# Can I get a football roster with how the player was aquired? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 4, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-get-a-football-roster-with-how-the-player-was-aquired/598545 "2011-10-04T13:21:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anachronism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@Anachronism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anachronism)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-get-a-football-roster-with-how-the-player-was-aquired/598545/1 "2011-10-04T13:21:46Z")
I am something of a casual football fan so I am not familiar with every player on the team. I print out the roster so when I see a player I don’t know make a good play I can look up his name. The rosters I printed out from previous years had a column that showed how and when the player was acquired. I have looked around and I can not find a roster list that shows this information. Does anyone know where I can find one? Specifically I am interested in the New England Patriots. Thanks ~ Go Pats 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Stormcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@Stormcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stormcrow)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-get-a-football-roster-with-how-the-player-was-aquired/598545/2 "2011-10-04T13:39:15Z")
[http://www.pro-football-reference.com/](http://www.pro-football-reference.com/) has when a player was drafted, but a quick glance doesn’t find information on how a given team aquired a player, whether in free agency or trade… it might be there, as that is a great reference site. ---
**Author:** ![Intelligently\_Designed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intelligently_designed/32/20957_2.png) [@Intelligently\_Designed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intelligently_Designed)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-get-a-football-roster-with-how-the-player-was-aquired/598545/3 "2011-10-05T22:01:45Z")
One way to proceed is to first go to [Pro Football Reference](http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/J/JohnCh01.htm) to see in what year the player was acquired by the Patriots (in this case, Chad Ochocinco), and then go to [the site of the NFL](http://www.nfl.com/transactions?transactionMonth=&transactionYear=&transactionTeamAbbr=NE&prevTransactionMonth=0&prevTransactionYear=0&prevTransactionTeamAbbr=) to see all the transactions made by the team sorted by year. The list goes back to 2006. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-get-a-football-roster-with-how-the-player-was-aquired/598545/4 "2011-10-06T00:27:01Z")
If you go to the Patriots’ web site, and go to their roster page: > **[Official New England Patriots Roster](https://www.patriots.com/team/players-roster/)** > > VIew the official team roster of the New England Patriots. …clicking on each player’s link will lead to his page, which includes info on how the Pats acquired him. It’s not all on one page, but at least it’s accessible. ---
**Author:** ![Anachronism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@Anachronism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anachronism)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-get-a-football-roster-with-how-the-player-was-aquired/598545/5 "2011-10-06T18:06:45Z")
Thanks guys. I had hoped to find something all on one page for easy reference during a game. It looks like I am going to have to put my own together.