NFL trade tiers: Which players are worth a first-round pick?

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While there are more trades in the NFL than ever before, I will admit that I occasionally look longingly toward my colleagues covering the NBA. When Kevin Garnett said "Anything is possible!" after winning a title in 2008, I'm guessing he wasn't thinking about his league's trade market, but there's no better way of explaining what's, well, possible in the NBA. Trading a star for five first-round picks feels ho-hum. Heck, trading a star for just one first-round pick is wild these days.

These sorts of deals don't happen in the NFL, where teams can trade picks only within the next three draft cycles, keeping them from making the sort of long-term moves that NBA teams are…