# NFL: What if teams were allowed to trade regular season wins? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** football-nfl\ **Created:** [January 31, 2021, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-what-if-teams-were-allowed-to-trade-regular-season-wins/931930 "2021-01-31T17:51:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thegunismightierthanthepen/32/2981_2.png) [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheGunIsMightierThanThePen)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-what-if-teams-were-allowed-to-trade-regular-season-wins/931930/41 "2021-02-01T02:11:07Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Also, there’s no reason to limit forfeits to the two contending teams. If teams A & B are playing one another and A is ahead but team C’s playoff chances would be better if team B won that game, why can’t Team C offer to pay team A $X to forfeit? If Team D is willing to pay team B more to forfeit the same game, then the B-D deal goes through and A-C is blocked. Now we’re talking! 😈 (I jest, I jest) > [@LSLGuy](#): > > Obviously I’m just Calvinballing here, but if the idea is to just throw more jokers on the pile so there are more ways for teams to play the meta game at each level, I don’t see why my idea is any less good than any other. To me, I don’t see why not either. Others may see your or my ideas as hare-brained, but can anyone really put that label objectively on the items in current NFL GM rules playbook, before they got ratified? Maybe some people saw trading compensatory draft picks as dumb, before it became allowed. ---
**Author:** ![TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thegunismightierthanthepen/32/2981_2.png) [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheGunIsMightierThanThePen)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-what-if-teams-were-allowed-to-trade-regular-season-wins/931930/42 "2021-02-01T02:13:27Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The reason teams work to sign up top players is to increase the number of wins the team makes. If you’re just going to sell those wins, what motive do you have for signing top players? The GM is making a bet that the player(s) bring in more wins than they give to the other team. If I think that Deshaun Watson can bring my team an extra 3 wins a year, and the Texans are willing to trade Watson for 2 wins a year, I’d take that deal in a heartbeat. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-what-if-teams-were-allowed-to-trade-regular-season-wins/931930/43 "2021-02-01T03:15:31Z")
> [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](#): > > Which is why I said [earlier](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-what-if-teams-were-allowed-to-trade-regular-season-wins/931930/6) that the league should cap the number of wins allowed to be added, with 4 wins a good starting point for discussion. I think 0 is a better cap. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-what-if-teams-were-allowed-to-trade-regular-season-wins/931930/44 "2021-02-01T03:38:39Z")
In a sense then the OP’s idea has already been implemented and this has always been a part of football. The OP is just wanting to raise the cap above 0. Put that way, this is a very minor proposal. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-what-if-teams-were-allowed-to-trade-regular-season-wins/931930.md?page=2)