NFL Trade Verdict

Green Bay sent center Ken Iman to Los Angeles in early…

Green Bay sent center Ken Iman to Los Angeles in early February 1964 without receiving new consideration that day. Packers historical research says the transfer fulfilled the future value Los Angeles expected after allowing quarterback Zeke Bratkowski to reach Green Bay on waivers in October 1963, although Rams president Dan Reeves declined to confirm that linkage. Iman later started 140 consecutive regular-season games for the Rams.

Green Bay Packers Received

  • other no new February 1964 consideration; contemporary reporting linked Iman to Green Bay's October 1963 waiver acquisition of Zeke Bratkowski

Trade Analysis

This row is best understood as a future-consideration completion rather than a clean stand-alone player-for-player trade. Packers team historian Cliff Christl documents that Green Bay acquired quarterback Zeke Bratkowski from the Los Angeles Rams on waivers on October 29, 1963. The Los Angeles Times reported the next day that the Rams were expected to receive either a high draft choice or an offensive lineman from Green Bay in the future 'in appreciation' for making Bratkowski available. In early February 1964, Green Bay sent promising center Ken Iman to Los Angeles without receiving anything new in return. When Rams president Dan Reeves was asked whether Iman was part of the Bratkowski arrangement, he answered 'No comment.' That leaves the precise legal framing unresolved, so TradeVerdicts does not present Bratkowski as formal same-day consideration. The football outcomes on both sides were substantial. Iman became the Rams' starting center in 1965 and then started every regular-season game for Los Angeles through 1974. Pro Football Reference credits him with 140 Rams games and 140 starts across ten seasons. He anchored the middle of offensive lines for teams that repeatedly contended in the late 1960s and early 1970s, making the Rams' realized value exceptionally strong for a future-consideration transfer. Green Bay's earlier Bratkowski acquisition was also highly valuable. Packers history credits him with 37 games for Green Bay through 1968 and calls him the 'Super Sub' behind Bart Starr. During the Packers' three straight championship seasons from 1965 through 1967, Green Bay went 8-1 in games in which Bratkowski started or entered with the score tied or the Packers trailing by no more than seven points. His most important appearance came in the 1965 Western Conference playoff, when Starr was injured on the first offensive play and Bratkowski guided Green Bay to a 13-10 overtime win over Baltimore. The evidence therefore supports the legacy Even Trade direction, but not the old low-information C-plus grades. Los Angeles received a ten-year, 140-start center, while Green Bay's probable prior-side benefit was one of the most valuable backup quarterbacks of the Lombardi championship era. TradeVerdicts grades both sides B+ and keeps the verdict Even. Confidence is medium because the player outcomes are exceptionally well documented but the Rams never formally confirmed that Iman was the promised compensation for Bratkowski.

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