Houston acquired wide receiver Drew Hill from the Rams in…
Houston acquired wide receiver Drew Hill from the Rams in July 1985 for conditional middle-round draft compensation that is recorded as the 1986 No. 172 choice and the 1987 No. 91 choice. Hill immediately became a central Oilers receiver and stayed productive through 1991, giving Houston far more realized on-field value than the conditional picks produced for Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Rams Received
- pick conditional middle round draft pick (1986 #172-(R.) Chris White)
- pick conditional middle round draft pick (1987 #91-Doug Bartlett)
Tennessee Titans Received
- player Drew Hill
Trade Analysis
The Drew Hill trade became far more important than it looked when it was completed in the summer of 1985. Los Angeles moved a veteran receiver who had never topped 416 receiving yards in a Rams season, and Houston paid with conditional middle-round draft compensation rather than a premium pick. Contemporary reporting described the return as conditional choices in 1986 and 1987, while transaction records identify the resulting selections as No. 172 in 1986 and No. 91 in 1987.
Hill changed the value of the deal almost immediately. In his first Houston season he caught 64 passes for 1,169 yards and nine touchdowns. That was not a one-year spike. He followed with 1,112 receiving yards in 1986, came close to 1,000 in the strike-shortened 1987 season, then posted 1,141 yards in 1988. He later reached 1,000 yards again in both 1990 and 1991. Across seven seasons with the Oilers, Hill accumulated 480 receptions, 7,477 receiving yards, and 47 touchdowns.
That level of sustained production is the central fact in the evaluation. Houston did not merely get a useful veteran for a short window; it acquired a receiver who became one of the most productive pieces of the Oilers' passing offense for the remainder of the decade and into the early 1990s. The compensation was real, but the resulting draft value did not create a comparable long-term return for Los Angeles.
The trade also illustrates why a player's pre-trade role can be misleading. Hill had been a lightly used receiver and returner for much of his Rams tenure, so conditional middle-round compensation was understandable at the time. Houston identified a larger role and received the benefit of that projection. Los Angeles gained flexibility through future picks, but the Oilers turned the player into years of starting-caliber production. On realized football value, Houston owns the stronger side of the exchange.