KC Chiefs trade proposals: Breaking down some analyst ideas

Every year right around midseason, a swirl of speculation drifts onto the NFL landscape and takes over media coverage until after the trade deadline is over. We all know the story, with every playoff-hopeful team looking to grab every hapless teams’ All-Pro holdover or high-caliber starter on an expiring deal.

Due to their recent half-decade of AFC excellence, the Kansas City Chiefs are constantly in talks to sign or trade for every big-name player that gets released or is “rumored” to be had in trade talks.

Recently, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell NFL trade deadline proposals, imagining 10 offers for teams in need as we enter Week 7 of the 2021 NFL Season. Interestingly enough, the Chiefs were featured twice on his “Mock-10” possible trades, and in each trade, the Chiefs traded for defenders to help bolster one of the worst defenses in the league.

Would these trades help? Do Bill Barnwell’s trades make sense? Do we think the Chiefs should actually go through with these trades?

Trade 1: K.C. Chiefs and LA Rams

Chiefs get: LB Travin Howard
Rams get: CB Deandre Baker

On its face ,this swap seems to make sense, as the Chiefs would get something out of a rarely used cornerback in Deandre Baker and they pick up much-needed linebacker help from the Rams to help supplement Ben Niemann and a banged-up Anthony Hitchens.

However, when we pull back the cover on these players we can see that while Baker may be decent trade bait, he’s definitely worth more than Travin Howard. Howard, in his second year with the Rams, has logged 25 total tackles, while DeAndre Baker, when healthy, had 61 combined tackles as a corner his one season as a New York Giant.

I think the majority of Chiefs fans can agree that the defense is an issue that needs to be addressed. However, with linebackers Nick Bolton and Willie Gay who have yet to log enough meaningful playing time for us to know whether they are good or not, this trade to add yet another young linebacker doesn’t make much sense.

If the Chiefs don’t make a move for linebacker help, then they obviously have faith in this current linebacking core moving forward. With two rookie backers in the mix, the Chiefs front office and coaching staff know there will be growing pains between those two and that this year they can hopefully be helped along by veterans and the rest of the defense.