The Chiefs’ approved trade of Trent McDuffie to the Los Angeles Rams deprives Kansas City of a dynamic playmaker in the secondary and increases the pressure on the front office to find a replacement – or three.
Speaking to Kay Adams on FanDuel TV’s Up & Adams Show, point guard Trey Smith said losing McDuffie — who is “arguably one of the best in the NFL,” and one of the best all-arounders in the game — hurts, but the players are confident in the performance.
“I think they’re the best,” Smith told Adams of GM Brett Veach and his crew. “You look at their ability to find talent, especially deep in the draft. They found me in the 6th round; nobody wanted me. I was supposed to be an undrafted free agent, but here they come and save me. But you know, they’ve found other talent. Like Jaylen Watson, for example, a guy who’s contributed a lot to find. They’re deep in the draft. us, we have full confidence in them to pick up talent.”
Watson is another reason the club could have traded for McDuffie, with the former seventh-round pick set to be a free agent that Veach wants to keep.
The officers have been here before. They have traded away big players and continued to rack up wins ie. Tyreek Hill. Veach has been particularly allergic to paying cornerbacks and believes in their scouting process to find qualified replacements. They traded for Marcus Peters. They traded for L’Jarius Sneed. They have gone on to make Super Bowls.
Given their success moving on from CBs early rather than late, the trade is understandable from Veach’s perspective. However, he is under immense pressure to achieve his replacement plan.