The Antonio Gibson deal
Chiefs trade: 4th-round pick
Commanders trade: RB Antonio Gibson
It wasn’t so long ago that the Washington Football Team took an exciting young offensive weapon in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft when they submitted Antonio Gibson’s name on a draft card. As a wideout and running back, Gibson was asked to do everything while studying at Memphis and his skill set intrigued NFL scouts who were in love with what he might be able to do on the field.
Gibson looked the part early on in his career and even broke through in his sophomore season with 1,331 yards from scrimmage in 2021. Last year, however, while dealing with injuries, Gibson’s yards per carry dropped to a mere 3.7 average and Washington became enamored with a new third-round pick in Brian Robinson.
With Gibson coming off of his worst year yet coming into his most expensive season at just over $3 million, it makes sense for them to try to relinquish some value from him now and turn the page early so they can rebuild the depth chart behind Robinson in Eric Bieniemy’s new offense.
For the Chiefs, the idea would be to get a younger and more dynamic tandem partner with Isiah Pacheco for the next era of the backfield. While Jerick McKinnon has served the team well in that role, he lacked the same electricity that he had as a runner in 2021 and he’ll turn 31 years old in May.
Meanwhile, Gibson has great speed and agility to go with solid size and could be a threat in a number of ways out of the backfield. He also comes with return ability having handled kick return duties for the Commanders a year ago. More than anything, projecting Gibson in an imaginative offense like the Chiefs after years playing for Washington would be an exciting wrinkle to add to the mix and would certainly energize the player.