The Kansas City Chiefs made a big trade this week, sending slot corner Trent McDuffie for a boatload of draft picks, and some details have emerged in a follow-up report by Nikhil Mehta of ProFootballRumors.com that show why this deal had to be made.
The biggest one was the size of the contract was looking for in his quest for an extension. According to Mehta via Albert Breer of MMQB, McDuffie was looking for a “market-topping deal,” which the Chiefs weren’t about to offer. Indeed, it probably would have taken a bit of a home-town discount to keep him in Kansas City, so the two sides clearly weren’t on the same page.
Another detail that emerged is that the New York Giants also had interest in McDuffie. They weren’t willing to give up what Sam McDowell called “first-round plus" to get McDuffie, which made the Los Angeles Rams the clear and obvious choice. The Rams surfaced early in the rumors about McDuffie being traded, so this part isn’t surprising, either.
There’s still some work to be done before this deal is made official, however. The Rams have received permission from the Chiefs to negotiate an extension with the 25-year old McDuffie, and the trade can’t be finalized until the start of the new league year next Wednesday.
While it might seem confusing that the Rams would go there on a deal that would top $30 million a year if McDuffie gets his way and manages to reset the market, LA’s situation is completely different.
The Rams place much less value in draft picks than the Chiefs, who desperately need a good draft to do a reset after finishing 6-11 last season, but LA is going year-to-year with quarterback Matthew Stafford in an effort to get yet another Super Bowl win from the prolific veteran.
McDuffie’s perceived value in coverage is part of the differences between the two teams here. Cornerbacks Sauce Gardner and Derek Stingley reset the market with their deals, but the perception is that McDuffie wasn’t as good as either in coverage, although he is considered a strong blitzer and very solid in run support.
LA has the cap space to meet McDuffie’s demands, and the Rams have had mixed success spending big on secondary players.
As for the Chiefs, the deal will help boost their draft prospects, and it will also help them deal with the other issues in their secondary, with safety Bryan Cook and cornerback Jaylen Watson both heading into free agency.