With Rashee Rice potentially out for the season and Marquise Brown sidelined until at least the playoffs, the Chiefs may have to look for outside help at wide receiver. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport expects the Chiefs to “go out and look at options” at the position, with a trade being “at least” in consideration.
[RELATED: Chiefs Fear ACL Tear For WR Rashee Rice]
Rapoport notes that the Chiefs front office is generally “open minded” and considers every opportunity as they look to plug holes, so a trade would surely be a logical route for the WR-needy squad. Rapoport points to the team’s sudden acquisition of Kadarius Toney in 2022, which came as the organization was navigating a post-Tyreek Hill era.
One potential name that Rapoport points to is Titans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. The Titans are currently 0-3, and if they continue going the wrong way in the standings, there’s a good chance the veteran wideout will be available at the trade deadline. Rapoport also notes that popular trade candidate Amari Cooper could fit the Chiefs payroll thanks to his low base salary, but the reporter rejects the idea of Jaguars wideout Christian Kirk fitting into the cap sheet.
Rookie first-round WR Xavier Worthy got into a career-high 45 snaps yesterday and will likely join Travis Kelce as one of Patrick Mahomes‘ preferred targets moving forward. The team has also leaned on the likes of Justin Watson and JuJu Smith-Schuster for about half of their offensive snaps through the first month of the season, and Skyy Moore and Mecole Hardman got extended cameos yesterday after Rice was knocked out of the game. Rapoport notes that Brown could return to the Chiefs in time for the postseason, but it’s unlikely the offense will be hanging their hopes on the injured receiver.
As for Rice, Josina Anderson reports that the receiver is seeking “at least” a second opinion on his injured knee in an attempt to “gather additional information.” The Chiefs have also discussed “potential windows for surgery.” ESPN’s Adam Schefter adds that there “remains uncertainty” surrounding the extend of Rice’s injury, and more tests will be required before the team can set a definitive timetable.
Tyreek Hill return
Could KC make it work with the cap?
Probably not but would be awesome if they did. And that’s coming from a fins fan lol.
Jakeem Grant is ready to attempt a comeback with Mahomes 🙂
Davante?
Yea the raiders will trade davante to the tram that’s been kicking their azz for years
Who else is available? Hopkins isn’t it.
Its kind of like Buffalo trading with KC during the draft – Im not going to let that dictate what the best move is.
If Chiefs offer the most – they offer the most. Davante’s a declining asset. It makes sense.
Its not like the Raiders are going anywhere.
Darius Slayton Giants
Tee Higgins if bengals don’t right the ship he could be gone by the deadline
Dionte Johnson of the Panthers
Jakobi Meyers is more realistic target to get moved from the Raiders WR room
Very few options currently as no one is running away with anything. But if certain teams don’t rebound you could see some names pop up.
Highly unlikely that Johnson is available since he is a rookie that has put up big numbers the last two weeks.Higgins is interesting but as you said Cincy needs to be out of the running which is a possibility.
Sorry I did not mean rookie I had my receivers mixed up.
Bills 1… With Mahomes, Hopkins WOULD help them.
You’ll have to forgive him, he’s a bit slow to think raiders will trade Adams to the chiefs
Bills trading with the chiefs was a win win
Bills go back a few spots grab some extra draft picks
Chiefs get WR they wanted
Raiders trading Adams to the chiefs isn’t a win win at all.
Jakobi Meyers might be the better more realistic target if we are talking about Raiders WRs. But Chiefs are better off looking elsewhere
Off top of my head
Darius Slayton Giants
Tee Higgins Bengals in a walk year if they decide to sell
Dionte Johnson Panthers, could open up playing time for the young receivers Legette and Mingo.
The only area that I disagree with you, Win, is on Johnson opening up room for Mingo. The Panthers are more likely to ship out Mingo than they are Johnson, methinks, even though Johnson and Thielen fill similar roles. Mingo probably could be better in another organization, but Carolina seems more like they’re trying to squeeze him in than they are trying to squeeze in Johnson.
One question that I have is whether K.C. is more willing to go get another receiver from another team than, say, Pittsburgh. Does this development raise the stakes for either organization to the point where they get willing to actually deal for another wideout? I actually think that the Titans are a good place to start looking. Hopkins or Burks could be available. Hopkins raises more interest, obviously, as he can still play and wouldn’t be the reclamation project that Burks figures to be. Burks, however, would be cheaper. With Boyd and Ridley recently signed, Tennessee figures to have enough qualified depth to carry the season. Tennessee signed these guys to give Callahan a set of dependable players to implement his offense and develop Levis; Levis’ inconsistency may lessen the urgency a bit, so Hopkins could go. If they go the other way and retain Hopkins so as to not hurt Levis, Burks is a relic of a prior staff who could go. Don’t know if K.C. would take an unproven product to bet on, but if so, he’d be cheaper.
