hinton, and two picks to draft became a Falcon, throwing to the very receiver they'd traded away to get him. Rison and George were teammates in Atlanta in 1994, inside June Jones's Run-and-Shoot, before Rison signed an enormous free-agent contract with Cleveland after the season.716

Their careers kept diverging from there, both toward the kind of longevity that looks oddly similar on paper. Rison became the league's great nomad: Cleveland in 1995, Jacksonville and then Green Bay in 1996 — where he caught two playoff touchdown passes from Brett Favre, including a 54-yarder in the Packers' Super Bowl XXXI win — Kansas City from 1997 to 1999, Oakland in 2000, and eventually a Grey Cup with Toronto in 2004.123 He retired with 743 catches for 10,205 yards and 84 touchdowns — and the odd distinction of catching a touchdown pass for seven different teams, an NFL record.3

George, too, kept finding work for his arm long after Indianapolis gave up on it: 13 seasons with seven teams, a couple of solid years as Atlanta's starter, and the league lead in passing yards with the 1997 Raiders.719 He made the playoffs twice and never got past the divisional round.19

So: the Colts spent Andre Rison, Chris Hinton, a fifth-rounder, and a first-rounder to move up for Jeff George — and four years later, both the prize and the price were wearing Falcons uniforms. Rison's mother had the last word after all. He was going wherever they signed, and so was everybody else in the deal.

Sources

  1. Pro Football Reference — April 22, 1990 trade listing (Falcons–Colts) — trade terms: ATL sent 1990 1st (#1, Jeff George) + 1990 4th (#83, Stacey Simmons); IND sent Rison, Hinton, 1990 5th (#121, Reggie Redding), 1991 1st (#13, Mike Pritchard)
  2. Football Trade Trees — the site's trade tree for this deal — trade terms: legs, pick numbers, resolved players, conditional 1991 pick that never conveyed
  3. Sports Illustrated — Best of the Firsts, No. 22: Andre Rison (2012) — career 743/10,205/84; TD catch for seven teams (NFL record); SB XXXI; Grey Cup 2004
  4. Stampede Blue — Former Colts WR Andre Rison, ESPN's "Broke" (2012) — drafted 22nd overall 1989 by Jim Irsay; George "biggest bust in Indianapolis Colts history"
  5. Stampede Blue — Counting Down Colts Draft Picks: QB Jeff George (2020) — full trade terms incl. conditional 1991 pick; Hinton 7 Pro Bowls, 5 All-Pros; George 14–35 as Colts starter
  6. The Cold Wire — Looking Back at the Colts Career of Jeff George — $15M rookie deal; 7 wins rookie year; 1–15 in 1991; 41 TD/46 INT; 14 of 49 starts; no postseason
  7. Athlon Sports — 5 Blockbuster NFL Draft Trades That Did Not Pan Out — outcome retrospective: SI cover; Redding traded to NE after 1991; Pritchard 200+ catches in 3 ATL seasons, traded to Denver; Hinton Pro Bowl 1991, All-Pro 1993, Vikings FA 1994; Falcons' one winning season; George traded to Atlanta; Simmons one Colts season; George 13 seasons/7 teams
  8. StatMuse — Andre Rison season-by-season stats — 1989 IND 52/820/4; ATL 1990–94: 82/1208/10, 81/976/12, 93/1119/11, 86/1242/15, 81/1088/8
  9. Wikipedia — Andre Rison — trade terms; 15 receiving TDs led NFL 1993; 5th receiver to 60 TDs in first six seasons
  10. Sufich — "The Hall of Fame isn't calling, but Andre 'Bad Moon' Rison left a different kind of legacy" — Herrod quote ("had some Marvin Harrison in him... went in the craps"); Glanville quote ("best change-of-direction I've ever seen"); Berman nickname; tattoo
  11. iHeart — NFL Players: Second Acts: Andre Rison interview — Rison's own account of learning about the trade from his mother on draft day; "I'm not going"; "I was hurt. I was hurt."
  12. Pro Football Rumors — This Date in Transactions History: Chiefs sign Andre Rison (2021) — ATL totals 423/5,633/56; 56 TDs eclipsed all non-Rice NFLers 1990–94; 4 Pro Bowls; 1st-team All-Pro 1990, 2nd-team 1991–93; SB XXXI 54-yard TD
  13. Wikipedia — Mike Pritchard — drafted 13th overall 1991 by Atlanta; ATL 1991–93; best season 1992 (77/827/5); career 422/5,178/26
  14. Wikipedia — 1991 NFL draft — #13 Atlanta Falcons, Mike Pritchard, from Indianapolis
  15. Wikipedia — Stacey Simmons) — 1990 4th round, 83rd overall; 4 catches/33 yards in one Colts season; ArenaBowl titles 1995–96
  16. Football Perspective — Jeff George Did Not Get a Lot of Ground Support — 1994–96 Falcons, Run-and-Shoot; Rison gone to Cleveland in 1995; George benched in 1996
  17. Wikipedia — 1991 Atlanta Falcons season — 10–6 under Jerry Glanville; first playoff win since 1978 (wild card over New Orleans); lost divisional round to Washington
  18. The Falcoholic — What was the greatest single season by a Falcons wide receiver (2020) — Rison 1990: 2nd in NFL catches, 3rd in yards, 2nd in TDs; only Jerry Rice better among WRs
  19. Arizona Cardinals — "The One At 1: 1990 — Jeff George" (azcardinals.com, 2019) — George the Indianapolis local star via Illinois; 14 wins in 49 Colts starts; seven teams in 13 seasons; led the NFL in passing yards in 1997 with Oakland; two playoff trips, never past the divisional round
Explore the trade tree behind this story:

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].