The draft-night trade that kicked off Chiefs’ Super Bowl roster reload
Nate Taylor
Jun 20, 2023
One crisp new ball cap for each NFL team, 32 possible destinations. Trent McDuffie, surrounded by family and friends in his parents’ home in Orange County, Calif., didn’t want to make a prediction.
“Whatever is meant to be will be,” McDuffie told everyone at the start of that late April night, the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
His NFL career was set to start in just a few hours, a cornerback who, then at the age of 21, was projected by many analysts to become a first-year starter, an impactful defender who could blossom into a Pro Bowler.
When McDuffie’s phone rang more than two hours later, he ran to the balcony to answer the call. On the other end was Brett Veach, the Chiefs’ general manager, an aggressive executive who loves to make bold moves, especially on draft day.
“We’re extremely excited,” Veach told McDuffie. “We didn’t think you would last quite this long. But when we had the chance to go up and get you, this was a no-brainer for us. Congratulations.”
While smiling, McDuffie responded with one short sentence: “This is amazing.”
McDuffie never actually saw Commissioner Roger Goodell announce his name with the 21st pick on the TV inside the large living room. Instead, McDuffie heard a rousing roar from more than 30 family members and close friends.
McDuffie joined a perennial Super Bowl contender, a franchise featuring a future Hall of Fame coach in Andy Reid, MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes and a front office that was shrewd enough — before the draft and during the unexpected twists of the first round — to make championship-winning moves. But the draft night trade that led to the Chiefs’ selection of McDuffie as the first member of a 10-player class also included another necessary element: a fair amount of sheer luck.
“It happened quickly,” Veach said. “We went from thinking this is never going to happen to, within a trade and a quarterback selection, we were ready to roll.”
Days before the draft, Veach has an annual meeting with Reid and club owner Clark Hunt to update them on the plan from the player personnel staff. The discussion often reminds Hunt of the summer of 2017, when Veach, then the co-director of player personnel, was the team’s best internal candidate to be promoted to general manager.
Veach entered the league in 2007 with the Philadelphia Eagles as Reid’s assistant. Ten years later, as a fast-rising scout, Veach proved to be instrumental in persuading Reid and former general manager John Dorsey to execute a generation-defining trade — a deal with the Buffalo Bills to move up 17 spots in the draft to acquire Mahomes, the franchise’s greatest player, with the 10th overall pick. A few months after that, Veach began the interview to replace Dorsey by handing Hunt a thick binder that detailed his vision for how to improve the team’s roster.
“We didn’t spend much time in it, thankfully,” Hunt said. “He had it in case I wanted to see it. It included using free agency more than I was accustomed to. He felt that that was an important tool. From Day 1, he showed us he was very open to trades.
“We wouldn’t have made it to Super Bowl LIV without some of those moves he made back then. The draft classes he’s put together the last several years, I think, are our key to the success.”
Hunt realized the 2022 draft class would be significant for the Chiefs, who were entering the pivotal second phase of Mahomes’ career.
Superstar receiver Tyreek Hill, at age 28, had wanted to become the league’s highest-paid receiver, a request that didn’t jibe with Hunt, Veach and Reid’s financial plan to reload the roster. So, the month before the draft, the Chiefs traded Hill — the league’s fastest player and the perfect deep-threat receiver for Mahomes — to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for five draft picks, including No. 29. The Chiefs entered the draft with 12 picks, tied with the Jacksonville Jaguars for most in the league.
“On one end, we’re losing a prolific player,” Veach said. “But on the other end, I think the most exciting part was entering that draft with a lot of resources.
Veach and his personnel staff graded 18 prospects, excluding quarterbacks, worthy of a first-round pick. He went through each with Hunt, including four cornerbacks: McDuffie, Derek Stingley Jr., Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner and Kaiir Elam.
“Just watch the tape,” Veach said of McDuffie. “He’s a technician.”
A three-year starter at Washington, McDuffie showcased above-average instincts, athleticism and anticipation in coverage. His smooth hips and footwork were exceptional, which allowed him to stay step for step with talented receivers who were taller than him, especially when Washington asked him to play on an island. McDuffie was fluid in both man and zone coverages and could tackle in the open field. He offered versatility, too, a playmaker who could create highlights on the perimeter or as the nickel.
