Mules Interview - Post Trade

[dthompso8]

Daily News Journal - DnJ.com Interview Special.

Today we have another chance to talk to Mules GM Dave Thompson after what can only be described as a blockbuster trade.

Dnj: Welcome thank you for offering us this time in what is a busy offseason for you with free agency in full flow and the draft due to start in a few days. Can you tell us exactly what the trade was?
Thompson: Thanks for the welcome. Ok let me grab a breath… here goes, we sent Lawrence (Phantoms) from this draft 1.19, 2.18, 4.20 and 7.17. From the 2020 draft we sent our 1^st, 2^nd, 4^th and 7^th round picks and from the 2021 draft our 2^nd and 7^th round picks. So that makes 10 draft picks in total and for that we received CB Wade Boyd and the 6^th overall pick in a few days time.

Dnj: Wow that is a lot of picks to give up how did this trade come about and can you explain some of the thinking behind why you made this move?
Thompson: Yep a lot of picks.. we were looking at a number of possible deals one of them was with Lawrence as I had spoken to Jester (Lawrence GM) about their salary cap issues and whether as part of helping them solves those they could move back in the 1^st round as they had 1.4 and 1.6 as well as a later one, for our 19^th overall pick a later round pick and a 1^st next year. Around the same time we were trying to make a deal with Georgia for CB Bert Puppe as I wanted to be able to improve our secondary with improvements at one of the CB spots, however we were not able to overcome the fact our 2^nd round pick this year was later than the Generals were looking for even if we offered more picks than they settled for.

One of the holdups for the Lawrencelace deal was that they were hoping to be able to trade CB Wade Boyd to free up the cap room rather than move down in the 1^st round. However the Pupper trade a two 2^nd round picks (one this year and one next) as well as the trade of Nick Doyle to Newark for 1.26 was seriously impacting the negotiating they were going through. So with wanted to move up in the first round and wanted to get better at CB I decided to see if we could combine those into one deal, Jester was looking for a 1^st and 3^rd for Boyd but I didn’t want to give up another 1^st so we were looking originally at offering a couple of 2^nd’s (2.18 and a 2^nd in 2020) but this was not going to get the deal done.. so by adding another 2^nd in 2021 plus some other late picks we were able to agree the trade.

Dnj: So you resolve the CB issue for at least a year or two and have a high draft pick, we will not ask who you are targeting as you wouldn’t say anyway, but can you tell us why you wanted to move up in the draft?
Thompson: I am pleased you didn’t ask who we are targeting! Regarding reasons there is some really talented players at the top of this draft class and you always want to add talent. The Mules roster is an aging one so if we are going to take advantage then we need to add players who can make an impact quickly but who will also be leaders in the future once we start the rebuild process… we have a perhaps a couple more seasons with postseason ambitions before that process starts so I am looking to add top draw talent who can takes us deeper in the playoffs and perhaps to where we all want to be. Boyd will help with that and a top draw rookie, whoever that will be, should give us a little something extra over a later pick.

Dnj: Well thank you for your time today we will look forward to speaking to you after the draft, or if you have time after the Mules first pick, until then good drafting.
Thompson: Thanks.

Twitter responses re the trade

@SafetyRiley: Man welcome aboard Boyd, bring the speed.. Stoked!

@Wilhelm: Making noise.. Mules are coming at ya…

@MullinSE: Top draw CB, loving it

[JesterBlaze]

haha love the "Twitter responses"

[ukpatfan]

Good read Dave and the tweets (?) are a nice touch.
Ballsy trade.

[DDT]

Nice article. My name is also Dave Thompson.

[Matt]

twitter FTW!!!!

good read. too bad you got boyd. He would've looked nice in his reunion opposite the nightmare