Here’s an interesting way to look at the trade the Eagles’ made with the Browns this week that you maybe haven’t seen in the media.

This time of year, especially when draft trades are made, you hear about the value points chart made by the Cowboys in the Jimmy Johnson years. However, you rarely see trades viewed through this prism, so let’s do that with the Eagles deal.

Let’s start with the Eagles. They get the No. 2 pick in the draft (2,600 points according to the chart) plus a fourth-rounder in ’17. More on that later.

The Browns got the No. 8 pick in the draft plus the No. 77 pick (a third-rounder) and the No. 100 pick (fourth round). According to the chart, that’s 1,605 points (1,400 points, 205 points and 100 points). They also get a first-rounder in ’17 and a second-rounder in ’18. So before we count the future picks, the Browns are ‘down’ about a thousand points.

Now let’s look to the future. We’ll put the best spin on things for the Eagles and say that the Browns pick first in 2017. We’ll also say the Eagles, loaded for bear with three talented passers and newly Chip-free, win the Super Bowl in ’17 and ’18. That means the Browns’ fourth-rounder is worth 112 points (give or take a few points based on the number of compensatory picks next year and a few other factors) and the last picks in the first round in ’17 and second round in ’18 are worth 590 and 270 points, respectively. If all these things happen — the Browns are the worst team in football in ’16 and the Eagles win consecutive Super Bowls — the Eagles win via the points total, but just barely at 2700-2565.

For what it’s worth, this is unlikely to happen, which means the Browns are likely to win the points total. Still, it’s close.

Of course, the question to ask is, do teams actually use this chart? I get different answers from scouts, but rarely hear chatter about it during draft week. I think most teams don’t total up the points because the media doesn’t — you will probably not read an analysis like this anywhere else on the Web — and therefore, teams don’t care. They don’t have to cover themselves by making the points work.

Anyway, just a little fun with numbers to kick off the less-than-one-week countdown to draft day. Have a great weekend.

Since it’s primary season and so many people are obsessed with Donald Trump, I thought I’d trot out the one time my career crossed paths with him. Kind of, anyway.

In the fall of ’07, I was running the Hula Bowl, which at the time was still the No. 3 all-star game. Part of my job was trying to start a buzz around Honolulu, hoping to generate ticket sales and sponsorships, so I decided to reach out to the Rotary Club. My hope was that associating with some of the movers and shakers of the city’s business leaders would create a few synergies. I will never forget addressing that group, about 200 strong, in the ballroom of a downtown hotel. As I looked out at the audience, they sat with their backs to a series of bay windows looking out on white sandy beaches, and as I spoke, gentle breezes blew across the waters. What a cool view that was.

Anyway, one of the people I met that day was a man named Jesse James. His was a name that was easy to remember. He was a good guy, very engaging and friendly, and he offered to help me build a few relationships that might help get me connected locally. I was happy to take him up on that. As I recall, he introduced me to several people at local restaurants that helped out with meals for the players, as well as several other people.

That fall, I’d come to the island for a week at a time to conduct business and gin up excitement about the game before returning home, so one day he invited me over to his apartment for a drink. I couldn’t say no; he had been terribly friendly and helpful. At the time, I knew he had a sales-related job, but didn’t know exactly what he did.

Shortly after I arrived at his high-rise apartment downtown, that became crystal clear. I remember he welcomed me in and showed me to a table in his kitchen, providing me with a beverage. He then pulled a large signboard from behind his furniture. On it, Jesse had diagrammed an extensive plan for a hotel and entertainment complex in American Samoa. He was charged with finding investors for the project, and he hoped my boss, the Hula Bowl’s owner and a purported multimillionaire, might be interested. The centerpiece of Jesse’s pitch was that Donald Trump would be involved.

I knew my boss would not be interested, but I played along. “When is Trump coming down?” I asked.

Jesse made it clear that Trump’s involvement would be very superficial. In fact, Trump would not be integral to the project. Basically, Trump had sold his brand to the people that surrounded the project, and they hoped that his clout would help them find investors. He had already made his money on the project, and though it looked like he was an investor himself, he wasn’t anything of the sort. He had cashed a check, and now, if they found investors, his name would be on the buildings, at which point he would case more checks. He had no skin in the game. He couldn’t lose.

If there’s anything I take from that moment, it’s that Trump has become a master of being all things to all people without having to make any real sacrifices. It’s interesting that his sales pitch during primary season has been successful in creating buzz for his brand, while he hasn’t had to come out of pocket for advertising. I guess that’s one positive thing you can say about him, if nothing else.

