NFL trade deadline: A’Shawn Robinson and 4 other Lions who could interest Chiefs
By Matt Conner
If the Detroit Lions decide to become sellers before the actual NFL trade deadline, they have a few players who could help the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Detroit Lions have some difficult decisions to make. On the one hand, they’ve played some tough football already this season and have weathered some key injuries. There’s a lot of talent here with the potential to do some real damage. In short, it’s easy to see why this Lions team would feel confident enough that they are built to compete and would do so the rest of this season.
On the flip side, this season has turned south on them very quickly. After starting the year undefeated, the loss to the Kansas City Chiefs drained the water from the proverbial tub and now the Lions are in last place in a division with some very, very tough rivals who are also chasing the postseason alongside them, including a one-loss team in the Green Bay Packers.
With a single game left, the Lions, now at 2-3-1, have to decide whether or not they are going to be sellers at the NFL deadline. In fact, even a win on Sunday over the New York Giants, one that would bring them to .500, still won’t tell them much given that the Giants are one of the league’s current doormats.
One sign, however, that the Lions might be inclined to part with some valuable trade assets is because they already unloaded starting safety Quandre Diggs to the Seattle Seahawks for a fifth round pick. If they are interested in moving more, they match up very well with the Chiefs. Here’s a closer look.
A’SHAWN ROBINSON
Why the Chiefs would be interested: Let’s be honest: there’s likely not a single contending team in the National Football League that wouldn’t at least put some sort of offer together for Robinson if the defensive tackle were made available.
It’s taken some time for Robinson, a former Alabama product, to put it all together in the pros as the godsend of a run-stuffer he was supposed to be coming into the league. He was known, however, as a bit of a project, so some time made sense even though Detroit was getting a little frustrated during his first two seasons—largely seen as a disappointing period by Lions fans.
Fast forward to the 2018 season and the arrival of Matt Patricia. Robinson’s adjustment continued into the regular season for a few weeks, but by midseason, he was collapsing on running backs in the backfield on a regular basis. His frame is well-suited for the role at 6’4, 330 lbs., but the athleticism and sheer strength are also there to make him a premiere run defender. Together with Snacks Harrison, Detroit excelled at stopping the run in 2018.
This season, Robinson has looked good early once again although a knee injury has plagued him earlier this month and kept him out of practice. It’s notable that he also had a knee injury that kept him from participating in some OTAs in June and even goes back to last December. —just something to watch here. Still, each week he comes up big as a rotational lineman and he’ll be looking for a big payday from someone this spring, perhaps the same sort of deal Detroit just gave Harrison.
As for the Chiefs, the loss of Xavier Williams for the season (and even the season-ending injury to Breeland Speaks) has kept the Chiefs from enjoying as much depth all across the line as they would like. Insert another injury to Chris Jones for a lengthy stretch and a neck injury to Frank Clark and you suddenly have a line in disarray.
Down the road, it will be nice for the Chiefs to have an experienced backup in Khalen Saunders and to have developed some more versatility in Tanoh Kpassagnon, but bringing in a player like Robinson would keep them from having to sign street free agents to play a decent amount of reps and give them a real boost for the stretch run once everyone is healthy. After all, we saw what kind of defensive line comes up big in the Super Bowl when Philadelphia hoisted the Lombardi.
Potential Cost: Going back to the whole “everyone would love to add this sort of run-stuffer” thing, the Lions can most certainly expect to draw in a third round pick here and likely even a second if the bidding went high. Remember the Lions will get a high comp pick if they let Robinson walk anyway, which gives the bidding a floor here of the same.