Analyst Sees Chiefs, AFC Foes as 1st-Round Trade Partners

Seconds after the NFL sent an internal email confirming details on the 2025 salary cap, Brett Veach and Andy Reid began executing their plans to address deficiencies on their offensive and defensive lines.

On offense, they tagged Pro Bowler Trey Smith to keep the most coveted lineman off the free-agent market. Then, in a move to help their future salary cap, they traded All-Pro guard Joe Thuney to Chicago for a draft pick. And when free agency began, they quickly locked down Jaylon Moore to pencil in at left tackle.

At left guard, in case they can’t draft a starter to replace Thuney, they ensured the safe return of Mike Caliendo and a potential camp competition with Kingsley Suamataia. But just like Smith and center Creed Humphrey, Kansas City could draft at least one future offensive-line starter next month.

And if the Chiefs want to trade up in the first round for a lineman, NFL draft analyst Chad Reuter said Wednesday they’d find a willing trade partner in AFC rival Baltimore. Reuter said Kansas City could also trade up for a defensive tackle.

“The Chiefs will likely be looking to bolster their offensive and defensive lines early in April's draft to avoid being dominated in the trenches as they were in Super Bowl LIX,” Reuter wrote. “Exchanging mid-round picks with the Ravens would increase their chances of landing defensive tackle Walter Nolen, to play beside All-Pro Chris Jones, or an offensive lineman, such as Tyler Booker, Aireontae Ersery, Jonah Savaiinaea or Grey Zabel.”

Reuter’s proposed trade would move Kansas City from 31 to 27 in the first round. The Chiefs also would get Baltimore’s pick No. 136 in the fourth round. In return, the Ravens would take Kansas City’s first-round slot, 31, and acquire the Chiefs’ third-rounder, No. 95.

Veach and Reid have traded up for a first-round selection twice in the last three years. They moved ahead in a deal with Miami to take cornerback Trent McDuffie in 2022, and traded up last year with Buffalo to take wide receiver Xavier Worthy.

In 2017, Kansas City also moved up in the first round in a trade with the Bills to take a quarterback named Patrick Mahomes.

On two recent occasions when the Chiefs have kept their first-round choices, those selections haven’t seemed to bear a lot of fruit. In 2020, running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire didn’t pay long-term dividends. And their first-round choice in 2023, Felix Anudike-Uzomah, has only three sacks in two years.

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