The NFL offseason is here and that means it's time for chaos! The Kansas City Chiefs threw their hats into the ring of chaos, trading star cornerback Trent McDuffie to the Rams in exchange for four total draft picks.
When looking at this deal and thinking about McDuffie's tenure in Kansas City, it's hard not to think back to the whole reason he landed in K.C. in the first place. That would be the Tyreek Hill trade.
Rewind back to the 2022 offseason. The Chiefs were coming off a disappointing loss in the AFC Championship Game to the Bengals and needed a spark to help get them back to the top of the NFL mountain. To get back there, Brett Veach took arguably the biggest swing he could have at that time outside of trading Patrick Mahomes by sending Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins.
Trading Hill netted the Chiefs five total draft picks in return and one of those picks turned into -- you guessed it -- Trent McDuffie. The Chiefs used the picks they acquired in the deal with Miami to move up and snag McDuffie with the 21st overall pick. The rest is history.
Now, after a down year, McDuffie is on the move, heading to Los Angeles for the next phase of his NFL career. With him moving on and the Chiefs acquiring more draft assets from the trade, it's safe to say that the Tyreek Hill trade truly keeps on giving for this franchise.
Chiefs continue to benefit from Hill trade after dealing McDuffie
The Chiefs received three picks in this year's draft (the 29th overall pick, a fifth-rounder, and a sixth-rounder) and one pick in next year's draft (a third-rounder), which means that Brett Veach will have plenty of ammo to work with. Not to mention, Kansas City holds the ninth pick in this year's draft after a disappointing year that saw them win just six games, their lowest of the Andy Reid/Patrick Mahomes era.
The hope is that Veach can work the same magic he did after the Hill trade that helped propel K.C. to two more Super Bowl wins. McDuffie was a big part of those championship runs and while, no, he won't be on the team anymore, the picks acquired in exchange for him could help this team get right back into contention.
It's the kind of move the Chiefs have had to make in order to remain a contender and we'll see if it works out for them as well as it did last time. If it does, people will continue to point to the Hill trade as the big assist here.