Arrowhead Pride
Welcome back to the Arrowhead Pride Mailbag! Keep watching for your opportunity to submit your Kansas City Chiefs questions in The Feed, which is found on AP’s home page.
With a frustrating season now receding in the rear-view mirror, the Chiefs face their most consequential offseason in years. Let’s see what is on our readers’ minds.
If the Chiefs were to trade cornerback Trent McDuffie, what would a reasonable return look like?
After tight end Travis Kelce makes his retirement decision, McDuffie’s status will be Kansas City’s most-watched offseason story. After watching the cornerback market explode in recent years, I doubt he has any intention of playing on his $13.6 million fifth-year option.
This feels like a situation where no matter what happens, armchair general managers will be disappointed with Chiefs’ GM Brett Veach. They’ll either panic about the substantial contract Kansas City will pay McDuffie, or be disappointed in the trade return.
The two first-round picks the New York Jets sent the Indianapolis Colts for cornerback Sauce Gardner is not a good comparison. Gardner had a long-term deal — and the Jets had already paid more than $14 million in guaranteed money.
Teams will be more hesitant to pay in draft picks and hand McDuffie a market-rate contract. I can see a hypothetical trade centered around a 2026 second-rounder or a 2027 first, with the Chiefs receiving additional Day 3 picks.
I still say an extension is more likely than a trade, but either outcome is possible. Trading McDuffie appears to poll favorably among the fanbase — but that might reflect boredom and frustration with the status quo more than a path to improving the team.
If McDuffie were available in this year’s free-agent class, he would contend with Dallas Cowboys’ wide receiver George Pickens as the top available player. So if the Chiefs are not willing to pay McDuffie, they arguably should not be in on any top free agent.
Even if Kansas City could get a first-round pick in return, ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller recently wrote that he only has 11 first-round grades in the class. So while trading the cornerback can certainly make the Chiefs’ roster cheaper, there is a low likelihood it actually improves the squad.
Will linebacker Leo Chenal be re-signed?
I have no real sense of the Chiefs’ priority in retaining Chenal — or how interested other teams will be. He has been a valuable rotational player, but he rarely stays on the field in obvious passing situations. And after a shoulder injury ended his season early, his health entering free agency is also an unknown.
I can see another team aggressively pursuing Chenal for a larger role. On the other hand, the expected draft depth of this year’s linebackers could also limit the contract offers he receives.
Expect Chenal to test free agency — but if his market underwhelms, a return to Kansas City is certainly possible.
