SAN DIEGO — Well before the Kansas City Chiefs put a big smile on Chargers' faces Wednesday by trading All-Pro receiver Tyreek Hill out of the division — where K.C. finished first in all six years with him — the NFL's American Football Conference was spinning the sports world on its index finger.
If it were its own sports league, the 16-team AFC would be more interesting than any other.
It's not just that seven AFC teams employ a star quarterback. Or that three others went to the recent playoffs with their current quarterback. Or that three bad and often stupid AFC clubs, the New York Jets, Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars, possess a young quarterback of some promise and loads of draft capital.
Lately, the AFC surprises us every week with a big move.
The trade between the Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins managed to stun NFL insiders, following seismic jolts in Denver, Cleveland and Las Vegas.
Hill, who turned 28 this month, played a big role in Kansas City rising to four AFC title games, two Super Bowls and its first Lombardi Trophy in 50-plus years.
His speed and playmaking terrified opponents.
San Diegans who saw him up close as a rookie can still see Hill's punt return in the final NFL game in Mission Valley. Bolts defenders were like sea turtles laboring on wet sand to catch the tide.
Hill has blazed to the most touchdowns covering 50 yards or more since his rookie year. No one else in the NFL was within five TDs of him.
So, why trade him?
Miami dangled five drafts picks — a one, a two and a four for this year, plus fourth- and sixth-round picks in 2023 — and satisfied Hill with $72.2 million in guaranteed money.
It's a nervy investment in a speed-driven player who turned 28 this month and seldom returns kicks or punts anymore.
While he was likely o stay with the Chiefs, Hill had seen the Raiders pledge $66.7 million in guaranteed money to fellow All-Pro receiver DaVante Adams, 29, after conditionally getting him from Green Bay.
Something else to consider is an NFL economic system that punishes successful teams.
It was no coincidence that when the Chiefs were evolving into the AFC's top franchise that Patrick Mahomes and Hill were paid pennies on the dollar, while playing on their first contracts (and, with Hill, an extension that proved team friendly).
Hill provided the Chiefs with epic "surplus value" as an immediate All-Pro whose initial salaries were especially meager even for a player on his first contract, because he wasn't drafted unitl the fifth round. (He would've gone much sooner if not for heinous off-field behavior that, as one Chargers leader noted pointedly, led the NFL to ban him from the 2016 NFL scouting combine.) And Mahomes was so deft at quarterback, he outplayed his salaries by many millions of dollars even as a first-round selection.
Squeezed by their own success, the Chiefs have had to find bargains elsewhere as their young stars began to command much more money. Drafts are the best source of relatively cheap labor, and by trading Hill and obtaining other picks through free-agency departures, Kansas City boasts 12 chips in the 2022 draft. GM Brett Veach and coach Andy Reid would need a miracle to replicate the Hill bonanza. But in return for a short-term, not necessarily fatal blow to Super Bowl contention, trading Hill may have improved the club's options for years beyond.
For now the Chiefs are one injury to All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce, 32, from having a very ordinary group of playmakers in support of Mahomes, who signed a $450 million contract two summers ago.
They're counting on Reid to once again develop young players into building blocks. The Chiefs' first pick is No. 29, but later than there they found three-time All-Pros in Hill and Kelce, and a three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle, Chris Jones.
What the Dolphins (and Bengals and Chargers) are trying to do is leverage the rookie contract of their quarterbacks, something the Chiefs and Seahawks did in reaching a pair of Super Bowls with Mahomes and Russell Wilson, respectively.
Of course, Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa hasn't come close to matching Mahomes or Wilson early in their careers or fellow 2020 draftee Justin Herbert, who's provided the Chargers with 32 starts and mostly good football since going sixth overall, one pick after Tua.
But around Tua, the Dolphins' recent flurry of moves has much improved the 2022 roster without touching the two first-round picks Miami holds in the 2023 draft. Newly signed Terron Armstead is a terrific, if injury-prone left tackle. Hill and comparably fast receiver Jaylen Waddle, who had 104 receptions and seven touchdowns last year, while coming off two severe ankle injuries, should provide Tua one enticing matchup on most plays.
NFC West alums Chase Edmonds (Cardinals) and Raheem Mostert (49ers) figure to expand Tua's options at running back, and though rookie coach Mike McDaniel won't match predecessor Brian Flores' expertise in defense and special teams, the Kyle Shanahan protégé brings reputed expertise in run-game development and play-action passing designs.
The Dolphins now can better decide whether the accurate but less-than-durable Tua, who turned 24 this month, has Super Bowl potential.
If nothing else, the Dolphins have joined the AFC party.
It's been revealed since Tom Brady left the AFC's former longtime overlord, Bill Belichick, that Brady is funny and personable. Minus Brady, who with Belichick co-owned the conference, the AFC isn't putting so many folks to sleep anymore, either.
