KC Chiefs rumors: Laurent Duvernay-Tardif’s name floated in trade talks

As the K.C. Chiefs continue to slowly pare down the roster from 80 to 53 in order to meet the NFL’s deadline for active rosters at 4:00 p.m. E.T. on Tuesday, general manager Brett Veach is likely doing his best to not only pick the right guys for his own team, but to maximize trade value on other players he’s letting go.

According to MMQB’s Albert Breer, the Chiefs have become a place to go shopping this week for teams interested in potentially bolstering their offensive line. And specifically, one name has come up more than others: right guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif.

"Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (who was doing things more important than football last year) has come up in talks, but he’s got a no-trade clause, making it more likely he’ll be on Kansas City’s roster."

First, it’s just important to note the tremendous difference in the Chiefs’ overall talent along the front line from the last time we saw them. In Super Bowl LV, the offensive line was blamed for the Chiefs loss to the Buccaneers, a patchwork line held together by luck and duct tape as backups and street free agents held down nearly every position up front protecting Patrick Mahomes.

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif’s name keeps coming up in Chiefs trade talks.

This preseason, the Chiefs have starting-caliber players ready to back up every single position and that doesn’t even include the potential return of Kyle Long from the Physically Unable to Play list. That’s quite a turnaround and a testament to Veach’s hard work this offseason.

Back to Duvernay-Tardif, who, as Breer mentions, has a no-trade clause. At this point, rookie Trey Smith has the right guard job locked down. From there, here is a list of players who can back him up not named Duvernay-Tardif: Mike Remmers, Andrew Wylie, Nick Allegretti, Austin Blythe, Kyle Long, Yasir Durant, Daryl Williams. The Chiefs won’t carry all those players on the active roster, of course, but as of press time, the Chiefs have those options in front of them (and will likely have some of them on the practice squad).

In other words, the Chiefs have the depth and talent to be able to stomach the loss of one of those players or more if it brings back assets that make sense (likely draft compensation).

In addition to the draft compensation or whatever LDT would net, it’s important to note that the Chiefs would receive nearly $3 million in cap relief if they were able to offload his salary from the books. They would not receive that if they were to release him outright.

Basically the situation is this: if the Chiefs find a suitable trade partner, one that Duvernay-Tardif would accept, then he’s likely gone. If not, then he will stay. So the Chiefs will have LDT or something in his place (maybe a low-round draft pick?) when all is said and done.

Can other teams work something out? Hard to say at this point, but the Chiefs are clearly a franchise with valuable assets to OL-needy teams and something seems like it should work out knowing how aggressive Veach can be.