The Kansas City Chiefs won their second Super Bowl in four years, defeating the Philadelphia Eagles. To stay on top of the league, some difficult decisions have to be made. Kansas City made a number of those already this offseason, as they lost a number of key players from their championship roster.
Left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., right tackle Andrew Wylie, defensive tackle Khalen Saunders, safety Juan Thornhill and wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman all departed in free agency. Frank Clark could not agree on a restructured contract and was released, while fellow edge rusher Carlos Dunlap remains a free agent as well.
The Chiefs did fill some of those holes in free agency. Jawaan Taylor will likely step into the left tackle spot, while Charles Omenihu, Mike Edwards and Drue Tranquil will help fill the voids defensively.
The one position that Kansas City has yet to truly address is wide receiver. The team has high hopes for Skyy Moore and Kadarius Toney to step into larger roles, but bringing in an established veteran wouldn’t be a bad move. Right now, the Chiefs are lacking a proven commodity at wide receiver outside of Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
There are a few veterans that could help fill the void left by Smith-Schuster’s departure. DeAndre Hopkins and Odell Beckham Jr. have been mentioned, but another name that could pique their interest is Mike Evans.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers look like they are heading for a reset following the retirement of Tom Brady. In a bit of salary cap hell, the team could look to trade some of their established veterans for draft capital to improve their future outlook.
The Chiefs have 10 picks in this year’s draft and given how good the team is, it is very unlikely they use all of them. Packing some of them to acquire Evans would make a lot of sense. What could a trade between the Chiefs and Buccaneers centered around Evans look like?
Kansas City can offer their first-round pick (No. 31) and fourth-round pick via the Miami Dolphins (No. 122) in exchange for the four-time Pro Bowler. For the Buccaneers, this will help them jump-start their rebuild.
They would have two first-round picks, which would be enough to try and move up should one of the top quarterback prospects slide. At the very least, they can add two premium talents to the roster to improve their future outlook and pick up more middle-round picks to fill out the roster with.
The Chiefs get a bonafide No. 1 receiver to pair with tight end Travis Kelce to take pressure off the youngsters as they develop. Giving Patrick Mahomes a wide receiver of that caliber almost feels unfair to the rest of the league.
