Brandin Cooks trade would have pros and cons for KC Chiefs

The cons of a Brandin Cooks trade for KC

Right now the Chiefs have a number of issues and perhaps wide receiver upgrade could be one of them if we’re making a longer list. But for a team that needs to fix things as soon as possible, the real needs, the places from which they are bleeding profusely, are on the defensive side.

Specifically, if the Chiefs are going to make any moves at all to try to make a run at the postseason, they need to focus any and all efforts on getting to the opposing quarterback. Besides their miserable three-point output on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, the Chiefs offense has actually looked great this season—turnovers aside. Disrupting the opposing quarterback, however, is another thing entirely.

Frank Clark has turned the crowd against him completely with no discernible impact. Jarran Reed has yet to make his presence felt inside. The Chris Jones experiment has largely nullified his contributions to a scant two sacks from the first week of the season. If not for the unexpected heroics of Michael Danna, the Chiefs would be looking at an even more anemic defensive front when it’s already the league’s worst in sacks (tied with 8 in 7 games with the Jaguars).

If Brett Veach is talking to other general managers and/or thinking about trading away draft assets in order to improve the team, it should be about improving the front seven. Further help at linebacker, cornerback, and safety would make sense. In short, any level of the defense could use some talent and depth if the Chiefs are really going to turn this thing around.

Even more, Josh Gordon hasn’t even been given a chance on offense yet. He had a single target on Sunday, a play in which Mahomes threw an interception, and that was it. For some reason, the Chiefs keep giving reps and targets to the likes of Demarcus Robinson while failing to give Gordon a chance to shine and create something on his own.

Conclusion

There’s no clear answer here at all. If the Chiefs love Cooks and like him as a long-term answer here, then the presence of Gordon or Byron Pringle or anyone else shouldn’t stop them from doing it. It would be the right move for this year and beyond, which trumps any immediate notion of what might work. At the same time, if the Chiefs can improve the offense by simply shifting the spotlight to Gordon and then work on the defense instead, that’s the move that makes the most sense, but that’s assuming there’s at least something they can do given the parameters around them.