Desmond King trade is an unlikely scenario for the Chiefs

Desmond King would be a wonderful trade addition for the Chiefs but it’s highly unlikely.

On Monday morning, NFL reporter Adam Schefter made it clear that the Los Angeles Chargers were interested in shopping one of their better defenders. News that cornerback Desmond King was on the open market broke on Monday, and it didn’t take long for fans of most NFL teams to take to the idea of adding him via trade.

While King would be a nice addition for the Kansas City Chiefs defense at this point, the move is rather unlikely for a number of reasons. That’s no fault of King, who is a multi-faceted contributor who would improve the Chiefs defense and special teams.

King is a physical performer in the Chargers secondary who is an asset against the run and a strong tackler. King is also a gifted returner with punt returns for touchdowns in each of the last two NFL seasons. In recent seasons, however, he has fallen out of favor in Gus Bradley’s defense after being named a first team All-Pro defender as recently as 2018. Injuries and inconsistency have plagued him since then, and now the Chargers are willing to shop him outright.

What’s wrong with King? It’s hard to say just yet, but the Chargers aren’t going to simply give him away at this point, which would make a team like the Chiefs hesitate from parting with too nice of a future asset. The Chargers might not be inclined to help out a division rival via trade, and the Chiefs might not want to lose any further picks in the future.

Even more the Chiefs pass defense is already among the top five in the NFL and that’s without L’Jarius Sneed. The safeties are responsible for much of that success given the tremendous trio of Tyrann Mathieu, Juan Thornhill, and Dan Sorensen. But Bashaud Breeland, Charvarius Ward, Rashad Fenton and Sneed have looked solid enough to allay preseason fears about the unit overall.

King would definitely earn playing time in Steve Spagnuolo’s defense and his return acumen could help Mecole Hardman focus solely on offensive growth. That said, the transaction is unlikely at this point given the rival status and the assumed cost.