The Kansas City Chiefs and general manager Brett Veach have until Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 3 p.m. CT to make a deal before the NFL’s trade deadline transpires. We’ve already heard plenty of rumors about the Chiefs being involved in trade talks for both DB Minkah Fitzpatrick and CB Jalen Ramsey. The problem that Kansas City faces when getting a deal done is that its draft picks are perceived as less valuable. Most teams believe they’ll be picking in the latter half of rounds due to the play of 2018 MVP, Patrick Mahomes.
Now that Mahomes is injured, it’s possible that the perception of their draft picks has changed. With the trade deadline rapidly approaching, it’s a good time to run through what the Chiefs have in terms of trade assets. So far, it’s been a buyer’s market with the Rams forking over a lot to acquire Ramsey. As we all know, deadlines can spur action and things could quickly turn into a seller’s market. Kansas City currently has plenty of cap space to acquire players in trade with $23.1 million available according to the NFLPA’s public salary cap report.
Here’s a look at Chiefs’ upcoming draft capital in the 2020 and 2021 NFL drafts:
2020 NFL Draft
- Round 1
- Round 2
- Round 3
- Round 4
- Round 5
The Chiefs already traded their sixth- and seventh-round picks from 2020. The sixth-rounder went to the Jets for LB Darron Lee and seventh-rounder to the Dolphins for S Jordan Lucas. They really don’t have a whole lot to work with in terms of draft capital. Gabe Jackson returned to the starting lineup over Jordan Devey for the Raiders, eliminating the lone chance Kansas City had of receiving a fourth-round compensatory pick in 2020.
If the Chiefs were to trade their first-round draft pick, it would mark the third consecutive season without a first-rounder. Banking on the success of a future draft pick isn’t always great, however. You need an influx of cheap young talent to adequately roster build in this league. With a big contract for Mahomes on the way, it might tie the Chiefs’ hands a bit when it comes to forking over big-time draft capital in 2020.
Next up is the 2021 NFL draft, which is much more favorable for the Chiefs.
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2021 NFL Draft
- Round 1
- Round 2
- Round 3
- Round 4
- Round 5
- Round 6
- Round 7
- Round 7 (Conditional)
- Possible compensatory picks
The 2021 NFL draft is looking a lot more flush with draft capital for the Chiefs. They not only have their full slate of draft picks to work with, but they potentially have a conditional draft pick from a trade with the Vikings for CB Mark Fields. We don’t know the conditions, so we don’t know if this pick will transfer.
Kansas City could also potentially have multiple compensatory picks in 2021. Players like Darron Lee, Reggie Ragland, Demarcus Robinson, Bashaud Breeland, Morris Claiborne, Emmanuel Ogbah and more could earn you compensatory picks following their departures. We won’t know for certain until the 2020 free agency period, but knowing picks might be coming could allow the Chiefs to offer more from the 2021 stockpile.
Could the Chiefs potentially seek to add a player to a deal in order to sweeten the pot?
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Unrestricted free agents from 2020-2022
| Player | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
| QB Matt Moore | x | ||
| QB Chad Henne | x | ||
| QB Patrick Mahomes | x | ||
| C Austin Reiter | x | ||
| OL Stefen Wisniewski | x | ||
| OL Martinas Rankin | x | ||
| T Cam Erving | x | ||
| T Greg Senat | x | ||
| T Mitchell Schwartz | x | ||
| T Eric Fisher | x | ||
| TE Blake Bell | x | ||
| TE Travis Kelce | x | ||
| RB LeSean McCoy | x | ||
| RB Damien Williams | x | ||
| FB Anthony Sherman | x | ||
| WR De’Anthony Thomas | x | ||
| WR Demarcus Robinson | x | ||
| WR Sammy Watkins | x | ||
| DT Xavier Williams | x | ||
| DE Emmanuel Ogbah | x | ||
| DE Tanoh Kpassagnon | x | ||
| DE Breeland Speaks | x | ||
| DE Alex Okafor | x | ||
| DT Chris Jones | x | ||
| DT Derrick Nnadi | x | ||
| LB Darron Lee | x | ||
| LB Reggie Ragland | x | ||
| LB Dorian O’Daniel | x | ||
| CB Bashaud Breeland | x | ||
| CB Morris Claiborne | x | ||
| CB Kendall Fuller | x | ||
| S Jordan Lucas | x | ||
| S Daniel Sorensen | x | ||
| S Tyrann Mathieu | x | ||
| S Armani Watts | x | ||
| P Dustin Colquitt | x | ||
| LS James Winchester | x |
Obviously, a lot of these players are untouchable and won’t be on the trading block for the Chiefs. Others are currently injured, which puts a big hit on their trade value. There are a few types of players that we should be looking at that the Chiefs can actually get away with trading.
First, are the players who’ve contributed in a minimal capacity this season. Guys like LB Dorian O’Daniel pop out as a prime trade candidate. Then there are the players who have contributed but are at a position of strength like WR Demarcus Robinson. With a player like Robinson, you need adequate ROI because he’s someone you could get a compensatory pick for in 2021. You could easily flip both of these players as part of a trade and have someone waiting in the wings to replace them. O’Daniel has mainly contributed on special teams and for Robinson, the Chiefs currently have three receivers on the practice squad just waiting to be elevated.
Theoretically speaking, with the cap expected to rise over $200 million next year, the Chiefs could acquire a veteran player on a multi-year contract. However, it’d be much more beneficial to acquire younger and cheaper talent so you lessen the chances of taking on a financial burden moving forward.
Given Veach’s tendencies to be aggressive, he could work to get multiple deals done ahead of the trade deadline. At the same time, Veach won’t be swindled into overpaying on a deal simply because of where the Chiefs are percieved to pick in draft over the next several years. He also won’t be pressured because of the current expectations of this Kansas City team. At the end of the day, it’s going to have to be a mutually beneficial deal for Veach to pull the trigger.
