St. Louis acquired linebacker Jim Sniadecki from San…
St. Louis acquired linebacker Jim Sniadecki from San Francisco on August 7, 1974. The 49ers received the Cardinals' 1975 ninth-round selection and used it on tackle Caesar Douglas. Sniadecki gave the Cardinals an established linebacker, while San Francisco recovered a late-round future asset. The direct outcomes remain modest enough to support only a narrow St. Louis edge.
Arizona Cardinals Received
- player Jim Sniadecki
San Francisco 49ers Received
- pick 1975 ninth-round pick (Caesar Douglas)
Trade Analysis
The Exchange
San Francisco traded linebacker Jim Sniadecki to the St. Louis Cardinals on August 7, 1974. The 49ers received St. Louis' ninth-round selection in the 1975 draft and used the pick on tackle Caesar Douglas. San Francisco's later team history identifies Douglas as the player chosen with the return, completing the transaction beyond the generic ninth-round description attached to the older version.
Arizona Cardinals Return
St. Louis acquired linebacker Jim Sniadecki from San Francisco on August 7, 1974. The 49ers received the Cardinals' 1975 ninth-round selection and used it on tackle Caesar Douglas. Sniadecki gave the Cardinals an established linebacker, while San Francisco recovered a late-round future asset. The direct outcomes remain modest enough to support only a narrow St. Louis edge.
San Francisco 49ers Return
San Francisco traded Jim Sniadecki to St. Louis for the Cardinals' 1975 ninth-round pick, later used on tackle Caesar Douglas. Recovering a draft choice for a veteran was reasonable, but a ninth-rounder offered limited expected value and did not produce enough to outweigh the immediate player received by St. Louis. The Cardinals therefore retain a small advantage.
Value in Hindsight
The trade is best viewed as a low-stakes veteran-for-late-pick exchange. St. Louis accepted little draft risk to add a known linebacker, while San Francisco preserved some future value by obtaining a selection. Because neither side created an unusually large outcome, the deciding factor is the Cardinals' ability to acquire immediate NFL experience without surrendering a meaningful early-round resource.
Final Verdict
Arizona Cardinals Win, narrowly. St. Louis keeps a C+ for acquiring Jim Sniadecki at the modest cost of a ninth-round pick. San Francisco keeps a C for recovering the selection that became Caesar Douglas but not creating enough downstream value to surpass the player return. The clarified pick identity supports the existing verdict without turning a modest transaction into something larger than it was.