Talk:Tony Smith (American football)

As of this writing the Tony Smith Wikipedia article, plus many more articles across the internet, claim Tony Smith was picked by Atlanta with the draft pick Atlanta acquired from Green Bay in exchange for Brett Favre. This is not true, and I'm going to explain why here and show you my sources before correcting the article and listing the sources there as well. Before reverting these changes, please read the following for a full explanation of how this misunderstanding came about and the real truth behind the situation:

First, you must understand that Tony Smith was picked in the 1992 draft with the 19th pick. All sources agree on this. Second, you must understand that this isn't the pick Atlanta got in exchange for Brett Favre. Favre was traded to Green Bay for the 17th pick (not 19th) in the 1992 draft. All sources from the time of the trade agree upon this:

https://fs64sports.blogspot.com/2012/02/1992-falcons-trade-brett-favre-to.html ("On February 11, 1992, the Green Bay Packers traded a first round draft choice to the Atlanta Falcons to acquire QB Brett Favre. This choice, the 17th overall, was a choice Green Bay acquired from the Eagles."

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/02/11/Packers-trade-first-round-pick-for-Favre/5971697784400/ "The Green Bay Packers Tuesday traded the second of their two first-round draft picks to the Atlanta Falcons for backup quarterback Brett Favre. The Packers dealt the 17th overall pick of the draft for Favre, and retained the fifth pick."

So now the question becomes twofold: how did Atlanta go from having the 17th pick to having the 19th pick, and how did sources around the internet become confused about these picks, claiming the latter was Atlanta's compensation for Brett Favre?

The answer to the first question is simple: trades. Here's a source for this: https://www.prosportstransactions.com/football/DraftTrades/Years/1992.htm

If you look to see the history of the picks in the 1992 draft in the link above, you'll see the history of the 17th and 19th picks. (Granted, you have to know how to read these sort of spreadsheets to understand it. Here's a quick tutorial: the teams listed on the far left are those who the picks originally belonged to. As you work your way right, you'll see what team the picks were traded to, when trades were made, and what the teams gave up to make the trades. The team listed farthest right is the team that ultimately used each pick. The players listed in parenthesis are those who were ultimately chosen with each associated pick, and the players on the far right are those who were ultimately chosen for that draft slot - again, chosen by the team listed farthest right.) So here's the history of 1992's 17th pick in the draft: as previously stated, it was originally Philadelphia's pick before they traded it to Green Bay. Green Bay traded it to Atlanta for Brett Favre, and Atlanta bundled it with the 120th draft pick and traded those picks to Dallas for the 19th pick and the 104th pick. (Interestingly, the 19th pick was originally Atlanta's before they traded it to New England, who traded it to the Cowboys before the Cowboys traded it back to Green Bay.) Thus, the pick Atlanta used in the 1992 draft to draft Tony Smith was not the pick they got for Brett Favre, albeit not far off.

Knowing all this, it becomes easier to answer the second question: why the confusion? Well, all the articles that get it wrong were written ten years or more after the trade. Knowing that, it's easy to understand why people would forget about the draft day trades of 1992 and assume the late first round pick Green Bay gave to Atlanta was the 19th pick that Atlanta used. However, the sources from the time of the trade and the time of the draft - which I have shown you - should trump the sources from ten years or more later which don't actually list the specifics of the 1992 draft. I am now going to fix the article. Please do not revert my changes (again) without researching the Favre trade and the 1992 draft either through the links I have provided or with your own sources. Thank you for your time. 184.55.82.40 (talk) 23:37, 4 September 2021 (UTC)