Bourne from the Patriots could be a dark horse candidate as well. He almost left this year, and while not a top target in the league, is definitely starting quality. I don’t see the Bears moving any of their other receivers, and Cincy could move Higgins, but I would be shocked if they did so before the deadline. If they’re still below average by that time, I think that Higgins would be a prize target, second to Adams in terms of desirability for potentially available wideouts. I’d give the Bengals more time to decide, for the moment. They’d be wise to move him, though, if they stay out of the top contenders by the deadline.
Like you said, Win, Slayton is a good candidate. He’s somebody that the Giants have taken for granted and tried to get rid of for years-for some reason. He has speed, and can stretch the field (though not as much as the Chiefs’ other wideouts, but he compensates by being more dependable). The biggest high end, bona fide number one target that looks likely to be moved is Cooper. That’s a easy trade to set up-if Cleveland doesn’t mind basically admitting to mailing in the year by helping an AFC contender come playoff time. Cooper has produced for every QB he’s played with, has good physical tools and size, and runs great routes that Reid and Mahomes will utilize. I can think of one more dark horse, though, that is interesting here: what does everyone think of Cooper Kupp? He’s had injuries, but he seems to be taking a backseat to Nacua on a team that keeps going back and forth on shedding veteran contracts. The Rams may play spoiler at best this year, and Snead has never shied away from a trade. Would he be willing to deal if the Chiefs, an AFC team, came calling?
Free agency or practice squads have a few risky prospects that have had productive pasts, and that might be where K.C. ends up going. Michael Thomas leads those names, and for some reason Hunter Renfrow is still available, but neither of those guys are field stretchers. Tim Patrick hasn’t played much since his injury, and is a bigger and less agile receiver than what the Chiefs are used to. I’m sure that there are others who come to mind. If K.C. doesn’t want to make a trade, however, their options will come with a risk, so the question for them becomes how desperate they are to get someone. Like I said earlier, Pittsburgh has been sniffing around WRs as well-they offered a lot for Aiyuk, but there’s no telling if they’d be willing to get someone else. If they are, or another team is, the Chiefs may have to consider that their entering this market could drive up demand and urgency from another squad. There’s some chance that this could have an interesting domino effect on wideouts until the deadline.
In regards to Dionte Johnson I highly doubt that CAR would move him, he’s by far their most productive WR. I do disagree with your take that he fills a similar role to thielen, Johnson is a WR who can win on the outside and get a jump ball and in my estimation seems to be more productive when he’s not running routes from the slot. Unlike thielen who’s productivity it’s based on zone feel and winning with his off the line moves and his production is almost exclusively from the slot.
The other candidates you’ve brought up, slayton is a quality receiver but he does get the dropsies too often. And we’ve seen how that goes in kc(MVS being an example) and I don’t see the giants trading from their receiving room. Nabers is the clear 1 with wandale Robinson being the 2 with slayton being the 3. I do however think that Jaylon Hyatt would be a good trade candidate. He’s already disgruntled about his lack of usage and there has been running of him asking for a trade request.
In regard to cooper cupp I think he’d fit in perfectly into that offense he’d fill the role that rice assumed due to Kelces precipitous decline. But his health is a big issues he’s been hurt 2 years in row now and I’m no cap expert but I’m not sure how kc would fit that salary in.
I agree with you that Cleveland probably doesn’t mock cooper , I think they’d faster sit Watson then give up on the season. I also can’t see CIN trading Higgins to their now arch rival in KC even if they drop out of the race.
Additionally I’d have a hard time seeking Devonte Adams traded to in division rival but I could be wrong.
My initial trade candidates that immediately came to mind were Jaylon Hyatt , who I mention, Elijah Moore who I think should be a quality fit in that system, Michael Wilson from the ARIZ also could be an option.
Anyway I’m hoping to hear your thoughts. (And if in the future you go dark for a few days let us pfr folks know in advanced so we don’t get nervous about your whereas, you almost had me searching for cops that got killed in the line of duty in the past week)
I will try. I try not to draw attention to it. We’ve had a hard last few days with the storm response. Lots of emergency response. Thank you for asking.
