New York acquired tight end Vyto Kab from Philadelphia on…
New York acquired tight end Vyto Kab from Philadelphia on October 9, 1985 and later sent the Eagles its 1986 twelfth-round choice as the recorded past consideration. Kab appeared in 11 regular-season games for the Giants that year without a reception, providing emergency tight-end depth while Zeke Mowatt and Don Hasselbeck dealt with injuries. Philadelphia used the acquired choice on Indiana running back Bobby Howard, who did not play a regular-season game for the Eagles.
New York Giants Received
- player Vyto Kab
Philadelphia Eagles Received
- pick 1986 twelfth-round pick (#325-Bobby Howard; PST indexes as #326)
Trade Analysis
The October 9, 1985 transaction can be reconstructed without the duplicate undisclosed-consideration fields in the legacy row. Pro Football Reference's transaction log records Philadelphia trading tight end Vyto Kab to the New York Giants on October 9. The Eagles' own retrospective on Kab likewise says he was traded to New York early in the 1985 campaign. Pro Sports Transactions later traces a Giants 1986 twelfth-round selection to Philadelphia as past consideration for Kab. That establishes the exchange as Kab to New York for a later-settled twelfth-round choice rather than the legacy row's mixture of two unspecified assets on each side.
There is one historical numbering conflict worth preserving instead of hiding. Pro Sports Transactions identifies the Giants-derived Eagles selection as No. 326 and Bobby Howard. Pro Football Reference, Pro Football Archives and other complete 1986 draft listings identify Howard as Philadelphia's twelfth-round pick at No. 325 overall, with the pick coming from the Giants. Because the player identity, round and Giants-to-Eagles provenance agree, the trade itself is not in doubt; only the overall-number indexing differs. The canonical asset is therefore the 1986 twelfth-round choice used on Bobby Howard, with No. 325 used from the broader draft consensus and the discrepancy documented in QA.
New York received limited but tangible roster value. NFL career statistics credit Kab with 11 Giants games in 1985 and no receptions. Contemporary reporting from the following summer explains that the Giants had obtained him when injuries to Zeke Mowatt and Don Hasselbeck left a need at tight end. Kab was later placed on injured reserve in December 1985 and released during the August 1986 roster reduction. His contribution was therefore short-term depth rather than an offensive receiving role, but he did occupy a roster spot and appear throughout much of the season.
Philadelphia's draft return did not generate Eagles regular-season production. Pro Football Archives records Bobby Howard as Philadelphia's 1986 twelfth-round draftee, signed July 16 and released August 26 before the regular season. Howard later signed with Tampa Bay and played 20 NFL games over three seasons there, including two starts, but that later Buccaneers production is not credited to Philadelphia. The Eagles successfully converted a departing reserve tight end into a draft asset, yet the selected player never appeared in a regular-season game for them.
The hindsight edge goes narrowly to New York. Kab's 11 games without a catch are modest, but they are verified in-season depth during an injury-driven need, while Philadelphia's selected return produced no Eagles regular-season appearances. A C- for the Giants and D for the Eagles keeps the verdict proportional to a low-impact exchange. Confidence is high on the player, round and pick recipient, with the #325/#326 historical numbering conflict explicitly isolated rather than allowed to distort the underlying transaction.