As a junior, McDuffie recorded 35 tackles, six pass breakups, four tackles for loss and one sack in 11 games, earning first-team All-Pac 12 honors. He didn’t create a takeaway, but opposing quarterbacks rarely tested him. At the league’s annual scouting combine, McDuffie ran the 40-yard dash in 4.44 seconds, earning comparisons to Jaire Alexander and DeAngelo Hall.
“I know (Veach) had his eye on him right from the beginning,” Reid said of McDuffie. “That was a name that kept popping up.”
The Chiefs conducted an informal interview with McDuffie at the combine. He left that meeting impressed with the aggressive style of Steve Spagnuolo, a defensive coordinator known for using members of his secondary in interchangeable roles. A few weeks later, McDuffie and Spagnuolo chatted again over Zoom, where McDuffie went through his film study habits, his pre-snap process of examining an offense’s formation and how he used his coverage assignment to counterattack a receiver’s leverage.
Following his thorough assessment of McDuffie with Hunt, Veach finished by expressing what he felt was a harsh but needed statement of reality: The odds of McDuffie being available for the 29th pick were zilch.
As they’ve done every year since Veach’s promotion, the Chiefs went through multiple mock drafts to see how many variables allowed them the ability to trade up. The exercise never showed McDuffie being available past No. 18.
“He was such an A-plus kid,” said Mike Bradway, senior director of player personnel. “We all envisioned he was going to go a lot earlier than he did.”
Veach, though, offered Hunt a bit of hope.
“When he started talking about trading up, I knew the rationale,” Hunt said.
A day before the draft opened, the Chiefs found a possible trade partner. The Patriots — a team led by future Hall of Fame coach Bill Belichick, who is often interested in trading down — owned the No. 21 pick and seemed willing to deal.
Veach figured the parameters of the trade would appeal to the Patriots, who would find value in obtaining the two picks, No. 29 and No. 121, that the Dolphins, their division rival, originally possessed before agreeing to trade for Hill.
Now all the Chiefs needed was for the draft to fall in their direction.
“You don’t know what the other people are thinking,” Reid said. “You’re trying to work around that.”
Within the first hour of the event, the most prominent members in the Chiefs’ draft room — Hunt, Veach, Reid, assistant GM Mike Borgonzi, Bradway, director of pro scouting Tim Terry, director of college scouting Ryne Nutt and co-vice presidents of football operations Brandt Tilis and Chris Shea — watched two cornerbacks, Stingley and Gardner, be selected within the first four picks.
There were several teams who could conceivably target cornerback — as well as the Chiefs’ other positional targets: receiver and pass rusher — in the middle of the first round, including the Washington Commanders, picking 11th, the New Orleans Saints, picking 16th and 19th, and the Eagles, who entered with the night with the 15th and 18th picks.
The first surprise came at No. 11, when the Saints executed a trade with the Commanders to select receiver Chris Olave. Another twist arrived with the 12th pick, as the Detroit Lions traded up with the Minnesota Vikings to select receiver Jameson Williams. The Eagles then traded for the 13th pick to select defensive tackle Jordan Davis, and the Commanders, with the 16th pick, acquired receiver Jahan Dotson.
Some draft analysts began wondering why McDuffie was still available. Dane Brugler, The Athletic’s draft expert, had McDuffie graded as the 12th-ranked prospect. Perhaps McDuffie’s size was causing teams to hesitate? Listed at 5-foot-11 and 193 pounds, McDuffie didn’t have the ideal height or arm length (29 and 3/4 inches) for the position.
“When (McDuffie) started to slide, Brett said, ‘Hey, we might have a chance to get him,'” Hunt remembered.
With the Chargers on the clock with the 17th pick, the Chiefs chose to be proactive. Veach received authorization from Hunt and within seconds, Tilis called the Patriots to confirm the deal was still on. The teams went over the parameters of the trade one more time, then the waiting began.
Los Angeles selected guard Zion Johnson. But with Philadelphia on the clock for the 18th pick, another trade rocked the Chiefs’ draft room, the centerpiece of which involved the Titans trading star receiver AJ Brown to the Eagles.
“We thought McDuffie would go there,” Veach said, but Tennessee chose to replace Brown by selecting receiver Treylon Burks.
“Oh, we got lucky,” Bradway said.
The Saints took tackle Trevor Penning. When Goodell announced the Pittsburgh Steelers’ selection of quarterback Kenny Pickett with pick No. 20, everyone in the Chiefs’ draft room celebrated with fist bumps. Kansas City selected McDuffie, and the most visibly-surprised person in the Chiefs’ draft room was Spagnuolo, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly agape.
