New York sent linebacker Bill Swain and running back Bill…
New York sent linebacker Bill Swain and running back Bill Triplett to Detroit for safety Bruce Maher plus two draft choices, one in 1969 and another in 1970. Maher immediately became a Giants starter and intercepted five passes in 1969. Historical draft histories associate the choices with Vernon Vanoy and Wes Grant, giving New York the stronger combined return.
Detroit Lions Received
- player Bill Swain
- player Bill Triplett
New York Giants Received
- player Bruce Maher
- pick 1969 third-round draft choice
- pick 1970 fourth-round draft choice
Trade Analysis
What the Trade Actually Did
On August 30, 1968, the Giants traded Bill Swain and Bill Triplett to Detroit for safety Bruce Maher and two draft choices. Contemporary reporting establishes that there were two picks in the return, correcting records that listed only one. Later draft histories trace those choices to a 1969 third-round selection and a 1970 fourth-round selection.
What New York Received
Maher supplied immediate value in the secondary. He started all 14 games for the Giants in both 1968 and 1969 and intercepted five passes in 1969. The draft capital gave New York two additional roster-building opportunities beyond the veteran starter. Team and transaction histories commonly connect the selections to Vernon Vanoy in 1969 and Wes Grant in 1970, although the grade does not depend on treating those downstream mappings as perfectly certain.
What Detroit Received
Swain and Triplett were experienced NFL players, and Triplett had previously enjoyed productive seasons with the Cardinals. By 1968, however, neither became a major long-term Lions asset. Detroit received useful veteran depth rather than a foundational player.
How the Value Developed
The structure favored New York because Maher alone delivered two seasons of regular starting work and the Giants also retained two draft shots. Detroit needed the two incoming veterans to outperform that combined value for the deal to swing the other way, and the later record does not support such a conclusion.
Final Verdict
New York receives a B+ for acquiring an immediate starter plus two selections. Detroit receives a C+ because the veteran return was credible but comparatively short on lasting impact. The Giants win without requiring an aggressive claim about exactly which later players each acquired pick became.
Maher's immediate starting role plus two future selections gave New York several paths to value from a single veteran exchange. with the available historical record considered.