Four draft picks fuel Kansas City's future as Trent McDuffie heads to Los Angeles, reuniting with a familiar coach and signaling the Rams' aggressive pursuit.
The Kansas City Chiefs entered the offseason with a lot of question marks.
One is regarding future Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce, whose name has floated in retirement rumors once again.
Another big question was the future of former first-round pick Trent McDuffie.
The Chiefs' moving on from the cornerback was always seen as a realistic scenario with no long-term deal in place for McDuffie.
McDuffie is a talented player, so recouping assets for him was something the Chiefs could do.
And, on Wednesday, that came to fruition. Several reporters mentioned that the Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams were working to finalize a trade involving McDuffie.
Shortly after, that became a reality.
Here are the full trade details, from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
- Rams Get: CB Trent McDuffie
- Chiefs Get: 2026 No. 29 overall pick, 2026 fifth and sixth-round pick, 2027 third-round pick.
One thing to note is that the Rams have Jimmy Lake, the former Washington Huskies coach who was there during McDuffie's college days, as an assistant on Sean McVay's staff, so it's a reunion for the former Huskies.
As Rapoport mentioned, the expectation is that the Rams and McDuffie can work out a long-term deal, especially after trading four draft picks to acquire the Chiefs' star.
McDuffie was selected at No. 21 overall in the 2022 NFL Draft, and he has played in 56 regular-season games for Kansas City with three interceptions, 5.5 sacks, eight forced fumbles and 246 total tackles, so he has been as good as expected coming out of college.
According to Spotrac's market value, McDuffie is expected to get a four-year deal worth just over $111 million, which means he would earn an average of $27 million per season.
For the Chiefs, they can now grab potentially Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love or even Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate at No. 9 overall and then grab another talented player in the back part of the first round, although it might be wise to add a defensive piece, especially after moving on from MCDuffie.
This could be the first of a series of moves or trades with the new NFl league year set to begin soon and free agency going to kick off with all sorts of rumors swirling around the league.
For now, McDuffie goes to LA, the Chiefs land four draft picks, including a first-round choice this season, and the Rams' all-in pursuit to have one final ride with Matthew Stafford continues.