From ZachLaymansNFL (@ZachLaymansNFL):
Joke’s on you, Zach! As you know by now, the Kansas City Chiefs are trading a conditional fifth-rounder that can become a fourth for Tennessee Titans WR DeAndre Hopkins. So, here’s how we got there …
• After Rashee Rice injured his knee, and with Marquise “Hollywood” Brown already on the shelf with a shoulder injury, the Chiefs wanted to get a good look at what the offense looked like with Xavier Worthy and Juju Smith-Schuster in enhanced roles. Rice is gone for the year, and things turned on Brown around the opener in September. They expected to have him back then. Instead, after a setback, there’s a chance, but not a great one, that they get him back during the playoffs.
• Kansas City’s good look at its receivers had ups and downs. The Chiefs looked great offensively against the New Orleans Saints, and not so much against the San Francisco 49ers, and then Smith-Schuster tweaked his hamstring, only making the situation more dire.
• The Chiefs didn’t want to give up a top-100 pick in a trade for a receiver. Given where Kansas City is with a top-heavy cap, including big deals for Patrick Mahomes and Chris Jones, those picks are very valuable in filling out the roster. That, plus the fact that the Las Vegas Raiders are in the division, made Davante Adams a bit unrealistic. Amari Cooper went for more than a top-100 pick, too.
• Kansas City needed a team to work with it on money, too, with less than $5 million in cap space. Could they mortgage some things? Sure. But staying loose was the prudent move with contracts for guys such as Trent McDuffie, Nick Bolton and Trey Smith sitting out there as issues to address after the season.
So, in the end, Hopkins—a guy with red-zone value and inside-out versatility to make up for the loss of Smith-Schuster now, and play with him later—wound up making the most sense. Now, we get to see how much he truly has left.
