Marcus Peters trade: Was there more to the story for the Chiefs?

On Friday, the Kansas City Chiefs decided to shock the NFL by trading Marcus Peters to the Rams. Was there more going on that fans didn’t realize?

The Kansas City Chiefs made their true feelings about Marcus Peters known on Friday when they decided to officially trade him to the Los Angeles Rams. It was a decision that shocked the NFL knowing how talented Peters is, but clearly the Chiefs felt like they had to make something happen.

On the surface, there was some evidence that Peters was a handful of sorts for the franchise. The Chiefs took some heat, as did every NFL franchise, when Peters refused to stand for the national anthem before games. The biggest incident was the single game suspension levied by head coach Andy Reid after Peters walked off the field late during a loss to the New York Jets.

Peters came into the NFL with a reputation for being hard to coach and for letting his emotions get the best of him. He was on his best behavior during his rookie season, but it was clear this year that Peters was feeling a bit more relaxed as a player in the NFL, letting his emotions out a bit more and showing his true(r) colors.

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That said, Peters was still an exemplary player for the Chiefs on and off the field. He responded beautifully to the suspension and came back to play his best football—inspired football—down the stretch for the Chiefs. He has made giving back to children in the communities of both K.C. and Oakland an important part of his life. And of course there are the turnovers—lots and lots of turnovers (19 interceptions and 6 forced fumbles).

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Peters creates turnovers. In a league where takeaways make the difference between winning teams and losing teams, the L.A. Rams are adding the single best turnover machine in the NFL—by a country mile. Peters is on a historic trajectory in his young career that could very well one day end up in Canton if he’s able to keep it up. It’s certainly a tall order, but Peters is already so far ahead of his peers in turns of creating turnovers that it merits a mention.

All of this leads us to wonder whether or not there was more beneath the surface of it all that fans and even some NFL analysts simply never knew about. On the surface, it looked like Peters learned his lesson. On the surface, the Chiefs are trading the NFL’s best young difference maker in the secondary while he’s still on his rookie contract. On the surface, trading Marcus Peters simply doesn’t make sense.

Which means there has to be more here in play than what fans currently know. In fact, Chiefs Kingdom may never know the full extent of what happened behind the scenes, but it seems almost certain that there has to be something.

Was Marcus Peters not standing for the anthem bigger than we realized?
Was Brett Veach under orders from on high to trade Peters?
Was Peters more distracting or divisive in the locker room than anyone is saying?

Maybe one of these are true. Maybe all of them are true. If none of them are, then there’s at least something else at play that we cannot say. Whether it’s chemistry or community, Peters is simply too valuable to trade away—unless there is, for some reason, a must trade scenario at work.

When official statements are made by the owner, coaches and general manager, we’re likely only going to hear part of the story—the one that appreciate Marcus’s talents and wishes him well and is still excited for the Chiefs moving forward. But we can be sure another story is also there. We’re just not privy to it.

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