Before McDuffie hugged his parents, James and Michelle, he had one request: He wanted the Chiefs’ playbook that night.
“They have faith that I can come in here and do something good,” McDuffie said a few days later. “That’s what I’m willing to prove.”
McDuffie earned a starting spot in Spagnuolo’s defense, and nine of the 10 players Kansas City selected in the draft made the initial 53-man roster. The Chiefs bludgeoned the Arizona Cardinals, 44-21, in a convincing Week 1 victory, but McDuffie watched most of the second half in the visitor’s locker room after injuring his left hamstring.
The Chiefs placed McDuffie on injured reserve, and he missed six games, the longest absence during a football season in his life. McDuffie learned patience while developing a routine — watching film on his own, receiving treatment and going through questions with Spagnuolo and defensive backs coach Dave Merritt, who praised McDuffie for his thorough knowledge of the Chiefs’ game plan.
“For me, I really wanted to make sure I didn’t get lazy,” McDuffie said. “It was definitely a mental challenge, but I feel I did a solid job of just trying to stay in the groove of things.”
During McDuffie’s absence, the rest of the rookie class showed its potential. Fellow cornerbacks Joshua Williams, a fourth-round pick, and Jaylen Watson, a seventh-round pick, each made game-changing interceptions. Defensive end George Karlaftis, the Chiefs’ second first-round pick, made incremental progress throughout the season, finishing with six sacks, 11 quarterback hits and seven pass breakups. And running back Isiah Pacheco, another seventh-round pick, became the starter midway through the season, leading the Chiefs with 830 rushing yards and five touchdowns.
“Veach did a wonderful job of bringing guys in that were smart, athletic and coachable,” NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said. “Sometimes, it’s not just your scouting staff being able to identify talent. It’s your coaching staff being able to develop that talent. I think the Chiefs coaching staff is one of the best teaching staffs.”
McDuffie returned in Week 9, a 20-17 overtime victory against the Titans in which he didn’t surrender a reception.
In just 11 regular-season games, McDuffie recorded seven pass breakups, one sack and one forced fumble. He allowed just three touchdown receptions, finishing the campaign as the Chiefs’ second-best coverage cornerback, earning a 73.6 overall grade, according to Pro Football Focus. Among the 112 cornerbacks in the league last season who played at least 50 snaps in press coverage — a principle in Spagnuolo’s system — McDuffie ranked third, earning a coverage grade of 79.6.
“When I came back,” McDuffie said, “it was like I didn’t miss a beat.”
In the postseason, other Chiefs rookies had flashier highlights — Watson made two interceptions, Karlaftis recorded a sack and safety Bryan Cook, a second-round pick, used his right hand to deflect a deep pass into Williams’ hands for an interception late in the Chiefs’ win over the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship Game.
McDuffie also demonstrated his aptitude and ability to adjust in that game. When L’Jarius Sneed suffered a concussion on the fourth snap, the Chiefs lost one of their most versatile and experienced players in the secondary. Playing in Sneed’s nickel role, McDuffie had his best performance in the postseason, recording six tackles and two pass breakups without committing a penalty or allowing a touchdown reception against the Bengals’ star-studded receiver group.
“This organization just creates an environment for learning,” McDuffie said the week of Super Bowl LVII. “It allows you to grow in a way I never thought I would.”
In the Chiefs’ comeback victory over the Eagles in Super Bowl LVII, McDuffie didn’t surrender a reception in the second half.
In the locker room afterward, Mahomes went to each of his teammates to thank and congratulate them for their efforts. When Mahomes made eye contact with McDuffie — the two teammates Veach successfully helped the Chiefs trade up for in the draft’s first round — both men smiled, dapped up and hugged.
“What I learned about the organization (this past year) is that Brett and his team are really, really good,” Hunt said. “This was a tough transition to make, to immediately enjoy success (after trading Hill). He was able to do that.”
In all, the Chiefs’ journey to Super Bowl LVII included contributions from eight rookies, a group that accounted for 3,721 snaps on either offense or defense, the seventh-most in the league, according to Joseph Hefner of Kansas City Sports Network.
“They are the story of the 2022 Chiefs,” Hunt said of the rookies. “Last year’s draft will go down in the history of the club as one of the best ever. Certainly, the work we did in the first round made a big contribution to that.”
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06-20-2023, 07:23 AM
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