NFL Draft 2012 Results: First-Round Trades That Will Backfire on Teams

With the new rookie wage scale making it less expensive to sign first-round draft picks, NFL teams were very active in trading down and up during day one, but some of the moves made will ultimately backfire.

Teams sometimes get too excited over trading up in the draft to get a certain player that they give up too much to acquire the pick.

It's also counterproductive for a franchise to trade down when they have big weaknesses on their roster that must be addressed.

Let's look at three first-round trades that weren't a good idea and will ultimately backfire.

Rams Trade No. 6 Pick to Cowboys 

The St. Louis Rams, who traded the No. 2 overall pick to the Washington Redskins for multiple high draft picks, also traded the No. 6 pick on Thursday to the Dallas Cowboys.

The Cowboys chose the best cornerback in the draft and a surefire rookie star, LSU's Morris Claiborne. The Rams could have used Claiborne since they lack a true No. 1 cornerback.

With the No. 14 pick, the Rams chose Michael Brockers of LSU, who is a DT with bust potential. St. Louis needed a top receiver prospect for young quarterback Sam Bradford.

The Rams should have drafted Notre Dame receiver Michael Floyd, but they made a mistake instead.

Bengals Trade No. 21 Pick to Patriots

The Patriots were very aggressive in the first round, trading up twice, which is very unlike head coach Bill Belichick.

The Bengals certainly could have drafted a number of players with the 21st overall selection. Stanford guard David DeCastro, USC defensive end Nick Perry and Illinois defensive end Whitney Mercilus would have greatly improved the Bengals' pass rush.

Cincinnati will regret this missed opportunity to better their defense for next season.

Jaguars and Buccaneers Swap First-Round Picks

The Jaguars traded up from No. 7 to No. 5 in order to draft Oklahoma State star receiver Justin Blackmon. 

Blackmon is a strong receiver, but he lacks great speed and is not a true No. 1 NFL receiver. He won't be as good as Bengals rookie AJ Green was last year and he doesn't have the talent that Falcons rookie Julio Jones had.

Jacksonville should have taken defensive stars Morris Claiborne or Mark Barron.

Follow @NicholasGoss35