How each NFL deadline trade affects playoff race
By Matt Conner
There was a flurry of activity before the NFL’s trade deadline. Here’s how each deal affects the Kansas City Chiefs going forward, either directly or indirectly.
Given the constraints of the salary cap, the complexity of contracts, the appreciation of draft assets and more, trades around the NFL have been a rarity for some time. In any given year, the National Football League’s trade deadline could come and go without much of a mention, save for the lack of a small swap or two with an occasional big splash sprinkled in if the planets aligned correctly. In 2017, however, the NFL’s trade deadline provided a bevy of trades that featured big names heading to important teams and draft picks being given away like candy on Halloween evening.
It’s that last line that provides the reason for the uptick in trades. After several years of teams hording draft assets like they’re all diamonds in the rough, the reality is that the bust rate for so many franchises has reached a tipping point—where the frustration is simply too much. How many times can the Cleveland Browns, or another team like them, reload? It’s simply too much of a gamble for teams to bank on the draft anymore.
This is a very recent shift seen even in the Chiefs front office. Remember when Brett Veach took over the general manager role this summer and you’ll see him go right to work with this new philosophy. In the future, he could use a draft pick to try to hit or miss at linebacker or he could buy-low on a once-prized pick in Reggie Ragland and hope his coaching staff can mold him into a valuable asset next to (or in place of) Derrick Johnson. Veach then turned and did the same for offensive lineman Cameron Erving in another low-risk deal, this time with the Cleveland Browns.
It’s what teams all around the NFL are waking up to—that they will never know if their future pick would be a bust or not, but they could actually use that pick to find a sure thing if they felt like it. Here’s how each of the deals at the NFL’s trade deadline will affect not only the Chiefs moving forward but the playoff race in general.