The new-look Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver trio of JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and the returning Mecole Hardman may be just a start, according to a new report from ESPN’s Dianna Russini.
Appearing on the network’s morning show, “Get Up,” Russini suggested Chiefs general manager Brett Veach has been working the phone lines this week, doing his due diligence on potential trade candidates.
“You hear the word replenish, and that’s essentially what they’re trying to do. The Chiefs, from what I can understand, in terms of replenish, is, they are 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, 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.”
We know the Chiefs like Beckham Jr., as they were heavily involved in the Beckham sweepstakes when he became available during the 2021 season. Beckham eventually chose the Los Angeles Rams, who won the Super Bowl, but a torn ACL in the championship game would complicate a potential contract. I still believe that Beckham choosing the Rams over the Chiefs could have very well been the deciding factor in which of the two franchises took home the Lombardi Trophy. The Chiefs (and the Buffalo Bills) were tied to Landy two weeks ago, but he has yet to sign with a team.
Other free-agent wide receivers who are still lingering include Julio Jones, Will Fuller, Antonio Brown, T.Y. Hilton, Cole Beasley and Sammy Watkins. Brown would come with an obvious risk, but he may be the best one-for-one temporary replacement for Tyreek Hill, who is now a member of the Miami Dolphins.
Trade candidates who would fit “top receiver” status include the Seattle Seahawks’ D.K. Metcalf, the New Orleans Saints’ Michael Thomas and possibly the Houston Texans’ Brandin Cooks — though Russini’s words indicate Metcalf or Thomas would be more of a target than Cooks.
We’re deep into the speculation part of the offseason, but there’s one thing that I think fans can feel good about: when it comes to receivers, Veach isn’t done yet.