Last week, I was privileged to be one of the presenters at the 2015 Sports Financial Advisors Association Conference at The McCormick Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz. During the two days at the conference, I sat at a table with Craig S. Wolman, a CPA and business manager at New York City-based Cohn Reznick.

Besides having a wry sense of humor (which sustained the audience well as he discussed some of the drier topics last week), he’s a very credible person who works with athletes in all four of the major sports. He’s been working with the members of the sports and entertainment industry for 15 years as a CPA and advisor.

He’s very strong in one area that I’m very weak: hockey. I asked him if working with hockey players is different from working with football players. To his credit, he doesn’t subscribe to the standard ‘all athletes are the same’ schtick.

“As a group I’ve always enjoyed working with hockey players the most,” he said. “They seem to be the most genuine, and they really rely on the help of their advisors. A hockey player leaves home when he’s 13 or 14, goes and plays juniors in these really developmental minor leagues in Western Canada, to really focus on their game. Baseball and football players, they’re at home, surrounded by where they grew up, their family and friends, all through high school, then to college for a little bit.

“Hockey players tend to really rely more on their help, but it doesn’t make them any more savvy or less susceptible.”

He referred to an incident in the news in the past year that might seem hard to believe.

“A year ago, the Columbus Bluejackets’ Jack Johnson had to file for bankruptcy because his own parents were stealing from him,” he said. “They were taking out mortgages in his name and borrowing against it. A lot of parents feel like they’re owed it.

“Hockey players, in most areas, you have to get up really early for rink times and practices, and there are 5 a.m. sessions, and kids that are 9 and 10 years old don’t drive themselves. So the parents say, ‘hey , I earned this for 10 years. You’re my golden parachute.’ Anybody can fall prey. Nobody is immune.”

It’s certainly not something endemic to hockey. An incident from last week illustrates it on the college level.

“The family, they’re itching for that three-year window to expire so they can benefit,” Craig said. “Look at the article last week about LSU RB Leonard Fournette, where there he invented a catch phrase, BUGA (Being United Generates Attitude) Nation, and the family was capitalizing by setting up a website and making T-shirts, and the NCAA found out about it and they squashed it right away.

“Nothing really happened. It was his mother, that was creating the website. They had investors, and a lot of time, the outside investors are using the family as well. They promise the family money for this until the son declares.”

If you’re seeking to work with athletes one day, there are two things to consider. One, maybe working with their money is your avenue — there’s certainly a need to protect these young, largely naive men. Two, the people you might be protecting them from are their close friends and family members, which is easier than it sounds.

“It’s everywhere,” Craig said. “The parents can’t wait to get their claws in there. And yeah, they let the kids know. (The players) want to take care of everybody. The parents may not come right out and say it, but the players know. They hear, ‘when you make it, I want this,’ etc. They’ve seen what other athletes have done when they had their turn.”

As a Houston resident, I’ve gotten a pretty close-up look at the value of a quarterback. After going 9-7 last season with a serviceable passer that seemingly no one here liked, Ryan Fitzpatrick, the team settled for a couple of castoffs from other teams. The results have been dismal.

Quarterbacks get more blame in bad times and more glory in good times than they deserve, but they’re still very important. Now that we’re at the halfway mark of the season, here are a few observations, facts and figures that illustrate this point.

• Saints fans (like me) were up in arms when the Saints traded their only real red-zone threat, TE Jimmy Graham, in the offseason. At the halfway mark of the season, Graham has 38 catches for 450 yards and two TDs. Through eight games, Ben Watson, the player who replaced him, has 38 catches for 472 yards and 3 TDs.
• By the way, not only is Watson surpassing Graham, but he’s already totaled more catches and yards than he did in eight of his 12 seasons. Obviously, Saints head coach Sean Payton recognized that as long as he had Drew Brees, he could score touchdowns and move the football.
• Packers receiver James Jones bolted for Oakland last year after seven seasons in Green Bay and looked pretty much spent, averaging only 9.1 yards per catch (ypc). After returning to the Pack, he’s connected with Aaron Rodgers for a 19.1 ypc average, his best average ever, in his 10th season.
• Tom Brady has won multiple Super Bowls with players that were either mostly overlooked in the draft (Julian Edelman, Troy Brown, Wes Welker) or cast off by other teams (Randy Moss, Brandon LaFell).
• The Cowboys, obviously, were expecting a lot different results this season from the ones they’ve gotten since Tony Romo went on IR Sept. 22. With five straight losses, there won’t be much for Romo to come back to this year.

I could go on and on, obviously, but you get the point. That’s why it’s so important to watch the Paxton Lynches and the Jared Goffs as we wind down the season. NFL teams certainly will be.