With Rice out all season, what WRs are available for a mid-season trade
These WRs could be available for trade and help the Chiefs down the stretch.
The news has finally come down that Rashee Rice had suffered a torn LCL and partially torn hamstring tendon. He had reconstruction surgery to repair both injuries on Tuesday and had suffered no damage to any other structures within the knee. The good news is the ACL, MCL, XYZ-CL are all enact and undamaged which should lead to a full recovery for Rice with no expectation of not returning to a the same level of athleticism.
Unfortunately good news often doesn’t come with some accompanying bad news, and this is one of those cases. LCL reconstruction, recovery, and rehab is a pretty straightforward but long process. He is going to miss the entire regular season, and while there is some optimism that he could recover in around 4 months time - essentially the day of the Super Bowl - that would be an extremely early return from this kind of injury. It’s pretty standard operating procedure to not get back into contact sport drills until around 6 months but it does sound like the Chiefs’ have left that door slightly ajar.
The real question that now resides with that information in hand, is what do the Chiefs do now? They are coming off of their best offensive performance since the first half of Week 1, but with the long term injuries and return questions around their top two wide receivers - Rice and Hollywood Brown - it sure would make a lot of sense to look into what WRs could be available for trade around the league.
The Chiefs have often made made mid-season trades for veteran players in recent years - trading for Mecole Hardman, Kadarius Toney, and Melvin Ingram - and the current health status of the WR room makes 2024 another candidate for such a move.
Wide Receive Trade Targets for Kansas City
First we have to establish some basic ground rules. The Chiefs currently have a hair over $4M in Cap Space which means the money due - the base salary - to any new addition would have to be under that amount. There are some contracts that could have money moved around via extensions that could create more space but not quite “easy buttons” as it would lock them into paying players like Jawaan Taylor or Travis Kelce for even longer. With that in mind, we will sort the trade targets into the categories of “Can Afford”, “Could Make the Cash Available”, and “Would Have to be a New, Multi-Year Deal”.
Can Afford
Amari Cooper | Cleveland Browns | Due: $941K
Surprise, the player who is linked to the absolute most trade talks this year and who’s contract was purposefully altered this off-season to trade is atop the list. The Browns offense is in absolute shambles, their QB play is horrendous, and Cooper is on an expiring deal. He was destined to be traded this year as the Browns need a hard reset.
Cooper may not be the same athlete he was a few years back but he’s still an absolute technician. He aligns predominantly on the outside and can win vs man, press, and on in-breaking routes to the intermediate area of the field. All things the Chiefs are currently missing in their bag at the WR spot. It’s also helpful that he is a WR who can be a volume target player to replace Rice’s share of passes.
Would give up a: 4th round pick
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