I agree that Johnson will not be moved. I’ve always thought of him as an inside player due to his size and difficulty breaking press coverage. I will yield that his physical tools (mainly speed and agility) make him more suited for the outside than Thielen. But I do agree that he will probably not be available. Mingo has seemed, along with Marshall, to be the receiver that Carolina couldn’t find a place for in the last few years that they expected to work into the lineup. Now that Marshall is in San Fran, Carolina is trying to work Mingo into a position to develop. He’s got good tools, and I’d like to see if he could develop somewhere if Carolina can’t nail down a consistent role for him.
I mentioned Slayton because I can see him being available. I don’t disagree with your evaluation of him. I like him as a player, but New York has seemed lukewarm in the past about offering him a commitment until the last second. More than once has he bailed out their receiver-less offense, and though he’s not an elite number one, Slayton has at times looked like the only NFL quality player catching passes from Jones at all. I could see him being moved. Hyatt might be a better choice theoretically, but I think that K.C. would want some game experience in a player that would need to step in immediately midseason to start catching passes.
The rest I agree with. Cooper, Adams, and Higgins are allAFC targets. I could see the Browns doing something silly and trading Cooper to K.C., but you have to figure that that’s an incredible gamble. Higgins won’t be traded unless Cincy is out of it, and even then, K.C. is the Bengals’ greatest rival. There might be the slightest chance of it occurring, but it also seems like a gamble. Adams won’t happen in any scenario to the Chiefs. Just can’t. You brought up Wilson, who had a tour de force run that’s quickly been forgotten about by many people. Whether K.C. (or another team) could use that to its advantage is intriguing. He probably has enough experience to drop in him midseason. I do think that, due to the immediate need, plug-and-play ability will be a factor in any player that the Chiefs might try to acquire. If another team (in particular the Steelers) is really interested in acquiring a receiver on its end, this would be how we could tell how much so they actually are.
@comments how to find a true raiders fan. They can’t figure out the difference between DeAndre and davante. It’s fine I often get the titans and raiders mixed up.
@rex how to find a troll. What are you on about? He didn’t get anyone mixed up
If they can get draft picks they would
Only rumors
Claypool and Michael Thomas on the street? Worth bringing in for a workout.
Why would any team help KC continue to win? I felt the same way when teams kept trading with LA to help out LBJ. KC run should be over.
The only way it makes sense for most teams is if you take their first born son in a trade.
@mlbnyyfan because if its good for business then why not do it? If you can get a 1st rounder for him then take it.
Treylon Burks or Deandre Hopkins. Sign Michael Thomas. If any team can salvage something from that tool, it’d be KC.
Chiefs have 5 mil cap space, stop it
Teams can open any amount of cap by restructuring or adding void years to any contract
Add 2 void years to Justin Reid and that alone opens $9.5M of 2024 cap
Sure but not every contract is giving you 9 mil. And it kicks the can further. We all see that blow up with the saints.
If we’re talking about Raiders wide receivers, just go sign Hunter Renfrow, I would bet he can still play, he was just drafted in 2019. Also, why not look at ex-Saint Michael Thomas, he’s probably, what, 31? He holds the single season record with something like 145 catches in a season. I doubt he’d be dropping the ball like Kadarius Toney or Skyy Moore would.
I’m surprised they haven’t brought in Hunter Renfrow or Michael Thomas
Andy Reid: “Who’s available that doesn’t own a drivers license and rides the bus?”
You think that is how he replaced his son on his coaching staff too?
SAVE D-Hop
Keenan Allen
They could call the Giants. Either Slayton, who is a capable WR aside from occasional drops, or Jalin Hyatt, who the Giants seem hellbent on not using. The chatter about Hyatt is that his route-running is limited, but there’s no doubt about his speed and his ability to be a deep threat. Daniel Jones doesn’t throw a good deep ball, plus Daboll doesn’t appear to like him, so the Giants don’t use him. Hyatt could probably be had for practically nothing. If anyone could bring out some value in him, it’s Reid/Mahomes.
I think someone like the Browns’ Cedric Tillman would be a perfect fit. He’s currently the 4th WR in Cleveland behind Cooper, Jeudy and Moore. He only has 5 targets all season. He could have a breakout year in KC.
There is a veteran WR in the NFC that I could possibly see being traded to the Chiefs. The Seattle Seahawks could possibly trade Tyler Lockett as they have DK Metcalf and Jaxon Smith-Njigba who is looking like a borderline WR 1 in the making.