2017 NFL mock draft has Chiefs trading with Ravens for Reuben Foster

Bill Barnwell’s all-trades mock draft is always an entertaining read from top to bottom. For the Chiefs he has a deal with the Ravens to grab LB help.

For the last two years, Bill Barnwell, formerly of Grantland and now with ESPN, has released an interesting mock draft called an “all-trades mock” that forces every team in the first round to make a deal of some kind. It’s an interesting exercise to see what the cost would be to move up or down from each position. This year, Barnwell’s chosen course of action for the Chiefs is to move up in the first round with the Baltimore Ravens.

Specifically the deal is to trade the Chiefs first round (No. 27), second round (No. 59) and fifth round (No. 180) picks in exchange for the Ravens first round (No. 16) and third round (No. 99). The player? Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster. Barnwell writes:

"Derrick Johnson is probably in his final year with the Chiefs after tearing his Achilles for the second time last season, and inside linebacker Reuben Foster probably won’t make it to the bottom of the first round, even though he’s had a rough pre-draft process. Foster could immediately step in for the Chiefs alongside Johnson while also playing a key role in coverage on passing downs."

Fans would likely love this deal on paper, just the straight up swaps of draft picks for a couple reasons. First, it gets the Chiefs within the upper tier of all players available and immediately bypasses a lot of the competition for the same sorts of players all in one swoop. Some trades up could bump them a few spots, but it might not be enough. Eleven spots should definitely be enough.

In addition, this trade also keeps another player within the top 100 in a draft that’s very loaded. The only lost pick in this instance is from the fifth round, acceptable for sure especially since the Chiefs would still have four picks in the top 104 players in this draft. For a team that’s already Super Bowl ready, having four impact picks is a great scenario.

Now as for the player itself? Reuben Foster projects to be a good to great NFL linebacker for years to come, a three-down player with Pro Bowl potential who played at the highest level of college football. He’s an impact performer at a position of high need, so Barnwell is right here in many ways.

Yet it also needs to be said that if John Dorsey moves up in the draft and turns in a card that doesn’t have a quarterback’s name on it, the defeated mood in Kansas City will take some time to clear—whether it’s founded or not. Foster could even turn into a dynamic player for the Chiefs and some fans will still only think of what might have been if a quarterback like Patrick Mahomes was on the board at the same time.

Fair or not, hopes for a franchise quarterback has reached a fever pitch in K.C. Dorsey should remain unphased but he should also be aware that he’ll never hear the end of it if he passes on a quarterback.