Trent McDuffie is about to be the highest-paid cornerback in football.
As a member of the Rams.
The Chiefs traded McDuffie, their 2022 first-round draft pick and four-year starter, to Los Angeles in exchange for a haul of draft picks that includes No. 29 overall next month. They also collected a fifth- and sixth-round selection this year and a 2027 third-rounder.
Earlier Wednesday, I broke down why the Chiefs needed to make the deal, as uncomfortable as it might be, along with the real question that drove it.
The Rams will plug Trent McDuffie atop their cornerback depth chart. Most teams would, including the team that just shipped him to the West Coast.
But that’s the first part of why this trade came together, and it’s the same opening line for why many deals come together.
The money.
The Rams can afford it.
The Chiefs determined at some point during the NFL Scouting Combine last week they couldn’t squeeze McDuffie’s asking price under the salary cap, or at least not without mortgaging the future window. McDuffie is likely to be paid north of $30 million annually in L.A., per multiple reports. Even after the trade, the Rams actually still have slightly more 2026 cap space than the Chiefs, though that’s subject to change based on the format of the extension.
But the money is just the start.
As the Chiefs explored the potential trade market for McDuffie, a trade partner logically had to fulfill three requirements:
• A need at cornerback
• Cap space to pay him $30 million annually
• A win-now priority
That narrowed the field considerably, particularly the last item. The teams trying to rebuild prefer to use draft picks to accomplish it, rather than trading multiple selections for one player. It’s not about the player. It’s about the process of building.
Thus, eventually the McDuffie talks came down two teams, per sources: the Rams and the Giants.
Rams general manager Les Snead telegraphed the trade Wednesday, when he said they were looking to maximize 38-year-old quarterback Matthew Stafford’s window by making a move for an All-Pro member of the secondary. He might as well have mentioned McDuffie by name.
The Giants hired head coach John Harbaugh earlier this offseason.
Those were the two most aggressive suitors.
The easy deduction is the accurate one: The Rams presented a richer offer.
The Chiefs held firm in their desire to receive more than the value of the 29th overall selection from the Rams, and eventually got a quite a bit more — the third-, fifth-and sixth-round choices. It’s similar to a haul that served as the foundation to the second wave of the Patrick Mahomes era — the post-Tyreek Hill era. That trade similarly had two interested trading partners for the player involved — Miami and the Jets — which drove up the price.
For the Chiefs, the Rams were an ideal team to check the three boxes. It’s an ideal landing spot for McDuffie, who returns to his home state and continues to play for a Super Bowl contender.
But the Rams also quite evidently viewed McDuffie as an elite corner, rather than just an elite slot corner who can play outside, and they had not one but two first-round picks, which might have zapped some of the reluctance to part with one. They will still draft at No. 13 overall next month, a pick that certainly would have done the trick by itself.
The Rams also draft well in the deeper rounds, which ought to give them some confidence that trading a single first-round pick isn’t the same as completely mortgaging the future.
Their future is now.
The Chiefs are trying to extend their life of theirs.
Related Stories from Kansas City Star
The Kansas City Star
Sam McDowell is a columnist for The Star who has covered Kansas City sports for more than a decade. He has won national awards for columns, features and enterprise work. The Headliner Awards named him the 2024 national sports columnist of the year.