Mike Daniels trade rumors: Chiefs, Patriots, Browns among interested teams

The Kansas City Chiefs were reportedly among the teams expressing interest in potentially trading for Mike Daniels.

The Green Bay Packers surprised many NFL analysts earlier this week with the release of longtime defensive lineman Mike Daniels, a player who is still a productive performer and pass rusher along the defensive front. On Wednesday, reporter Mike Garafolo confirmed that Daniels shouldn’t have to wait long to find meaningful work.

Garafolo said the Packers were trying to trade Daniels in recent weeks which is why this release took until the beginning of training camp. Three of the reported teams on Garafolo’s list involved in those trade talks: the New England Patriots, the Cleveland Browns, and the Kansas City Chiefs.

What’s also interesting is to hear Garafolo say that seven teams have already reported interest in Daniels as a free agent. If the Chiefs really wanted Daniels, did they do themselves a disservice by not completing a trade for him in some way to make sure they beat out other teams? Will they be able to secure his services with so many more parties interested?

An even bigger question is wondering how the team would make something work for Daniels. He was owed $8.1 million and there are plenty of teams with the cap room to give the former Packers lineman what he lost from Green Bay.

As for the Chiefs, the cap space is there but there’s not exactly a major need across the defensive line. As an interior lineman with the capability of providing a nice pass rush, the Chiefs already have Chris Jones, Khalen Saunders, Xavier Williams and Justin Hamilton. Daniels would be an improvement over the latter two, and Saunders needs experience, but there’s only one way to get it.

Even more, Daniels was an interior rusher on passing downs for the Packers, but that’s Jones’s primary role, unless the Chiefs were to slide him over to end. Then the team would be messing with a rotation of Alex Okafor, Frank Clark, Emmanuel Ogbah and company.

Perhaps juggling talent would be a nice problem for the Chiefs to have up front after employing a frustrating defense in the last couple years, but given issues elsewhere on the roster (cornerback), it would be surprising to see the Chiefs make a major splash to beat out other teams at this point. Then again, there’s already smoke linking these parties, and maybe there’s a fire after all.