When it comes to replenishing the offense after the Tyreek Hill trade, Kansas City Chiefs GM Brett Veach is doing his due diligence.
Speaking on ESPN’s “Get Up” this morning, NFL reporter Dianna Russini delivered a report claiming that the Chiefs have been exploring the wide receiver market. She mentioned that they’ve explored the free agent market, but they’ve also been calling teams inquiring about whether one of their top receivers might be available in trade.
Here is what she had to say:
“You hear the word replenish, and that’s essentially what they’re trying to do. What the Chiefs, from what I can understand, in terms of replenish, is, they’re calling teams to see if — perhaps teams that we haven’t heard about — are interested in perhaps trading one of their top receivers to Kansas City. To me, that tells me, Kansas City is looking at the entire market. They’re looking at free agency. Who’s still on the street right now? We know Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry is still available. We know they’ve done their work there. But they’re thinking, ‘Perhaps we can do better. We can come close to replacing a player like Tyreek Hill by going after a team that has a top receiver that maybe would be open to some dealings.’ Because we know, that the Chiefs, they’ve got the money. They’ve got the draft picks, and this could be their answer. Of course, if they don’t get their answer there, we have the draft coming up in just a few weeks.”
Now, Russini doesn’t specifically mention any names that the Chiefs are targeting in trade. She mentions free agent WR Jarvis Landry, who was connected to the Chiefs after his release from the Browns. She also mentions Odell Beckham Jr. as an option in free agency. Russini, of course, previously reported the Chiefs were a finalist for Beckham Jr. during the season.
At this point, it seems these calls that Kansas City is making are merely exploratory talks. Veach is trying to find out who might be available in trade and what it would cost for the team to trade for them. Some have suggested that the Jacksonville Jaguars could trade Laviska Shenault Jr. after paying Christian Kirk in free agency, but Russini seems to suggest the teams are calling around asking about names that might have not already been linked to the trade block.
Why would the Chiefs turn around and trade for a wide receiver instead of simply paying Hill, though?
Remember, Brett Veach wasn’t unwilling to pay Hill a long-term contract extension. The team felt they made some very aggressive offers to keep Hill, but they ultimately came to a conclusion that trading him was best for both parties. And Hill, well, it’s quite clear that he’s happy to be in Miami, a place where he owns a home and trains during the offseason.
If the right player became available in trade, it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for Veach to attempt to acquire said player. For the time being, it makes sense for this team to do their due diligence and see what options they might have before determining the best course of action ahead of the 2022 NFL draft.
