NFL draft rumors: Chiefs want to trade up for Henry Ruggs III

According to Peter King, the Kansas City Chiefs want to trade up for Henry Ruggs III if he falls into the lower part of the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

How much speed is enough speed? The Kansas City Chiefs reportedly want to find out with the rumor—the “craziest draft rumor,” as NFL columnist Peter King calls it—that the team is interested in trading up for Henry Ruggs III if he falls within range in the 2020 NFL Draft’s first round.

Ruggs is generally considered the best deep threat in this year’s draft class, one that’s already loaded at wide receiver. The idea that many teams would ever trade up for a receiver in such a deep rookie class is already interesting, but the Chiefs being that team makes this laughable—or is it? Here’s the official rumor as posted in King’s latest column:

“Craziest rumor of the first round: Chiefs want to trade up for Henry Ruggs III if he falls into the twenties. Insane. Do they want every sub 4.35 guy in the National Football League?” he writes.

Ruggs starred at the highest level of college football as an Alabama product who averaged 17.6 yards/catch through three seasons for the Crimson Tide. He caught 98 total passes for 1,716 receiving yards and 24 touchdowns. He’s also a capable kick returner who could help the Chiefs there if they wanted to pull their current options.

Therein lies the rub here. Ruggs is, by all accounts, a dynamic addition for any team in the NFL. No one would doubt that, but the very idea of adding Ruggs feels silly from all sides. It’s the very last thing that the Chiefs actually need with both Tyreek Hill and Mecole Hardman locked up. The Chiefs have developed Hill from a Pro Bowl returner to a Pro Bowl receiver and just signed him to a lucrative extension. Hardman is on the same pace after a stellar rookie season and the Chiefs have no issues already spreading the field and taxing defenses for 60 minutes.

The primary thing to remember this time of year is that believing anyone is a fool’s game. Draft smokescreens are set left and right for no good reason, really, because no one should believe a rumor like this. First, Ruggs falling that far would be a bit of a surprise but the Chiefs making such a move would be an already loaded offensive team using very little draft capital to move up for something they don’t need.

If there was a case to be made here, it would likely center on Tyreek Hill’s early season clavicle injury that last season and how much it limited the offense. Perhaps the Chiefs want some very real insurance on Hill knowing that Hardman himself will be serving as insurance next season when both Sammy Watkins and Demarcus Robinson are gone. In 2021, if Hill is injured, suddenly the Chiefs options are Hardman and Kelce without any more imports. However, that’s one year away and removes the idea of any further moves on Brett Veach’s part between now and then.

If you ask us, there is nothing of substance here whatsoever and we’d be appalled if there was even some interest in the front office on moving up to get Ruggs even if he was within range.